A1 proof colour-accurate, tiered pricing from €28,-

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 patches of the current media wedge CMYK V3.0 provide increased sensitivity in the highlights and shadows 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 technical measuring capabilities to verify a media wedge on site, we offer to provide 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 in total per order (surcharge € 4.- total)

You can order the media wedges per page directly with the respective proof format. To add one media wedge with test report in total per order, please select it as a separate item and add it to your shopping basket.

 

 

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 proofs in DIN A3 format and two files with one page each for the two in DIN A2 format. If we are to produce multiple copies of a proof, please let us know this in the item message for the item.

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

The image shows how the upload area for an A4 proof looks before upload.

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

Even after completing your order, you can view your order at any time, but you can no longer change it.

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

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

Shipping costs and delivery times

Packaging and shipping Germany:

Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format onwards:
DHL small parcel: € 4.70  UPS Express Saver: € 13.- (delivery by end of business day) UPS Express before 12:00 p.m.: € 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 p.m.: € 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 business days*, longer in exceptional cases. Express shipments are usually delivered the next business day*. Orders with data received by 4 p.m. are dispatched the same business day*. Orders with data received after 4 p.m. are dispatched the following business day*. An express delivery before 9 a.m. is not possible to all areas of Germany. Please ask briefly before ordering.
Packaging and shipping EU:
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format onwards:
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 business days*, longer in exceptional cases. Express shipments to European business centres are usually delivered the next business day*, but can also have significantly longer delivery times.
Packaging and shipping non-EU Europe and North America:
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format onwards:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express: € 45.-	Parcel or small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 55.-
The standard delivery time for shipments abroad is 2 to 5 business days*, sometimes significantly longer. We have seen delivery times of 6 weeks to New York. Therefore, especially for shipments to the USA that should arrive in a timely manner, please select express shipping. Express shipments are delivered the next or day after next business day*, but sometimes only a few days later.
Packaging and shipping rest of world
Up to DIN A4+ format:	From DIN A3 format onwards:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express: € 55.-	Parcel or small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 75.-
The standard delivery time for shipments to destinations worldwide is up to 15 business days*, longer in exceptional cases up to several weeks. We ship here via Post Priority registered mail or DHL international small package. Therefore, especially for shipments that should arrive in a timely manner, please select express shipping. Express shipments are usually delivered within four business 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 in part. To determine your exact price, please log in and add the required proofs to your shopping basket. After entering the delivery address, the shop will display individual shipping options and calculate the shipping costs correctly.  In individual cases, we reserve the right to charge significantly higher shipping costs afterwards. This can occur with bulky and large shipments such as roll-ups or very large proofs, but also in some cases for orders to more remote regions or special business centres: for example Croatia: Express shipping to a Croatian island costs four times as much as shipping to Zagreb. We therefore sometimes have to charge higher shipping costs afterwards than displayed in the shop, as we can only consider the country but not the region during the shipping cost calculation. However, we will always inform you of any additional costs before dispatch.  If you have any questions, please call us. *Business day = Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Germany and Baden-Württemberg. Please note the regulations in the different federal states (Wikipedia). No shipping and no delivery on public holidays.
Country allocation for shipping by post or DHL / UPS standard You can find the country allocations for shipping detailed here.

To the proof prices

 

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

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

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

PDF/X-4 is the new print standard for PDF files. Unlike PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 files can contain transparencies in the file. 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 X-4 data allows separation to 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. 

For anyone who wants to know exactly about the advantages and disadvantages of the respective formats, we recommend the pages of PDFX-ready. 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 on export in all common layout programmes. 

How we handle your colour data

For us, a proof is absolute colour fidelity. Therefore, it is 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 by us with their exact colour values in your ordered output colour space. 

Example: You supply 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 by us 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 conform to 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 markings from RGB to CMYK. If your images are in Device-RGB, you will receive a "data faulty" email from us with a note, as 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 supply 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 included RGB colour spaces and rendering intents. However, if your file has ISOCoatedV2 as the output profile, we trigger a "data faulty" email, as we would now have to "override" the output colour space stored in your PDF, and thus make colour transformations that are not clearly comprehensible to you.

If you do not send us PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles, we trigger a "data faulty" email. Should 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, relatively colourmetrically in your ordered output colour space, please let us know this in the "Notes to your order" field that you will find during the order process. 

For photo prints in RGB colour spaces, our fineart prints are best suited, which are perfectly suited for this purpose. Pure RGB output is not actually intended for proof. 

Spot colours

We can simulate all spot colours very well - whether PANTONE, HKS, Toyo or individual, custom spot colours. The 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 such as "PANTONE 123 C" or "HKS 15 N", we use the digital colour reference data stored with us 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 print standards such as ISOCoatedV2, we trigger a "data faulty" email. We can also simulate PANTONE "U" colours on a proof for image print paper, but an offset printing company could not print it because PANTONE C colour will always result when printing on image print paper. The same applies to HKS K or PANTONE C colours on proofs for natural papers such as PSOUncoatedV3: We would also send you a "data faulty" email here because we often also cannot achieve the coated colour 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 because 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 because usually not proofable and not offset printable

When proofing spot colours, you should also note: For spot colours, we only store the respective full tone, i.e. the 100% spot colour area in our proofing system. A 50% area of PANTONE 123 C or HKS 15 N would be calculated by the proof software, as we do not have real measured colour data for the 50% value stored in our system. These values are calculated very intelligently by the proof software, but they 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 semi-transparently overprinted by another spot colour or by a CMYK image. 

Greyscales

We treat greyscales in PDF files as if they were on the black channel of the ordered proof output colour space. A 50% grey is output as 0/0/0/50 in CMYK, this applies to images in Device-Gray as well as to all other greyscale data in PDF files. Even if you do not send us PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in greyscale, we would proceed in such a way that we treat them as the black channel of your ordered output colour space. Should 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, relatively colourmetrically in your ordered output colour space, please let us know this in the "Notes to your order" field that you will find during the order process.

proof papers

We proof on four certified paper types, two without optical brighteners for "classic" proofs 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 print papers we use the Gravure proof paper from EFI with 245g/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 requires almost no paper simulation for these papers. The EFI 4245 is the 4245 GRACoL/SWOP #3 certified 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 brighteners
• Weight: 245 g/m²
• Thickness: 260µ
• Opacity: 96%
• L*a*b paper white: 94.8 / 0.3 / -1.5

For those who need a proof for natural papers, we offer a proof on matte EFI 9120XF 120g/m² paper. This proof paper contains virtually no optical brighteners. The special colouring and the high L value are very suitable for the simulation of matte printed matter. 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
• Slightly foldable
• Low content of optical brighteners
• Weight: 120 g/m²
• Thickness: 150µ
• Opacity: 95%
• Gloss: 6%
• L*a*b paper white: 96.7 / 0.2 / -2.4

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

proof papers with optical brighteners (OBA)

EFI proof Paper 8245 OBA semi-matte
For those who need a proof for image print papers with optical brighteners, we offer a proof on semi-matte EFI 8245 OBA semi-matte with 245 g/m² paper. The EFI proof Paper 8245OBA semi-matte was specially developed for proofing white and brightened coated publication 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 those who need a proof for natural papers with optical brighteners, we offer a proof on matte EFI 7175 OBA matt with 175g/m² paper. The EFI proof Paper 8175OBA Matt was specially developed for proofing uncoated, heavily brightened publication 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

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

For all questions relating to proofing, please 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 always send us an email with your questions, which we will answer as quickly as possible: info@proof.de
We have compiled the most important questions for you here: Frequently asked questions about
You can also find plenty 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