JPH09319041A - Filter patch for controlling color and using method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily control quality when the quality is controlled by providing a filter patch for controlling a color with the color filters of yellow, magenta and cyan. SOLUTION: The filter patch for controlling a color arranged so that the quality of a color proof forming device is controlled by the minimum exposure area and obtained by vertically or horizontally arranging the color filter 1 an a step tablet 2 in a line is used. The filter patch for controlling a color is provided with the color filters 1 of the yellow Y, the magenta M and the cyan C and provided with the color filters 1 of blue B, green G and red R. That means, 8 colors of the filters coloring the blue B, the green G and the red R being the secondary colors, a black color part and a white color part are reproduced in addition to the yellow Y, the magenta M and the cyan C in total.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a proof color image (color proof) from a plurality of black and white halftone images obtained by color separation and halftone image conversion in color plate making / printing. The present invention relates to a color control filter patch for easy quality control, a test chart including the same, and a method of using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, as a method for obtaining a color proof from a plurality of black and white halftone images obtained by color separation and halftone image conversion in the process of color plate making / printing, a photopolymer or a diazo compound is used. An overlay method for forming a color image, a surprint method, and a silver salt photography method using silver halide are known.

The overlay method is very simple and inexpensive to produce, and has the advantage that it can be used for proofreading simply by stacking film sheets of four colors (primary color of subtractive color mixture and black). There is a drawback in that the overlapping produces gloss, which results in a texture different from that of the printed matter.

In the surprint method, a colored image is superimposed on a single support. A method of obtaining a colored image by toner development utilizing the tackiness of a photopolymerizable material is disclosed in US Pat. No.582,327, No.3,6
07,264 and 3,620,726.

Further, a color proof is formed by transferring to a support using a photosensitive coloring sheet, forming an image by exposure and development, laminating another coloring sheet on this, and repeating the same process. The forming method is known from JP-B-47-27441 and JP-A-56-501217.

Further, a method of transferring each colored image obtained by exposing and developing a corresponding color separation film using a photosensitive colored sheet and forming the same on one support is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 9-97140. As the toner for forming these images and the colorant of the color sheet, there is an advantage that a coloring material equivalent to the printing ink can be used, and thus the color tone of the obtained color proof becomes close to that of the printed matter.

However, these methods are disadvantageous in that the images must be superposed and transferred in the process of producing a color proof, which requires a long operation time and a high production cost.

There is a silver salt photography method that solves such a drawback. This is a color proof prepared by using a silver salt color photographic light-sensitive material having a white support, and is disclosed in JP-A-56-113139, JP-A-56-104335, and JP-A-56-104335.
2-280746, 62-280747, 62
-280749, 62-280750, 62-
No. 2880849 and the like.

In this method, a color-separated black and white halftone image composed of a plurality of sheets converted from color originals into color-separated halftone images is successively exposed on one color paper by a method such as contact exposure, and color development is performed. And a color image formed by a dye formed from a coupler imagewise by color development is used as a proof image. The color proof making operation is very easy and the making cost is cheaper than other methods.

However, in this method, since the image is colored by a chemical reaction, the finished image is greatly affected by the condition of the treatment liquid and the light amount / balance of the exposure. Therefore, it was found by the study of the inventor that technical improvement of the quality control of this device is necessary. Conventionally, as a quality control method of a color proof making apparatus using a silver salt photographic method, a method using a color separation halftone original for quality control (hereinafter referred to as a test chart), a commercially available Ugra chart, a Brunner chart, etc. A method of pasting on a color separation original is used. In addition, a method using a control strip is known as a processing liquid control method in an automatic film developing machine in the printing field and a laboratory in the color photography field.

1 The method of using a color separation halftone original for quality control is to prepare a color proof by the same operation as a normal color proof making process for a test chart, and visually or visually measure color reproduction and halftone dot reproduction. Confirm. Therefore, it has been found that a plurality of color separation halftone originals must be sequentially exchanged and exposed for quality control, and an increase in the number of man-hours and consumption of processing material more than necessary are disadvantages.

2 Ugra chart and Brunner chart are film originals that are commercially available for quality control in a wide range of applications such as printed matter, PS plate, color proof, and color separation film mainly in the printing field. In the quality control of the color proof making device, this is attached to the color-separated film net original to make a color proof, and the dot reproduction of each color and the exposure amount / balance are confirmed. However, it was found that the charts had to be attached to each of a plurality of color separation half-tone originals one by one each time, which was troublesome in operation and was likely to cause a mistake.

3 Control strips are films and papers that have been standardly exposed by the photographic material manufacturer side. Compared with those that have been standard-developed by processing the control strips in the quality control development processing section. And check the quality. However, when applying this method to the quality control of color proof making equipment,
It has been found that there is a problem in that the quality of the exposed portion cannot be checked because only the development processing portion of the color proof making apparatus is used. It has also been found that the color proofing device is large and it is very difficult to process control strips that cannot be handled in a bright room.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a tool and a method of using the same, which can be easily used in quality control in a color proof making apparatus using a silver salt photographic method.

