A3+ proof colour accurate, tiered pricing from € 9,25

We are happy to supply your proof with the current UGRA/Fogra media wedge CMYK V3.0 with test report.

The UGRA/Fogra media wedge CMYK V3.0 is the worldwide control tool for colour-binding test prints. According to the Media Standard Offset Printing, a colour-binding proof must have a media wedge whose colour values comply with the tolerances of ISO 12647-7. The colour fields of the current media wedge CMYK V3.0 provide increased sensitivity in the highlights and shadow areas compared to the previous version 2.X, which is still used by many other proof service providers.

For a proof to be colour- and legally binding, it must be provided with a media wedge. However, since hardly any printing company or agency has the metrological capabilities to verify a media wedge on site, we offer you the option of providing the media wedge directly with a test report. This test report certifies that the media wedge and thus the proof is within the ISO tolerances and is colour- and legally binding.  

Your proof options: 

• without media wedge
• one media wedge without test report per page (surcharge € 2,- / page)
• one media wedge with test report per page (surcharge € 4,- / page)
• one media wedge with test report per job (surcharge € 4,- total)

You can order the media wedges per page directly when selecting the respective proof format. To select a media wedge with test report per job, please select it as an item in addition to your proofs and add it separately to your shopping cart.

 

 

After completing your order, you can upload one or more files for each item.
Each file can be up to 2 GB in size.

An example: You order 10 in DIN A3 format and 2 in DIN A2 format. After completing your order, you can upload a file with 10 pages in DIN A3 format for the 10 in DIN A3 format and upload two files with one page each in DIN A2 format for the two in DIN A2 format. If we should make multiple copies of a proof, please let us know in the item message.

https://shop.proof.de/admin/categories.php?cPath=1&pID=15&action=new_product#

The image shows what the upload area looks like for an A4 proof before uploading.

 

Now select your file to be proofed and upload it, or drag it into the upload window.

 

After uploading, you can check your proof data again, download it, delete it, or upload other data.

 

 

Now complete the order by clicking the "UPLOAD(S) COMPLETE, COMPLETE ORDER" button.

Your order is then no longer editable for you. We receive the message that we can now begin the data check and proof production.
 

Even after completing your order, you can view your order at any time, but you cannot change it.

If your data should be faulty during the data check, we will reopen the order so you can delete the faulty data and upload new data. After that, please complete the order again.

Your uploaded data will remain on our server for at least 1 year and can be viewed and downloaded for verification during this time.

Shipping costs and delivery times

Packaging and shipping Germany:

Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel: € 4.70  UPS Express Saver: € 13,- (delivery by end of business day) UPS Express before 12:00 noon: € 15,- UPS Express before 10:30 a.m.: € 25,- DHL / FedEX Express before 9:00 a.m.: € 75,- DHL Express with Saturday delivery: € 49,-	UPS parcel: € 9,- UPS Express Saver: € 13,- (delivery by end of business day) UPS Express before 12:00 noon: € 15,- UPS Express before 10:30 a.m.: € 25,- DHL / FedEX Express before 9:00 a.m.: € 75,- DHL Express with Saturday delivery: € 49,-
The standard delivery time for shipments within Germany is 1 to 4 working days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments are usually delivered the next working day*. Orders with data receipt by 4 p.m. are dispatched on the same working day*. Orders with data receipt after 4 p.m. are dispatched the following working day*. An express delivery before 9 a.m. is not possible to all areas of Germany. Please enquire briefly before placing your order.
Packaging and shipping EU:
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel international: € 10,- UPS Express Saver: € 35,-	UPS parcel: € 19,- UPS Express Saver: € 45,-
The standard delivery time for shipments to EU countries is 2 to 5 working days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments to European economic centres are usually delivered the next working day*, but can also take significantly longer.
Packaging and shipping, non-EU Europe and North America:
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel international: € 10,- UPS Express: € 45,-	Parcel or package DHL/UPS: € 25,- UPS Express: € 55,-
The standard delivery time for shipments abroad is 2 to 5 working days*, sometimes significantly longer. We have seen delivery times of 6 weeks to New York. Please therefore choose express shipping, especially when shipping to the USA, if delivery should be timely. Express shipments are delivered the next or second next working day*, but sometimes only a few days later.
Packaging and shipping rest of world
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel international: € 10,- UPS Express: € 55,-	Parcel or package DHL/UPS: € 25,- UPS Express: € 75,-
The standard delivery time for shipments to worldwide addresses is up to 15 working days*, in exceptional cases longer up to several weeks. We ship here via Post Priority registered mail or DHL International parcel. Please therefore choose express shipping, especially when sending something that should arrive in a timely manner. Express shipments are usually delivered within four working days*, in exceptional cases also longer. Island locations and remote regions in the destination countries can significantly delay delivery.
The shipping zones are regulated differently by Deutsche Post, DHL and sometimes. To determine your exact price, please log in and add the required proofs to your shopping cart. After entering the delivery address, the shop displays the individual shipping options and calculates the shipping costs correctly.  In individual cases, we reserve the right to charge additional, possibly significantly higher shipping costs. This can happen with bulky and large shipments such as roll-ups or very large proofs, but sometimes also for orders to remote regions or special business centres: Example Croatia: An express shipment to a Croatian island costs four times as much as a shipment to Zagreb. We must therefore in some cases calculate higher shipping costs afterwards than are shown in the shop, because we can only take the country into account but not the region during the shipping cost calculation. However, we will always inform you of any additional costs before dispatch.  Please call us if you have any questions. *Working day = Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Germany or Baden-Württemberg. Please note the regulations in the various states (Wikipedia). No shipping and no delivery on public holidays.
Country assignment for shipping via Post or DHL / UPS standard You can find the country assignments for shipping listed in detail here.

To proof prices

 

Most customers send us PDF data. We accept PDF, EPS, TIF and JPEG files for proofing. 

Black and white, CMYK or files with PANTONE and HKS spot colours. PDF files in PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 or PDF/X-4 format are optimal for proofing.

PDF/X-1a (widely distributed outside Europe) and PDF/X-3 are traditionally the PDF files optimised for printing. These ISO standards ensure, for example, that fonts and images are embedded. They are recognised and desired by most printing companies as the standard for the exchange of print data. 

PDF/X-4 is the new printing standard for PDF files. Unlike PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 files can contain transparency. PDFX-3 was also already a media-neutral standard, but 99% of all X-3 files contain only CMYK colours and spot colours. PDF/X-4 is still rarely used, but increasingly requested by printing companies, because with X-4 data the separation can be placed as late as possible in the process chain. The standard offers many advantages, but also risks. 

Proof GmbH is the only company in Germany certified by PDFX-ready for proof output of PDF/X-4 data and has been a member of PDFX-ready for several years. 

If you want to get detailed information about the advantages and disadvantages of the respective formats, we recommend the PDFX-ready website. Here you will find all information, guides for PDF creation and Acrobat creation and Acrobat test profiles for PDF/X-4 files. 

PDFX-ready guide for PDF/X creation
PDF preflight checks for Adobe Acrobat
Creator workflow for sheet-fed offset, web offset and newspaper printing

All three PDF/X standards can be selected and created during export in all common layout programmes. 

How we handle your colour data

For us, a proof is absolute colour bindingness. It is therefore important that you know exactly how we handle colours in the files you provide in detail. 

CMYK colours

With CMYK colours, the rule is simple: All CMYK colours contained in your proofs are output with their exact colour values in your ordered output colour space. 

Example: You provide a PDF in ISOCoated (Fogra27) and order a proof in ISOCoatedV2 (Fogra39). A colour value of CMYK 100/70/0/0 in your PDF file will be output with its exact colour values 100/70/0/0 in your ordered colour space ISOCoatedV2. No conversion from ISOCoated to ISOCoatedV2 takes place. This also applies to CMYK TIFFs or JPEGs.

