A2+ proof colour-accurate, tiered pricing from €17.50

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 medium for colour-compliant test prints. A colour-compliant proof must, according to the Media Standard Offset Printing, 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-compliant 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-compliant 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 order (surcharge € 4.- total)

You can order the media wedges per page directly when selecting the respective proof format. For a media wedge with test report per order, please select it as an additional item and place it separately in your shopping cart.

 

 

You can upload one or more files for each item after completing your order.
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 items in DIN A3 format and two files with one page each in DIN A2 format for the two in DIN A2 format. If we should create multiple copies of an item, please let us know in the item message for that item.

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

Now complete the order by pressing the "UPLOADS DONE, COMPLETE ORDER" button.

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

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

If your data is faulty during data checking, 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 AM: € 25.- DHL / FedEX Express before 9:00 AM: € 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 AM: € 25.- DHL / FedEX Express before 9:00 AM: € 75.- DHL Express with Saturday delivery: € 49.-
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 before 4 PM are shipped the same working day*. Orders with data receipt after 4 PM are shipped the following working day*. Express delivery before 9 AM is not possible in all areas of Germany. Please enquire briefly before ordering.
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.-
Standard delivery time for shipments to EU countries is 2 to 5 working days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments are usually delivered the next working day* in European business centres, 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:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express: € 45.-	Parcel or small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 55.-
Standard delivery time for shipments abroad is 2 to 5 working days*, sometimes considerably longer. We have seen delivery times of 6 weeks to New York. Therefore, especially when shipping to the USA and timing is important, please select express shipping. Express shipments are delivered the next or second 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 small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 75.-
Standard delivery time for shipments worldwide is up to 15 working days*, in exceptional cases longer to several weeks. We ship here via Post Priority registered letter or DHL parcel international. Therefore, especially when shipping needs to arrive quickly, please select express shipping. 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.
Shipping zones are regulated differently by Deutsche Post, DHL and in some cases. To determine your exact price, please log in and place the required items in your shopping cart. After entering the delivery address, the shop will display the individual shipping options and calculate the shipping costs correctly.  In individual cases we reserve the right to recalculate shipping costs that may be significantly higher. This can happen with bulky and large shipments such as roll-ups or very large proofs, but also sometimes with orders to remote regions or special business centres: Example Croatia: Express shipping to a Croatian island costs four times as much as shipping to Zagreb. We must therefore recalculate higher shipping costs in some cases than shown in the shop, as we can only take the country into account during the shipping cost calculation, not the region. However, we will always inform you of any additional costs before shipping.  If you have any questions, please call us. *Working day = Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Germany or Baden-Württemberg. Please note the regulations in the various federal 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 the proof prices

 

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

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

PDF/X-1a (widely distributed especially 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 as standard for data exchange of print data at most printing companies. 

PDF/X-4 is the new printing standard for PDF files. In contrast to PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 files can contain transparencies. 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, but increasingly desired 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. 

Anyone who wants to get exact information about the advantages and disadvantages of the respective formats should consult the PDFX-ready pages. You will find all information, guidelines 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 compliance. Therefore it is important that you know exactly how we handle colours in detail in your supplied files. 

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 requested 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 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 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 with a note, as we cannot reliably interpret your RGB data. If your images are correctly marked, but your output colour space does not match the requested 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 output profile PSOCoatedV3 and order a proof in PSOCoatedV3: We proof your data and correctly take into account all your RGB colour spaces and rendering intents. However, if your file has ISOCoatedV2 as the output profile, we will send a "data faulty" email, as we would now have to "override" your output colour space stored in the PDF, and thus make colour transformations that are not clearly understandable for you.

If you supply us with pure TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles instead of PDFs, we will send a "data faulty" email. If we should output your TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles such as "sRGB" or "AdobeRGB" in these colour spaces or, for example, output them relatively colour metrically into your requested output colour space, please write to us in the "Notes to your order" field that you will find during order processing. 

For photo prints in RGB colour spaces, you should choose our fine art prints, which are perfectly suited for this purpose. Pure RGB output is not actually intended for proofs. 

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

Proof: ISOCoated V2 | Colours: PANTONE C / HKS K | Result: Perfect for proof and offset printing
Proof: ISOCoated V2 | Colours: PANTONE U / HKS N | Result: Difficult, as proofable but not suitable for offset printing
Proof: PSOUncoated V3 | Colours: PANTONE U / HKS N | Result: Perfect for proof and offset printing
Proof: PSOUncoated V3 | Colours: PANTONE C / HKS K | Result: Difficult, as usually not proofable and not suitable for offset printing

When proofing spot colours, you should also note: For spot colours, we only have the respective solid, i.e. the 100% spot colour area, stored in our proof system. A 50% area of PANTONE 123 C or HKS 15 N would be calculated by the proofing software, as no real, measured colour data for the 50% value is stored in our system. These values are calculated very intelligently by the proofing software, but are still only a clever calculation and not a simulation based on a metrologically recorded reference. The same applies when, for example, a spot colour is semi-transparent and overprints another spot colour or a CMYK image. 

Grey levels

We treat grey levels in PDF files as if they were on the black channel of the requested proof output colour space. A 50% grey is thus output like a 0/0/0/50 in CMYK, this applies to images in device grey as well as to all other grey level data in PDF files. Even if you supply us with pure TIFFs or JPEGs in grey levels instead of PDFs, we would proceed in such a way that we treat these as the black channel of the requested output colour space. If we should 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 colour metrically into your requested output colour space, please write to us in the "Notes to your order" field that you will find during order processing.

proof papers

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

For the simulation of glossy papers we use the EFI Gravure Proof Paper with 245 g/m². It feels very high quality and is also perfect for customer presentations.
The 4245 is a coated universally usable semi-matte and wipe-resistant paper. This proofing 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 certified for GRACoL/SWOP #3 and for the gravure printing area (S1 and S2) and for the offset printing area (PT3) the paper is also certified by FOGRA. 
 

    EFI Gravure Proof Paper 4245 semi-matte:

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

For anyone who needs a proof for uncoated 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 well suited for the simulation of matte printed materials. It is perfect for the simulation of uncoated papers as it is very similar in feel and thickness to letter paper.
 

    EFI Proof Paper 9120XF matte

• Large colour space
• Slightly foldable
• Low proportion of optical brightening agents
• 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 practice recommendation "Uncoated":
"Another special feature to note when proofing for printing on uncoated paper: The semi-matte proofing paper usually used for "coated" results in poor visual proof-print agreement even with very good metrological results of the media wedge evaluation. The use of uncoated proofing paper prepared for printing on proofing 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 brightening agents (OBA)

EFI Proof Paper 8245 OBA semi-matte
For anyone who needs a proof for glossy 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 8245OBA 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 matte
For anyone who needs a proof for uncoated papers with optical brightening agents, we offer a proof on matte EFI 7175 OBA matte with 175 g/m² paper. The EFI Proof Paper 8175OBA Matte 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

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

For all questions about proof, please feel free to call us at any time. 

Phone: +49 (0) 7071-7952740 
Mon - Fri:  9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

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

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

Matthias Betz and the team from proof.de