We are happy to provide 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 instrument for colour-binding test prints. According to the Media Standard Offset Printing, a colour-binding proof must have a media wedge whose colour values correspond to the tolerances of ISO 12647-7. The colour fields 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 numerous 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 measurement technical means 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 in total per order (surcharge € 4.- total)

You can order the media wedges per page directly when selecting the respective proof format. To select one 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 for the two items in DIN A2 format. If we are to make 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 illustration shows how the upload area for an A4 proof looks like before upload.

 

You now select your file to be proofed and upload it or drag it into the upload window.

 

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

 

 

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

Your order can then no longer be edited by you. We receive the message that we can now begin the data check and proof.
 

Even after completing the order, you can view your order at any time, but you can no longer 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 by you during this time and downloaded for inspection.

Shipping costs and delivery times

Packaging and shipping Germany:

Up to DIN A4+:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel: € 4.70  UPS Express Saver: € 13.- (delivery by end of business day) UPS Express by 12:00: € 15.- UPS Express by 10:30 am: € 25.- DHL / FedEX Express by 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 by 12:00: € 15.- UPS Express by 10:30 am: € 25.- DHL / FedEX Express by 9:00 am: € 75.- DHL Express with Saturday delivery: € 49.-
The standard transit time for shipments within Germany is 1 to 4 business days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments are usually delivered the next business day*. Orders with data receipt by 4 pm are dispatched on the same business day*. Orders with data receipt after 4 pm are dispatched on the following business day*. An express delivery by 9 am is not possible to all areas of Germany. Please enquire briefly before placing your order.
Packaging and shipping EU:
Up to DIN A4+:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express Saver: € 35.-	UPS parcel: € 19.- UPS Express Saver: € 45.-
The standard transit time for shipments to EU countries is 2 to 5 business days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments to European economic centres are usually delivered the next business day*, but can also take significantly longer.
Packaging and shipping, non-EU Europe and North America:
Up to DIN A4+:	From DIN A3 format:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express: € 45.-	Parcel or small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 55.-
The standard transit time for shipments abroad is 2 to 5 business days*, sometimes significantly longer. We have seen transit times of 6 weeks to New York. Please therefore select express shipping, especially for shipments to the USA that should arrive promptly. Express shipments are delivered the next or second business day*, but sometimes only a few days later.
Packaging and shipping rest of world
Up to DIN A4+:	From DIN A3:
DHL small parcel international: € 10.- UPS Express: € 55.-	Parcel or small package DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 75.-
The standard transit time for shipments worldwide is up to 15 business days*, in exceptional cases longer up to several weeks. We ship here via Post Priority Registered or DHL International Small Package. Please therefore select express shipping, especially for shipments that should arrive promptly. 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 sometimes. To determine your exact price, please log in and add the required items to 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 calculate higher shipping costs in arrears. This can occur for bulky and large shipments such as roll-ups or very large proofs, but also for orders to remote regions or special economic centres: example Croatia: Express shipping to a Croatian island costs four times as much as shipping to Zagreb. We may therefore have to charge higher shipping costs retroactively in some cases than those displayed in the shop, as we can only take the country into account during shipping cost calculation, not the region. However, we will always inform you of any additional costs before dispatch.  Please call us if you have any questions. *Business 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 allocation for shipping via post or DHL / UPS standard You can find the country allocations for shipping listed here in detail.

To the proof prices

 

Customers usually 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 used 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 print data exchange 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. PDF/X-3 was also already a medium-neutral standard, but 99% of all X-3 files contain only CMYK colours and spot colours. PDF/X-4 is still rarely desired, but increasingly by printing companies, as 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 that is PDFX-ready certified for proof output of PDF/X-4 data and has been a member of PDFX-ready for several years. 

For anyone wanting to learn exactly about the advantages and disadvantages of each format, we recommend the PDFX-ready pages. Here 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 binding. Therefore, it is important that you know exactly how we handle colours in your supplied files in detail when making proofs. 

CMYK colours

With CMYK colours, the rule is simple: We bring all CMYK colours contained in your proofs with their exact colour values to your ordered output colour space. 

