How many of you run linear plates?

[RockLobster]

Just wondering how many of us run linear plates as opposed to accomodating for press dot gain at the plate stage.
:?: :?: :?:
I feel we are about to broach the subject here soon, and would like to hear what the world is really doing.

[seetomtype]

We're linear here, but we don't do a lot of color critical work. Mostly
spot colors, and not a lot of high end picky people to please. If it
changes we'll have to look into that can of worms.

[ChilBear]

We also are linear. I do critical stuff so if you want to go off linear you had better get your procedural ducks in a row.

You will need to build (and calibrate) queues for each gain characteristic and paper used commonly. Even then things may not be perfect. We tried many queues with custom setups for our DI and we could see the difference but the client cold only see great printing. We scrapped the queues and went linear. Too much internal conflict especially when the clients could not see the differences.

[prepress_brillance_43]

running linear at this shop.. but currently approaching a change <see here> with the continuation of jobs of this nature starting to come in more and more often..


the fact is, that if there is ONE shop in town that is color managed, and can match just about anything.. then as word gets around customers EXPECT that ALL shops are capable whether they are or not.. just the nature of the beast/ignorant... It'd be better to make the step to color management now, rather than AFTER being burned by a couple jobs... because it is inevitable, and futile to fight against it. hope this helps.. but a great question because Im curious about the number of actual shops still running linear too... :P

[jason]

I am the minority.

I do not run linear. A 50% dot reads as a 54% on my plate when read with a plate reader. A 50% black dot on a press sheet reads as 72% with a densitometer.

IMO linear plates print "flat." By default, Photoshop is setup to SWOP which has approx 22% dot gain. When I run the plates with a slight curve, I get closer to 22% dot gain on press. (i.e. A 50% black dot, read on a press sheet with a densitometer, will read as 72%)

[rtwdwk]

Originally Posted by jason

I am the minority.

I do not run linear. A 50% dot reads as a 54% on my plate when read with a plate reader. A 50% black dot on a press sheet reads as 72% with a densitometer.

IMO linear plates print "flat." By default, Photoshop is setup to SWOP which has approx 22% dot gain. When I run the plates with a slight curve, I get closer to 22% dot gain on press. (i.e. A 50% black dot, read on a press sheet with a densitometer, will read as 72%)

You are correct with this approch, if you are printing to SWOP standards the press TVI needs to match 22%, if you dont hit that on press with flat plate curve, you need to boast it.
So your printed piece is correct.

[mtnman]

We run linear here. Are presses are set to SWOP standards but that has a fairly wide latitude. We profiled the presses to setup our proofing and usually we don't have to many problems matching our contract proofs.

mtnman

Originally Posted by jason

I am the minority.

I do not run linear. A 50% dot reads as a 54% on my plate when read with a plate reader. A 50% black dot on a press sheet reads as 72% with a densitometer.

IMO linear plates print "flat." By default, Photoshop is setup to SWOP which has approx 22% dot gain. When I run the plates with a slight curve, I get closer to 22% dot gain on press. (i.e. A 50% black dot, read on a press sheet with a densitometer, will read as 72%)

That's pretty much me too.
Vee

[DCurry]

We don't run linear, either, but we didn't go nuts with TRCs (Tone Reproduction Curves) for different stocks, although we probably should. We just have a different curve for each press.

[Viper]

We run linear but we have some new equipment making this process more feasible.