[0015]

The above objects of the present invention have been attained by the following constitutions.

(1) A color control filter patch characterized in that the color control filter patch used in the production of a color proof for printing by a photographic method has at least yellow, magenta and cyan color filters.

(2) A color control filter patch, wherein the color control filter patch described in 1 above further includes blue, green, and red color filters.

(3) A color control filter patch used in the production of a color proof for printing by a photographic method, which comprises the color control filter patch described in 1 or 2 and a continuous tone step tablet. Filter patch for.

(4) A method of using a color control filter patch, characterized in that quality control of a color proof making apparatus is performed by using the color control filter patch described in any one of the above items 1 to 3.

The present invention will be described in more detail below. In the present invention, the yellow color filter differs depending on the light source that exposes the light-sensitive material, but in the case of visible light including B, G, and R light, for example, it absorbs 400 to 500 nm and transmits 500 to 700 nm. , Preferably FIG.
A filter having a spectral transmittance curve such as LEE Filters HT010 shown in FIG.

Similarly, in the present invention, the magenta color filter absorbs light of 500 to 600 nm and 400 to 600 nm.
Filters that transmit 500 and 600-700 nm and preferably have a spectral transmission curve such as LEE Filters 128 shown in FIG.

The cyan color filter absorbs, for example, 600 to 700 nm and 400 to 600 nm.
LEE F as shown in FIG.
A filter having a spectral transmittance curve such as ilters 354 is preferable.

In the present invention, the color tones of yellow, magenta, and cyan, which have been developed by using a color control filter patch having yellow, magenta, and cyan color filters, are visually checked or measured with a measuring device to check the quality of the color proof. To do. Further, if the size of the filter is too large, the photosensitive material is wasted, but at the minimum, it must be a size that can be measured by a densitometer or a colorimeter. Preferably, one side or diameter is about 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm. In addition, in the present invention, when secondary colors such as blue, green, and red are used in addition to yellow, magenta, and cyan, it is easy to compare the hue with the printed matter when the colors are combined. preferable.

The continuous tone step tablet in the present invention means that the base density of the film is a minimum density, the fully exposed and processed blackened silver density is a maximum density, and the intermediate density is reproduced in several steps. I like what you have. Preferably, the density difference in one step is about 0.15, 15
It is good to have steps. The exposure amount / exposure balance is confirmed and the quality is checked by comparing the halftone color reproduction obtained by exposing the light-sensitive material with this step visually or by measuring.

In the present invention, a consensus 570 (manufactured by Konica Corporation) was used as the color proof making apparatus. This color proof making device is for Y plate, M plate, C plate,
Before making a production printing plate using each color-separated printing plate, check whether the layout of the color separation half-tone original is correct, whether there is a difference in color, or whether there is an error in characters. It is a device for. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of only the exposure section of the color proof making apparatus. The method of creating a color proof by consensus 570 is as follows.

First step: The horizontal length of the light-sensitive material is set according to the size of the color separation halftone original, and the light-sensitive material is set on the exposure table of the color proof making apparatus. Second step: Y plate and black ink Plates are stacked and set on the exposure table of the color proof making device, and the photosensitive material is exposed by blue light. Third step: Y plate is removed, M plate and black plate are stacked, and the plate is exposed by green light. 4th step of exposing material: M plate is removed, C plate and black plate are overlaid and set, and the photosensitive material is exposed with red light (the 2nd to 4th steps are called 1st exposure). 5th step: Exposure The photosensitive material thus discharged is discharged to the development processing section, and second exposure is performed during the development processing, the image is reversed, and fixing, bleaching, stabilization, and drying are carried out, and a color proof is created.

In the present invention, the color filter and the step tablet are arranged so that the quality control of the color proof making apparatus can be performed with a minimum exposure area so that the processing material used for quality control is reduced as much as possible. A color control filter patch in which is arranged vertically or horizontally is preferable. A particularly preferable size is about 35 cm × 1 cm. A typical color control filter patch is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, Y, M, C, B, G, and R described in the color filter 1 indicate yellow, magenta, cyan, blue, green, and red color filters, respectively, K is pure black, and W is The state without a filter is shown. That is, in addition to yellow, magenta, and cyan,
It is possible to reproduce a total of eight colors including a filter that develops secondary colors of blue, green and red and a black part and a white part. It is preferable to include a secondary color because it is easy to compare the hue with the printed matter when the colors are combined. To prevent the optical illusion, one side of the filter is white and the other side is black. In addition, there is a space where you can write the creation date and time so that you can know the time of trouble. Then, these and the step tablet 2 are arranged in a horizontal row, and the width is about 1 cm and the length is 35 cm, so that the compact design is compatible with the smallest photosensitive material cartridge (width 35 cm). The numerical value of the step tablet indicates the density step.

