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A4 Proof colour-accurate, tiered pricing from €4.50
Proof in DIN A4 Format (maximum data format: 210 x 297 mm)
Our proofs are created according to the highest proof standards and with state-of-the-art proof software and hardware.
We proof over 60 different proof standards from Fogra, ECI, IFRA, IDEAlliance, JPMA, JMPA and ERA.Â
Your advantages with Proof.de:
- Colour-compliant and legally binding proofs according to the latest proof standard ISO 12647-7:2016
- PANTONE and HKS Proof: Thanks to the immense colour gamut of our proof devices, special colours are also reproduced optimally
- State-of-the-art proof hardware and software: 12-colour Epson proofer with EFI Fiery XF and GMG Colorproof software
- Express shipping: Data received by 4 pm = shipped the same day
- Free proof hotline: Weekdays 9 - 6 pm: Tel. +49 (0)7071-7952740
- Free data checking included
- More than 60 proof profiles: All worldwide proof standards available
- Individual proof profiles: We are also happy to set up house standards or special proof profiles for you
- With the EPSON SureColor SC-P7000V/9000V Spectro we proof with the most accurate colour reproduction in the entire printer market1
- Latest UGRA/Fogra media wedge 3.0
- Fogra certified proof papers at 245 gsm for photo printing and 170/120 gsm for natural paper
- Worldwide shipping, including express
- Neutral shipping on request
- Worldwide first certified company for proofs according to FOGRA 51 / 52 / 54 / 59
- First certified company for 7-colour proofs with expanded colour gamut according to FOGRA 55
- First PDF X-ready certified company in Germany for proof output of PDF/X-4 data
- Proof GmbH is a member of Fogra and is connected to current research and development
- Customer rating: 4.99 out of 5 stars from 2540 reviews (as of 01/2024)
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-compliant test prints. A colour-compliant proof must have, according to the MediaStandard Offset Printing, 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 print shop or agency has the technical measurement 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 order (surcharge € 4.- total)
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 one file with 10 pages in DIN A3 format for the DIN A3 items and two files with one page each in DIN A2 format for the two DIN A2 items. If we are to make multiple copies of a proof, 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 what the upload area for an A4 proof looks like before uploading.
Now select your file to be proofed and upload it or drag it into the upload window.
After uploading, you can review your proof data again, download it, delete it, or upload other data.
Now complete your order by pressing the "UPLOADS COMPLETE, COMPLETE ORDER" button.
Your order will then no longer be editable for you. We receive the message that we can now begin data checking and proof production.
Even after completing your order, you can view your order at any time, but you can no longer modify 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 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 working days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments are usually delivered the next working day*. Orders with data received by 4 pm are shipped the same working day*. Orders with data received after 4 pm are shipped the following working day*. An express delivery by 9 am is not possible in all regions of Germany. Please enquire 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 transit time for shipments to EU abroad is 2 to 5 working days*, in exceptional cases longer. Express shipments in European business centres are usually delivered the next working day*, but can also have significantly longer transit 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 parcel DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 55.- |
| The standard transit time for shipments abroad is 2 to 5 working days*, sometimes significantly longer. We have seen transit times of 6 weeks to New York. Please select express shipping, especially for shipments to the USA that should arrive promptly. Express shipments are usually 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 parcel DHL/UPS: € 25.- UPS Express: € 75.- |
| The standard transit time for shipments to worldwide destinations is up to 15 working days*, in exceptional cases longer for several weeks. We ship here via Post Priority registered letter or DHL parcel international. Please select express shipping, especially for shipments that should arrive promptly. 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 partly by others. To determine your exact price, please log in and add the required items to your basket. 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 in some cases with orders to more remote regions or specific business centres: for 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 displayed in the shop, as we can only take the country into account during the shipping cost calculation, not the region. 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 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 standardThe country allocations for shipping are listed in detail here. | |
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 print-optimised PDF files. These ISO standards ensure, for example, that fonts and images are embedded. They are recognised and desired as the standard for print data exchange at most print shops.
