ECI profiles vs FOGRA

RL
Posted By
Rick_Lecoat
Apr 7, 2008
Views
481
Replies
3
Status
Closed
I always find colour management a little impenetrable ( I understand the basic idea, but the details can throw me sometimes). I’m just getting my colour settings sorted out for CS3 (Ai, Ps, and InD, via Bridge’s sync feature) and am wondering about profiles.

I usually find myself in position where I have to start artwork before a printer is decided upon, so I don’t normally have the option of getting a profile from the printer up front and end up having to use the best ‘general purpose’ profile set up that I can. I was going to go with Adobe RGB and Fogra27* from Adobe’s regular set but I keep hearing that the ECI profiles give excellent results, so I am also considering eciRGB_v2 and ISOcoated_v2_eci*.

I’ve searched all over the electric interweb but can’t find any real comparison of the two sets from a user/artworker’s point of view — every comparison gives vast amounts of highly technical data that is quite beyond me, but stops short of advising use of one or the other. Does anyone have any recommendations either way?

For the record, I work in the UK and my print work tends to be printed on sheet-fed offset litho (and occasionally digital). I’m after a good, reliable, middle-ground profile setup that will work most of the time when I don’t know the specifics of the final output press. I know that ideally I should get profiles form the printers before starting the artwork but it’s generally just not possible.

Thanks for any advice

* for RGB/CMYK respectively

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PF
Peter_Figen
Apr 7, 2008
For RGB working space it won’t make a whole lot of difference in your final printing whether you use AdobeRGB or ECI RGB. RGB working spaces are not output spaces and are "sort of " device independent. A much bigger difference will be in your output profile. If you can’t know beforehand, you hands are tied to whatever decision you do make. It sounds like you’ve done a fair amount of printing there in the U.K. What is your experience as to what the most popular printing standard among the printers you use are? Is there one profile that seems to be closest, or at least one where the majority of your printing vendors have no problem meeting? That would be the one to choose. Here in the U.S., that would probably be U.S. Webcoated v2, but it’s probably not the same over there.
CP
christoph_pfaffenbichler
Apr 8, 2008
Fogra27 is obsolete, ISO Coated v2 is based on Fogra32 and the currently relevant one. If there’s any chance the images might get printed on reel-fed offset-machines You might want to take the precaution of separating with ISO Coated v2 300% to ensure the permissible maximum color isn’t exceeded.
RL
Rick_Lecoat
Apr 8, 2008
Thanks for both those replies guys, they were both enlightening. My past experiences with printers have always been a bit discouraging — not because of poor results, but just because they always seem a bit laissez faire about the whole thing. The usual response is "Oh, just use the default settings, it’ll be fine", which seems a bit odd given the nature of their work. Maybe they feel that talking technical stuff to someone who has no idea at all about ICC profiles and colour management will most likely lead to a worse result than the default settings… but I would also think that, if I’m asking about colour management, then I probably have at least a partial clue about what I’m talking about.

I think I need to be firmer with the printers and insist on them stating a preferred profile (when the option is there, at least). In the absence of that, however, your joint input is extremely helpful, and I thank you both once again.

Based on Christoph’s statement about FOGRA27 I’m going to carry on using my above-noted ECI profiles for both RGB and CMYK I think, although I’ll probably take his advice and create an alternative setting for web presses using the ISO Coated v2 300 profile. I don’t do much magazine work so it’s not really an issue, but it’d be good to have it set up in advance whilst I can still remember the rationale behind my choice! (Assuming, of course, that I remember to switch settings on the rare occasions when it would be needed…)

Cheers.

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