Summary

Hard copy colour proofing has never been very popular with newspaper printers. It is time and cost consuming. And in many cases the proof results are hardly comparable to the final print. As the entire prepress workflow is now definitely on the way to full digitisation and automation there is almost no more slot left for the chance of hard copy proofing. This is why IFRA looked into the possibilities of soft proofing of newspaper pages prior to full page output, either computer to film or to plate. What are the criteria a soft proofing system in newspaper production has to fulfill? Which monitors should be used? How does calibration work, and how is colour management involved? Which data formats and which input devices are supported? How is the soft proofing workflow arranged? This report compares those requirem:nts to the specifications of available systems on the market.