PDF/X-4 is the new print standard for PDF files. Unlike PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 files can contain transparencies. PDF/X-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 required, but increasingly requested by print shops, 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 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 find out 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 inspection 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 in all common layout programmes during export.
How we handle your colour data
For us, a proof means absolute colour compliance. Therefore, it is important that you know exactly how we handle colours in detail in your supplied files for proofs.
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 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 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 during proofing according to your labels from RGB to CMYK. If your images are in Device-RGB, you will receive a "Data faulty" email from us with a note, since we cannot reliably interpret your RGB data. 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 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 consider 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, as we would now have to "override" your output colour space stored in the PDF, and thus would have to perform colour transformations that are not clearly traceable for you.
If you supply us with pure TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles rather than PDFs, we trigger a "Data faulty" email. Should we output your TIFFs or JPEGs in RGB profiles such as "sRGB" or "AdobeRGB" in these colour spaces or output them, for example, relatively colourmetrically in your ordered output colour space, please let us know in the "Remarks on your order" field, which you will find during the order process.
For photo prints in RGB colour spaces, you can best choose our fine art prints, which are perfectly suited for this. Pure RGB output is not really envisaged in a proof.
Spot colours
We can simulate all spot colours very well - whether PANTONE, HKS, Toyo or custom, proprietary spot colours. The only exception is 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. Provided your spot colours are correctly named, such as "PANTONE 123 C" or "HKS 15 N", we take 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 photo print standards such as ISOCoatedV2, we trigger a "Data faulty" email. We can also simulate PANTONE "U" colours on a photo print paper proof, but an offset print shop could not print that, as the PANTONE "C" colour will always result from printing on photo print paper. The same applies to HKS K or PANTONE C colours on proofs for natural papers such as PSOUncoatedV3: Here too, we would 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 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: With spot colours, only the respective solid colour, i.e. the 100% spot colour area, is stored in our proof system. A 50% area of PANTONE 123 C or HKS 15 N would be calculated by the proof software, as no real, measured colour data for the 50% value is 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-transparent and overlaid by another spot colour or by a CMYK image.
Grayscale
We treat grayscale 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 0/0/0/50 in CMYK. This applies to images in Device-Gray as well as to all other grayscale data in PDF files. Even if you do not send us PDFs but pure TIFFs or JPEGs in grayscale, we would proceed by treating these 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 output them, for example, relatively colourmetrically in your ordered output colour space, please let us know in the "Remarks on your order" field, which you will find during the order process.
Proof papers
We proof on four certified paper grades, 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 print papers we use the EFI Gravure Proof Paper at 245 gsm. It feels very high-quality and is also perfect for presentations with your customers.
The 4245 is a coated universally applicable semi-matte 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 requires almost no paper simulation for these papers. The EFI 4245 is certified GRACoL/SWOP #3 4245 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 gamut
- One-sided printable
- Very good fading behaviour
- Very low proportion of optical brighteners
- Weight: 245 gsm
- 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 120 gsm paper. This proof paper contains virtually no optical brighteners. The special colouration and high L value are very well suited for the simulation of matt printing. It is perfect for the simulation of natural papers, as it is very similar to letterhead paper in feel and thickness.EFI Proof Paper 9120XF Matte
- Large colour gamut
- Slightly foldable
- Low proportion of optical brighteners
- Weight: 120 gsm
- 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 proof paper commonly used for "Coated" produces poor visual proof-to-print agreement even with very good metrological media wedge evaluation. The use of uncoated proof paper prepared for proof printing produces 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 photo print papers with optical brighteners, we offer a proof on semi-matte EFI 8245 OBA semi-matte at 245 gsm 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 virtually 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 those who need a proof for natural papers with optical brighteners, we offer a proof on matte EFI 7175 OBA matte at 175 gsm 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
If you have any questions about proofing, please feel free to call us at any time. 
Phone: +49 (0) 7071-7952740
Mon - Fri: 9.00 - 6.00 pm
- Which profile is right for me?
- How do 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 for you here: Frequently asked questions about
You will also find a wealth of knowledge on the topics of proof, digital proof, online proof and colour proof directly here: Proof.de
Matthias Betz and the team from Proof.de