Example: You supply a PDF in ISOCoated (Fogra27) and order a proof in ISOCoatedV2 (Fogra39). We will output a colour value of CMYK 100/70/0/0 in your PDF file with its exact colour values 100/70/0/0 in your ordered colour space ISOCoatedV2. A conversion from ISOCoated to ISOCoatedV2 does not take 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 labelled 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 when proofing according to your designations from RGB to CMYK. If your images are in Device-RGB, you will receive an email saying "data faulty" with a note, as we cannot reliably interpret your RGB data in that case. If your images are correctly labelled 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 will trigger a "data faulty" email because we would now have to "override" the output colour space stored in the PDF, and would therefore have to perform colour transformations that are not clearly understandable to you.

If you do not provide us with PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles, we will 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 convert them relatively colourmetrically to your ordered output colour space, please let us know in the "Notes on your order" field that you will find during the order process. 

For photo printing in RGB colour spaces, we recommend choosing our fineart prints, which are perfectly suited for this. Pure RGB output is not actually provided in the 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 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 apply your spot colours to the proof.

If you use a PANTONE "U" colour for "Uncoated" natural paper in a proof for photo printing standards such as ISOCoatedV2, we will trigger a "data faulty" email. We can also simulate PANTONE "U" colours on a proof for photo printing paper, but an offset printing company could not print that because with printing on photo printing paper, the PANTONE "C" colour will always result. 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 because we also often cannot achieve the coated colour on our natural papers for proofs. Some examples:

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

When proofing spot colours, you should also note: For spot colours, we only have the full tone stored in our proofing system, i.e. the 100% spot colour area. A 50% area of PANTONE 123 C or HKS 15 N would thus 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 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. 

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 as a 0/0/0/50 in CMYK, which applies to images in Device-Gray as well as to 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 so that we treat them as the black channel of the 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 convert them relatively colourmetrically to your ordered output colour space, please let us know in the "Notes on 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" 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 photo printing papers we use the Gravure Proof Paper from EFI with 245 g/m². It feels very high quality and is also perfect for presentations to customers.
The 4245 is a coated, universally applicable semi-matt and smudge-resistant 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 for these papers with almost no paper simulation. The EFI 4245 is certified GRACoL/SWOP #3 and is also certified by FOGRA for the gravure printing area (S1 and S2) and for the offset printing area (PT3). 
 

    EFI Gravure Proof Paper 4245 Semi-matt:

• Semi-matt coated paper
• Very large colour space
• Single-sided printable
• Excellent fading behaviour
• Very low proportion of optical brighteners
• Weight: 245 g/m²
• Thickness: 260μ
• Opacity: 96%
• L*a*b paper whiteness: 94.8 / 0.3 / -1.5

For those who need a proof for natural papers, we offer a proof on matt EFI 9120XF 120 g/m² paper. This proof paper contains practically no optical brighteners. The special colouration and high L value are ideal for simulating matt printed matter. It is perfect for simulating natural papers because it is very similar to letter paper in feel and thickness.
 

    EFI Proof Paper 9120XF Matt

• Large colour space
• Slightly foldable
• Low proportion of optical brighteners
• Weight: 120 g/m²
• Thickness: 150μ
• Opacity: 95%
• Gloss: 6%
• L*a*b paper whiteness: 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-matt proof paper commonly used for "coated" produces poor visual proof-print agreement even with very good metrological result of the media wedge evaluation. 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 provides 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-matt
For those who need a proof for photo printing papers with optical brighteners, we offer a proof on semi-matt EFI 8245 OBA semi-matt with 245 g/m² paper. The EFI Proof Paper 8245OBA Semi-matt was specially developed for proofing white and brightened, coated print papers. The white point of this semi-matt paper is very close to the values of the FOGRA51 profile and thus allows proofing according to FOGRA51 with almost no paper white simulation. It is also well suited for simulating print 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 matt EFI 7175 OBA matt with 175 g/m² paper. The EFI Proof Paper 8175OBA Matt was specially developed for proofing uncoated, highly brightened print 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 about proof, please feel free to call us at any time.    

Telephone: +49 (0) 7071-7952740 
Mon - Fri:  9.00 - 6.00 pm

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

Outside our business hours you can also send us an email with your questions at any time, 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 lots of knowledge about proof, digital proof, online proof and colour proof directly here: Proof.de

Matthias Betz and the Proof.de team