An LED is a ‘light-emitting diode’ and in the graphics industry stands for the new ‘LED’ light, which has replaced older light sources such as neon tubes and tungsten lamps. Neon tubes are mainly known from the area of D50 or D65 standard light, while tungsten light sources were mainly used in colour measuring devices such as spectrophotometers and colourimeters. Today, LED light sources are predominantly used for both standard light and colour measurement light, as they can be better spectrally adapted and often emit a more harmonious light spectrum, especially than neon light.
In modern standardised lighting, it is possible not only to set up standardised light for one type of light, such as D50, but also to simulate D50, D65, incandescent light and much more using several spectrally different LED lines by dimming and mixing the spectra differently in one lamp. In addition, the LED luminaires can often be dimmed, which was not possible with neon tubes.
LED light sources are also used in measuring devices, where several LED units are also often used, often including one for UV light in order to be able to offer a defined proportion of UV in the light.
What the industry is still waiting for are cost-effective standardised LED retrofit solutions, but these are unlikely to be long in coming. As the big players such as JUST Normlicht and GTI have dominated the market up to now, only expensive retrofits of the entire lighting unit have been offered instead of removing the old neon tubes and replacing them with new LED tubes in the same housing. At JUST, for example, replacing a small standard lighting unit with four tubes costs several thousand euros, as a completely new unit is used here and the old one has to be disposed of. Today, specialised smaller companies such as Lacuna Solutions can also offer modern and innovative, controllable standard light luminaires for new standard lighting solutions.
Today, however, LED light sources with a colour rendering index of over 98 are also available on the market, so it seems to be only a matter of time before LED retrofit solutions for D50 and D65 standard light will also be available here for the slim replacement of old standard light tubes while retaining the reflectors.
More articles related to this topic:
MYIRO-9: New Spectrophotometer from KonicaMinolta in action
Over the last few months, we at Proof.de have been thinking about further improving our already very good colour measurement technology in terms of speed and measurement precision. Relatively quickly it became clear that only two devices would come into question: The KonicaMinolta MYIRO-9, the successor of the former FD-9, or the X-Rite ISIS 2 XL. The starting point: Since we at Proof GmbH have 5 proofing devices, the calibration of targets for profile optimisation is a time-critical undertaking for us. Therefore, we had been looking around for an upgrade of … read more
Cross-media colour management really works
Peter Jäger is an expert in colour management that reliably works across the boundaries of printers and monitors, web and print – essentially: cross-media.
Precise proofing of tonal values of spot colours
In recent weeks, there have been lengthy discussions on the Fogra digital printing mailing list as to whether a research project should be launched to define standardised tonal value gradations for spot colours. What is this all about? In the field of CMYK and seven-colour printing, the definition of clear, printable and proofable standards is well established and has been tried and tested in practice. If the paper or paper class is known and defined, a measuring standard such as M0/M1/M2 has been established and the content of optical brighteners … read more
New certified proof papers at proof.de
In recent years, various problems have arisen with our previous proof paper supplier. On the one hand, we sometimes had to wait more than three months for paper deliveries; on the other hand, we sometimes had significant problems with batch-to-batch discrepancies, surface defects and much more. After lengthy deliberations, we decided in December to replace all the paper. We therefore received pallets of new paper at the turn of the year, which we are now gradually incorporating into our production. There will be no hard cut, but the new papers … read more
Fogra60 proofs for metal decor printing available
From now on you can order proofs for metal decor printing on white sheet metal at proof.de: The ICC profile for Fogra60 is Metal-Printing_MPC1_FOGRA60.icc
Current Proof Standards 2025
Offset and Newsprint ISO Coated v2 (ECI) / ISO Coated v2 300% (ECI) Profile: ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc Standard for glossy and matte coated paper Paper: Types 1 and 2, gloss and matte coated Tone value increase curves A (CMY) and B (K) as defined in ISO 12647-2:2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA39L ISOUncoated Profile: ISOUncoated.icc Standard for uncoated white natural paper Paper: paper grade 4, uncoated white offset, dot gain curves C (CMY) and D (K) from ISO 12647-2: 2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA29L PSOCoatedV3 / Fogra 51 Profile: PSOcoated_v3.icc The successor of ISOCoatedV2 for glossy … read more
Colour deviations in 2023 PANTONE Color Bridge Guides
After Eddy Hagen pointed out in this posts, that there were some major colour deviations between the brand new PANTONE Solid Coated Guide 2023 and the previous version especially for the PANTONE 2635 C, I was curious to lookup the same colours in the new PANTONE Color Bridge Coated Guide of 2023 and compare the colours with the previous version. I measured a dE00 of 8,15 between the two colours that Eddy mentioned, which is really far apart from how accurate PANTONE colours should match between the different PANTONE guides. … read more
New PANTONE Formula Guides with incorrect ink formulations
Several errors have crept into the new PANTONE 2023 fan decks. In both the PANTONE Solid Coated and the Solid Uncoated color fans, there are colours for which the new ink formulations are incorrect. In the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated fan 2023, PANTONE 107 C and PANTONE 108 C have absolutely identical ink recipes, as well as PANTONE 113 C and PANTONE 114 C. As the colors differ, this cannot be the correct. Several errors in the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 In the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 … read more
Adobe Software Without PANTONE Colours
The announcement was hot: As of March 2022, Adobe software products will no longer contain PANTONE colour libraries. What follows now? Who loses, who wins?
Proof.de: New video online
In this short image video we – the Proof GmbH – introduce us and our work. Find out who we are and what drives us. What do you think of our short film?