RGB colours

If your PDF files contain RGB colours, we first check whether your PDFs comply with either the PDF/X-3 or PDF/X-4 standard, and whether your RGB images are correctly marked with colour profiles and rendering intents. If this is the case, we check whether your PDFs also have the correct output colour space. If this is also the case, we proof your PDFs taking into account the input profiles, converting all your RGB data directly during proofing according to your specifications from RGB to CMYK. If your images are in Device-RGB, you will receive a "data faulty" email from us with a note, because we cannot then reliably interpret your RGB data. If your images are correctly marked, but your output colour space does not match the ordered proof output colour space, you will also receive a "data faulty" email.

Example: You provide a PDF/X-4 file with sRGB and AdobeRGB images with the output profile PSOCoatedV3 and order a proof in PSOCoatedV3: We proof your data and correctly take into account all your contained RGB colour spaces and rendering intents. However, if your file has ISOCoatedV2 as the output profile, we trigger a "data faulty" email, because we would now have to "override" the output colour space stored in your PDF, and thus have to perform colour transformations that are not clearly traceable for you.

If you do not provide us with PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles, we send you a "data faulty" email. If we output your TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles such as "sRGB" or "AdobeRGB" in these colour spaces, or for example output them relatively colourimetrically in your ordered output colour space, please write this to us in the "Notes on your order" field, which you can find during the order process. 

For photo prints in RGB colour spaces, it is best to choose our fine art prints, which are perfectly suited for this. Pure RGB output is not actually provided for in proofing. 

Spot colours

We can simulate all spot colours very well - whether PANTONE, HKS, Toyo or individual, custom spot colours. Only exception: metallic colours and neon colours.

If your file contains spot colours such as PANTONE and HKS colours, our proof software recognises these colours by their colour names. As long as your spot colours are correctly named like "PANTONE 123 C" or "HKS 15 N", we use the digital colour reference data we have stored from the PANTONE and HKS master standards and bring your spot colours to the proof.

If you use a PANTONE "U" colour for "Uncoated" natural paper in a proof for image printing standards such as ISOCoatedV2, we send a "data faulty" email. We can also simulate PANTONE "U" colours on a proof for image printing paper, but an offset printer could not print them because PANTONE "C" colour will always result when printing on image printing paper. The same applies to HKS K or PANTONE C colours on proofs for natural papers such as PSOUncoatedV3: Here too we would send a "data faulty" email because we also often cannot achieve the coated colour quality on our natural papers for proofs. Some examples:

proof: ISOCoated V2 | colours: PANTONE C / HKS K | Result: Perfect proofable and offset-printable
proof: ISOCoated V2 | colours: PANTONE U / HKS N | Result: Difficult, as proofable but not offset-printable
proof: PSOUncoated V3 | colours: PANTONE U / HKS N | Result: Perfect proofable and offset-printable
proof: PSOUncoated V3 | colours: PANTONE C / HKS K | Result: Difficult, as usually not proofable and not offset-printable

When proofing spot colours, you should also note: For spot colours, we always only have the respective full tone, i.e. the 100% spot colour area stored in our proof system. A 50% area of PANTONE 123 C or HKS 15 N would therefore be calculated by the proof software, since we do not have actual, measured colour data for the 50% value stored in our system. These values are calculated very intelligently by the proof software, but are still only a clever calculation and not a simulation based on a metrologically recorded reference. The same applies if, for example, a spot colour is printed semi-transparently over another spot colour or over a CMYK image. 

Greyscale

We treat greyscale in PDF files as if they were on the black channel of the ordered proof output colour space. A 50% grey is thus output like a 0/0/0/50 in CMYK, this applies to images in Device-Gray as well as all other greyscale data in PDF files. Even if you do not provide us with PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in greyscale, we would proceed in such a way that we treat them as the black channel of the ordered output colour space. If we output your TIFFs or JPEGs in grey profiles such as "Dot Gain 15%" or an "EPSON Gray Gamma 1.8" in these colour spaces, or for example output them relatively colourimetrically in your ordered output colour space, please write this to us in the "Notes on your order" field, which you can find during the order process.

proof papers

We proof on four certified paper grades, two without optical brightening agents for "classic" and two proof papers with optical brighteners for Fogra51/Fogra52 and Heaven42. All proof papers are certified by Fogra as proof substrates::

For the simulation of image printing papers we use the Gravure Proof Paper from EFI with 245 g/m². It feels very high quality and is also perfect for customer presentations.
The 4245 is a coated universally applicable semi-matte and wipeable paper. This proof paper, specially developed for offset and gravure printing, is compatible with paper types 1 and 2 of ISO 12647-2 and comes almost without paper simulation for these papers. The EFI 4245 is certified as 4245 GRACoL/SWOP #3 and for the gravure printing area (S1 and S2) and for the offset printing area (PT3), this paper is also certified by FOGRA. 
 

