We have 3 DocuColor 250's with external Fiery controllers. We are having various color issues and have many questions. Xerox has been ZERO help with solutions/answers to our color issues.

In summary:
1. We will print a job for a customer and they will order a reprint (from the same files) 6 months later. Sometimes the reprint color is noticeably different from the original print, regardless of which of the 3 printers we use. What can we do with the original printing to ensure that we can consistently reprint many months later?

2. We would like the printing on our DocuColor 250's to be interchangeable so that we can print a job on all three printers at the same time without any noticeable difference. What can we do to accomplish this?

3. We receive customer files with "process black" rather than "true black". We are then being charged for a "color click charge" rather than a "black click charge". The color click charge is five times the black click charge. What can we do to print the "correct" shade of black and get charged for a black click charge?

Xerox has suggested that we "try buying" a Densitometer, that we "try" upgrading to Creo Controllers, that we build ICC profiles and get our customers to use them and other other suggestions which "sound good".

Any advise and input would be appreciated.

We're not sure where to turn for help with these issues -- We're even willing to pay a local color consultant (if I could find someone experienced to help us). We are located NW of Los Angeles.

The easiest problem to fix is the RGB or "Rich Black". This is a correction that can be made in Acrobat with PitStop Plug-In. There is an PitStop action that can do this automatically and you can have that as a problem that is found and fixed automatically in a few clicks. Use PitStop to check and repair this problem.

Humidity, Temprature of environment must be controlled in the print environment. A color test form can be run at each shift and checked agains same from previous day, from other machines. Buy the cheap 5000k bulbs from home depot and replace all the flourescent bulbs in your print area with those.

You need a strip reader, which is an automated spectrophotometer. It can read strips off each printer, can compare current vs. target and create a profile. That profile will bring that printer back into line.

You need to apply yourself to get your mind around this profiling and how it works. Just read all you can, ask questions, it will slowly soak in. Don't let confusion deter you, keep reading, learning, it will clarify. You or someone there has to really get to an understanding of how this stuff works. GATF has some good classes, go to that if you can. I would recommend you get to a level of understanding where you are pretty close to being able to figure it all out, then get a consultant/trainer. Don't get someone to just DO IT, get them to come TRAIN YOU to the finish line. Terry Wyse is the best guy I can recommend but I am not sure if he can do you on west coast. Terry Wyse is a good trainer and stays late till it's all done real well. Although I have experts on staff and am certified myself on color mgmt. I still use Terry and Fuji to learn more from from time to time. This stuff isn't an expense, it's a very good investment and is important to satisfy customers, help retain them.

Take the savings from fixing the RGB & 4 Color black, less clicks, pour that into training and instruments. Once you get it down it's like riding a bike and you will be so much better off. Good luck to you.
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JoePostscript -- support administrator

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Thanks very much for your detailed and helpful response. I totally agree on getting someone who would train us on Color Management for our environment.

However, it leads to the next question of: what is the best way for us to find an expert in this area in Southern California (note that I have already tried to get a recommendation from Xerox, to no avail)?

Thanks in advance for any advice in this area.

The is a plug-in for Acrobat (Quite a box of trix) there you can change the four color in grayscale this is one color.
Maby this is the help for your full color clicks!
Garry

We currently run a Docucolor 240. This replaced a Docucolor 12 that we had. We experienced color issues with both machines. Xerox was very helpful to us and even sent our a color specialist to help. We installed a densitometer and we calibrate before each job and we get pretty consistent color each time we run a job. It may not be an exact color match, but it is very close and we have not had any jobs returned for inconsistent color.

hi,
i'm italian and i know very good this docucolor
I think that the best controller for dc 250,that resolve this kind of problem Is DocuSp.
With DocuSp(now called free flow DocuSp) you have a good densitometer on board.
The Docucolor with this controller are pantone certified.
But i think that upgrade a dc 250 with efy controller to Docu Sp is very expensive.
Another way to resolve this problem and increase the color quality is buing Splash software.
I think but i'm not sure, that Spash can control more than one docucolor.

We have the 252/Fiery and love it. We do not have color issues with this machine. Everything is in the job setup and faithful calibration every morning. There is a calibration profile for each paper finish and weight. You must use the correct calibration set for the paper you are running. Do not rely on machine default. Specify the set in the expert color settings.

There is a setting in the expert color settings to use true black in place of black. This works most of the time, but you must be sure to send RGB to CMYK simulation rather than direct output.

This is the first machine we haven't had color issues with. I encourage you to do your calibrations each day and learn more about the expert color settings.