Andreas Johansson deepens engagement with Italian colour measurement specialists, Barbieri Electronic, investing in two demonstration units for Kayell Australia’s Sydney and Melbourne office.
The Barberi LFP unit has been available for about 10 years, and has the unique feature of moving the printed target so that every measurement is taken at a fixed point. This enables the Barbieri LFP to take both reflective and transmissive measurements. The Barbieri LFP qb is the latest model from Barbieri and also features the ability to remove the spectro reader to take spot colour measurements as well.
According to Johansson the Barbieri is ideal for users who need to make profiles for multiple substrates and needs automation – including textiles, ever for backlite soft signage.
“There are already a lot of very happy Barbieri users in Australia, and the new Spectro LFP qb will certainly be on many new and old users shopping lists. There are plenty of users that have multiple units through out their organisations at different locations. The added bonus of detaching the spectro head to take spot colour measurements is a first. You can really have your cake and eat it too!
The growth of wide format textile printing has increased the need for reliable colorimetric values for colour rendition on different materials. Using a variety of colour RIPs, Kayell is raising the bar in textile printing quality measurement.
Markus Barbieri, CTO, (above) of the family-owned company in Brixen, Italy, backs this up. He confirms the utility of the Spectro LFP qb for the soft signage as well industrial textile printing.
“The Spectro LFP qb has some extremely important features which permit precision measuring of digitally printed textiles for the first time. For starters there is the 8 mm measuring aperture, which is fundamental for accurate measurement results on structured materials. Then there is the detachable measuring head for spot colour measurements and subsequent reproduction,” he said.
“That makes the Spectro LFP qb the first and only instrument that offers manual, flexible spot colour measurement and calibrates printers as an automatic measuring device. So we guarantee consistent results with one and the same measuring instrument.”
He maintains that Barbieri is one of the first manufacturers worldwide to implement the latest standards measuring the UV component of the light instruments used. “The illumination used has been defined beyond the visual range so that we can provide more reliable measuring data.
There has also been significant further development and standardization in terms of the correct communication of colour in file formats (pdf standards). It is this spectral formulation of colour values and the description of how colours look on different surfaces that have enabled graphic designers, print service providers and brand owners to communicate colours correctly.
Johansson's says he already has a growing list of customers eager to see the units – the one for the Melbourne office will arrive shortly.