    EFI Gravure Proof Paper 4245 Semi-matte:

• Semi-matte coated paper
• Very large colour space
• One-sided printable
• Very good fading behaviour
• Very low content of optical brightening agents
• Weight: 245 g/m²
• Thickness: 260 μ
• Opacity: 96%
• L*a*b paper white: 94.8 / 0.3 / -1.5

For anyone who needs a proof for natural papers, we offer a proof on matte EFI 9120XF 120 g/m² paper. This proof paper contains virtually no optical brightening agents. The special colouring and the high L value are very suitable for the simulation of matte prints. It is perfect for the simulation of natural papers because it is very similar in feel and thickness to letterhead paper.
 

    EFI Proof Paper 9120XF Matt

• Large colour space
• Easy to fold
• Low content of optical brightening agents
• Weight: 120 g/m²
• Thickness: 150 μm
• Opacity: 95%
• Gloss: 6%
• L*a*b paper white: 96.7 / 0.2 / -2.4

The ECI (European Colour Initiative) writes in their practice recommendation "Uncoated":
"Another special feature must be observed when proofing for printing on uncoated paper: The semi-matte proof paper usually used for "Coated" also results in poor visual proof-print agreement even with very good metrological results of the media wedge evaluation. The use of uncoated proof paper prepared for use on proof printers results in the best possible metrological agreement with the target values from the characterisation file and also provides the best possible visual agreement between proof and print."
http://www.eci.org/doku.php?id=de:colorstandards:offset
 

proof papers with optical brightening agents (OBA)

EFI Proof Paper 8245 OBA Semi-matte
For anyone who needs a proof for image printing papers with optical brightening agents, we offer a proof on semi-matte EFI 8245 OBA semi-matte with 245 g/m² paper. The EFI proof paper 8245 OBA Semi-matte was specially developed for proofing white and brightened, coated printing papers. The white point of this semi-matte paper is very close to the values of the FOGRA51 profile and thus enables proofing according to FOGRA51 with almost no paper white simulation. It is also well suited for simulating printing conditions PC1 according to ISO 12647-2:2013.
 

• Weight: 245 g/m²
• Thickness: 245 μm
• Opacity: > 95 %
• Gloss: 22 %
• CIE L*a*b* (M0): 95.8 | 0.9 | -4.3
• CIE L*a*b* (M1): 96.0 | 1.1 | -5.6

EFI Proof Paper 8175 OBA Matt
For anyone who needs a proof for natural papers with optical brightening agents, we offer a proof on matte EFI 7175 OBA matte with 175 g/m² paper. The EFI proof paper 8175 OBA Matt was specially developed for proofing uncoated, heavily brightened printing papers. It is very well suited for proofing according to Fogra52.
 

• Weight: 175 g/m²
• Thickness: 230 μm
• Opacity: 97 %
• Gloss: 5 %
• CIE L*a*b* (M0): 96.8 | 2.5 | -7.7
• CIE L*a*b* (M1): 97.0 | 3.0 | -10.8

Both natural papers are FSC certified, the 8245 OBA paper is PEFC certified.

For any questions about proofing, feel free to call us at any time. 

Telephone: +49 (0) 7071-7952740 
Mon - Fri:  9.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.

• Which profile is right for me?
• How do I need to create the PDF file?
• How quickly can you ship it?
• ...?

Outside our business hours, you can also email us with your questions at any time, which we will answer as soon as possible: info@proof.de
We have compiled the most important questions for you here: Frequently asked questions about
You will also find a lot of knowledge on the topics of proof, digital proof, online proof and colour proof directly here: proof.de

Matthias Betz and the team at proof.de