Among the color filters, the hues of yellow, magenta, cyan, blue, green, and red when the color separation original is used are approximated, and the B, G, and R exposure amounts of the first exposure are In order to select a filter that is less likely to be affected by, the color of each color was measured, the color difference ΔE was determined, and a more preferable filter was selected. The color filters are set side by side on the exposure table of the color proof making device, and B, G, and R exposures are performed with the color filters placed on the photosensitive material, and samples are output, and the B, G, and R exposures are performed. A sample in which the exposure amount was changed by ± 50% was also output. The colorimetric results of this example are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 also shows, as a comparison, the color density changes of the other filters tested, showing the filters used in the present invention.

[0029]

[Table 1]

In the present invention, the color control filter patch does not need to be replaced for each exposure as in the case of a plurality of originals in order to easily perform quality control, and it is also required to be easily attached. Therefore, when quality control is performed, it is preferable to place it in the exposure area with one touch and normally place it in the non-exposure area. Therefore, it is preferable that one side of the chart is fixed to the color proof making device so that the chart can be placed in the exposed area and the non-exposed area. Preferably, one side of the chart is fixed to the exposure table of the apparatus,
It is preferable to tilt it to the left and right so that it can be placed in the exposed area and the non-exposed area.

In the present invention, the same effect can be obtained even when the chart is placed on the color separation halftone original which is always exposed. In a normal color separation halftone original for printing, it may be attached only to the black plate.

[0032]

Next, the present invention will be described based on examples, but embodiments of the present invention are not limited to these examples.

The color control filter patch 3 in FIG. 3 is replaced by a consensus 570 as shown in FIG.
It was fixed to the left end of the exposure table 4 with a cellophane tape 6. As a result, if the color control filter patch 3 is tilted to the right, it enters the exposure area as shown in FIG. 4, performs normal exposure, and then performs development processing according to the operation of the consensus 570 and checks the resulting color proof. By doing so, quality control of the consensus 570 can be performed. In this case, the halftone original may be printed at the same time as the color control filter patch.

Since the left side of the consensus 570 with respect to the exposure table is the starting point of the photosensitive material, the exposure and development processes are always performed at the same position. As a result, variations due to where the chart is set are not picked up,
Suitable for quality control of equipment. Also, since a large exposure area can be taken on the right side of the chart, it is now possible to create a normal color proof while outputting a simple chart. Further, the attachment place of the simple chart is not limited to the exposure frame. For example, it can be attached to the consensus cover sheet, and the same effect can be obtained.

When a normal color proof is produced, the color control filter patch of the present invention is attached to the color separation halftone original if the upper part of the set photosensitive material or other exposed areas can be processed. It doesn't matter. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the processing material can be further reduced by pasting the color control filter patch 3 on the black plate 5 of the color separation halftone original. The simple chart may be fixed to the left and right parts of the black plate. Of course, it may be fixed to a color separation original other than the black plate.

According to the present invention, in a silver salt photographic color proof making apparatus using a color-separated halftone original, yellow, magenta, cyan (blue, green, red) can be obtained by the color filter without changing the halftone original for each exposure. ,
Colors (black, white) are developed, and the hue can be confirmed, improving work efficiency. Further, by using the color control filter patch having the color filter and the step tablet of the present invention, the hue, the exposure amount and the exposure balance can be confirmed simultaneously and easily. Furthermore, by miniaturizing the color control filter patch of the present invention, the quality control of the color proof can be performed at the same time as the normal plate inspection work, so that the work efficiency is greatly improved and the unnecessary processing materials are reduced. . Further, the color control filter patch of the present invention is fixed to the exposure frame of the color proof making apparatus and can be switched with one touch, which simplifies the operation and facilitates the quality control of the color proof making apparatus. I can do it now.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a tool and a method of using the same which can be easily used for quality control in a color proof making apparatus using a silver salt photographic method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a spectral transmittance curve of a filter used in a color control filter patch of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a color proof making apparatus used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a color control filter patch of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a usage example of the color control filter patch of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is another example of use of the color control filter patch of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Color filter 2 Step tablet 3 Filter patch for color control 4 Exposure table 5 Black plate of color separation halftone document 6 Cellotape

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A filter patch for color control, wherein the filter patch for color control used in the production of a color proof for printing by a photographic method has at least color filters of yellow, magenta and cyan. 2. The color control filter patch according to claim 1, further comprising blue, green and red color filters. 3. A color control filter patch for use in producing a color proof for printing by a photographic method, comprising the color control filter patch according to claim 1 or 2 and a continuous step tablet. Filter patch for. 4. By using the color control filter patch according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A method of using a filter patch for color control, which is characterized by performing quality control of a color proof making device.