Certified Correct Color Vs G7 For Large Format Printing

 

If you're a large or grand format printer and you're looking for print process control, or for color management, or if you're looking to get a handle on printing predictably and consistently between media and devices, you've no doubt heard of G7.

 

We have too. For years.

 

And we've done quite a bit of research and investigating and testing on the G7 method as well.

 

And for years we've felt -- and our testing and research have confirmed -- that while G7 is an interesting solution to a problem that long existed in traditional offset lithography, it just does not have any actual benefit that applies to any form of inkjet printing.

 

So Correct Color has developed a total package print process control and color management system that actually does all the things you need print process control and color management to do.

 

 We call it Certified Correct Color.

 

How do Certified Correct Color and G7 compare in large and grand format inkjet printing?

 

Certified Correct Color is a complete, comprehensive, beginning-to-end color workflow management system for anyone using large or grand format inkjet printers. It is a process specifically designed for large and grand format inkjet printing. Large and grand format inkjet printing of any kind, from fine art to fabrics; from vehicle wraps to billboards; a process specifically designed to get the best possible results out of large and grand format inkjet printers on each and every media. Each and every print. First time. Every time.

 

G7 is a grey balance routine originally developed for traditional offset printing and since adapted to be used in other printing processes, including large format inkjet printing. The G7 process itself has no impact on anything other than printing grey. And it has no impact at all on print quality when used with anything but a litho standard ICC profile that includes G7 curves as its expected tone curves. No large format inkjet printers use litho standard ICC profiles.

 

So what can Certified Correct Color or G7 do for you?

 

Enhance color gamut on every single printer on every single media:

 

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Since Certified Correct Color is designed specifically for large and grand format inkjet printing, it is also designed to get every bit of gamut capability out of each and every printer, on each and every media, on each and every print, each and every time.

 

Nothing about G7 is designed in any way to enhance the capabilities of any machine to print anything other than grey. So what happens is that you can have a machine that you spent some huge dollars on that has some impressive gamut capabilities, have that machine G7ed, wind up leaving a lot of those gamut capabilities on the table, and still get a G7 certification.

 

Achieve the best possible print quality — including minimum graininess in highlights and midtones and best possible overall inking characteristics — on each and every machine on each and every media:

 

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Certified Correct Color is designed to get the very best possible inking characteristics out of each and every one of your printers on each and every media, each and every time. It's an integral part of the process.

 

The G7 process does not address machine inking characteristics in any way, save for their ability to hit a grey balance objective. That grey may or my not wind up being achieved with a particular inking strategy that makes for the overall most visually pleasing printed results on any particular media.

 

Work with inksets other than CMYK:

 

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Certified Correct Color has no limitations and works with any inkset configuration.

 

The G7 method defines tone curves for CMYK only. There’s no way to apply G7 curves to any CMYK + Additional Color inksets.

 

Help to accurately reproduce spot colors (including Pantone colors):

 

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While of course even Certified Correct Color can’t make a machine print a color that’s out of its gamut, it is designed to achieve maximum gamut for every printer at every resolution on every material, thereby maximizing the the range of colors it is possible to achieve, as well as assuring closer representations of actual out-of-gamut colors. It also includes specific instructions and RIP-specific procedures for handling spot colors so as to get the closest possible match on every media. First time. Every time.

 

Nothing in the G7 method has anything to do with or any effect on printing Pantone colors or any other spot colors.

 

Enable color consistency across devices and media:

 

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But wait! Sort of? Isn’t this G7’s big claim to fame?

 

It’s what they sell. But many, many, facets go into making for color consistency across media and devices. Bottom line is that G7 is all about printing consistent grey between devices, period.

 

Certified Correct Color is all about reproducing files correctly on any and all devices.

 

And files that are reproduced correctly -- regardless of the printer or process doing the reproducing -- are going to be the closest possible visual match.

 

Enable color accurate printing of images in industry standard color spaces that are based on the G7 spec, such as SWOP, and GRAcol:

 

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For purposes of reproduction, industry standard CMYK color spaces are no different that any other ICC profiles. Whether or not they can be reproduced accurately depends on the gamut of the reproducing device, the white point of the new media, and how well the reproducing device’s profile matches what it actually prints.

 

So the bottom line is that even if you have your printers G7ed, they’ve still got to be profiled. And it’s those profiles, not the G7 curves baked into their linearization, that will determine how accurately they will reproduce any files you send them.

 

With Certified Correct Color, the focus is on those profiles in their entirety, and each and every one of them will be made by Mike Adams.

 

With G7, the focus will be on the G7 process -- actually done as part of the machine linearization -- and who knows who will actually write your ICC profiles, how much experience they have had writing ICC profiles, or how good those profiles will be?

 

Enable printing of proper neutral greys:

 

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Oh, come on! I know you’re jacking me here, right? Surely they can do grey better then you; hell, better than anybody!

 

Well, you’d think so, but here gets to be the real reason why G7 just really isn’t a process that’s designed for large format inkjet printing. See, what G7 actually is is a linearization/calibration routine. Now they call it a “grey balance” routine, and it is in the sense that it arrives at its targeted values by reading composite grey patches as opposed to individual patches of each colorant; but it’s done in the linearization phase of the media profile-making process, its results become the linearization file which becomes a part of the machine state of which the ICC profile is then a characterization.

 

And it is the ICC profile that tells the RIP what color every individual pixel is, and what combination of colors to fire in order to reproduce that color. And that is every bit as true whether that color is red, gren, blue... or grey.

 

So, if you have someone come and do G7 for you, your actual results are going to come down to how good they are at ICC profiling.

 

And the fact is that the G7 process itself in large format is really pretty easy. After all, they mint out fresh new “experts” in three days. ICC profiling, however, takes a little longer to learn to do well. And however much of an “expert” at G7 whomever you get to set up G7 may be, it’s how good they are at making ICC profiles that will determine your final result.

 

With Certified Correct Color, you get machine-state conditions -- including linearization, that are optimal for your purpose, and then ICC profiles built by profiling master Mike Adams.

 

Bottom line:

 

If you're truly serious about getting every bit of the capabilities you paid for out of each and every one of your printers on each and every print, each and every time, Certified Correct Color is the way to get there.

Learn more about Certified Correct Color:

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