eciCMYK v2 (FOGRA59) – updated CMYK exchange color space

eciCMYK v2 (FOGRA59) is the successor of the previous version »eciCMYK«. The new profile is based on the enhanced color characterisation data set »FOGRA59«. While the color gamut remains unchanged, the major benefit is an enhanced grey balance, which delivers cyan, magenta and yellow tone values similar to familiar tone values. For that reason, »eciCMYK v2« not only provides the advantages of a large color gamut and proofability. In addition to that, tests with day to day production jobs showed better output on printing systems with larger color gamuts: Simply assigning »eciCMYK v2« to print files prepared for offset on premium coated stock (unchanged tone values) shows higher contrast and more vivid colors in the printed output. [2021-07-05 |::| FSu]

eciCMYK (FOGRA53) – CMYK exchange color space

eciCMYK (FOGRA53) is a CMYK exchange color space profile dedicated to color communication in the field of print production. The profile extends the range of 52 production color spaces which represent specific printing processes and conditions (paper, screening, etc.). The underlying characterization data set FOGRA53 was developed in the context of the Fogra research project 10.057 aiming at the development of tools for a media independent workflow. The use of eciCMYK allows for a consistent color appearance along all production steps, fulfilling the following main requirements:

  • the large color gamut covers all relevant classic output standards
  • the proofability on professional proofing systems allows for a reliable metered color communication
  • shape und tone value charasteristics comply with typical CMYK color spaces of classic printing

Dedicated exchange color spaces are helpful means to create and exchange print files in a standardized working method. They should allow for showing the to be expected print result in a predictable manner. The result should be displayed neither too bright, nor too dull (as would happen with an unnecessarily reduced color gamut and dynamic range).

The advantage of using a CMYK exchange color space is to design in a single color space. A single proof print serves for the color communication with the print buyer – in contrast to separate data sets and proof prints on a per printing condition or paper type basis. As soon as the client approves the color quality, all necessary color conversions to specific printing conditions can be done starting from eciCMYK.

It has become common practice in the area of conventional offset printing and beyond, that »ISO Coated v2« (FOGRA39) and »PSO Coated v3« (FOGRA51) serve as a CMYK exchange color space. It is however not always clear, whether this color space represents an absolute reference (production color space) or a relative reference (as is typical for an exchange color space). In addition, digital printing applications require larger exchange color spaces, in order to accommodate the capabilities of modern digital printing systems.

ECI provides »eciCMYK« along with device link profiles for the color conversion to and from selected output standards.

The ECI mailing lists (http://www.eci.org/de/mailinglists) and the Fogra mailing list on digital printing (http://lists.fogra.org/listinfo/dpwg) provide a platform for comments on and discussions about eciCMYK und FOGRA53. [2017-08-28 |::| FSu]

eciRGB_v2 - the update of eciRGB 1.0 - Background information

The eciRGB_v2 profile is a technical revision of ECI's existing RGB working colour space profile eciRGB 1.0. Currently ECI is submitting eciRGB_v2 into ISO standardization such that it is expected to be incorporated – including a complete and detailed specification of its characteristics – into the ISO 22028 series of standards. For ECI this is an important step in order to further extend the already wide spread use of the eciRGB profile - the publication as an ISO standard will establish it as a worldwide RGB standard profile for use as a working colour space in the graphic arts industry.

The most relevant improvement is that luminance is now encoded in an equidistant way – 'conversion losses' between data and the human eye are thus a matter of the past: The gamma of 1.8 has been replaced by an L* characterization as used in the theoretically ideal CIELAB color space. This improved encoding efficiency brings with it substantial advantages in the shadows, as the risk of posterization effects – especially while retouching – is significantly reduced. Errors caused by colour space conversions – e.g. banding or reversal – are minimized as much as currently technically feasible.

The focus of the eciRGB_v2 profile still is on the print and publishing industry – the gamut of the eciRGB_v2 profile as well as its white point are identical to the gamut and white point of the original eciRGB 1.0 profile.

In general, ECI now recommends to always use the eciRGB_v2 profile for new projects or when creating new data. This is especially true when converting from RAW data or from 16 bit image data.

For existing projects and files which are not using eciRGB_v2 it is not recommended to convert them to eciRGB_v2 in order to avoid unnecessary conversion or – even more dangeorus – assigning the wrong profile to the data. Especially 8 bit data using eciRGB 1.0 should be kept in eciRGB 1.0 (preferably with the eciRGB 1.0 profile embedded) as any colour space conversion will lead to at least some loss of quality.

If you still have the need to bring your old data into the new colour space you have to perform an ICC profile conversion to the new eciRGB_v2 profile. Do not just “assign” eciRGB_V2 as the source profile, as it will lead to color and luminance shifts. As already mentioned before, there is no technical reason to do so.

eciRGB_V2 is avail able for free and can be downloaded from our Download section.

What is eciRGB 1.0, and why should I care?

eciRGB 1.0 is recommended by the European Color Initiative (ECI) for use as an RGB working color space and color data exchange format for ad agencies, publishers, reproduction and printing houses.

There are a couple of aspects that led to the development and release of eciRGB by the ECI in 1999: - Up to Adobe Photoshop 5.5 the default for the working color space was the monitor profile of the computer on which Photoshop was running. This turned out to be a less than perfect approach, as every computer may have a different monitor profile, and a working color space should not depend on what happens to be the monitor profile on a given computer, but should always be the same, at least within any given workflow. - Furthermore a monitor profile typically does not cover certain ranges of colors that can easily be produced on a printing press - the major area of weakness of a monitor compared with a press is in the Cyan color region. - Staying in the scanner profile's color space often makes no sense, as a scanner's color space typically is not very uniform (a characteristic offered for example by the Lab color space) this makes them unsuitable for any corrections or editing. - Lab in principle looked like a good alternative candidate, but hardly any widely used software (until maybe very recently) supported editing and retouching for 16 bit Lab data or import of 16 bit Lab images (and while PostScript/EPS supports up to 12 bit Lab data, in PDF 16 bit image data have only been introduced very recently in version 1.5, earlier versions only accommodating a maximum of 8 bit), and 8 bit Lab data was far too inefficient, as only less than a third of all possible Lab color values actually occur in real world color data: which means that out of the 8 bit only a bit more than 6 bit would actually be used, which simply isn't enough. Even with 16 bit Lab the issue arises that it uses twice the amount of data - while the increase in file size often will be moderate due to compression, the amount of RAM needed definitely doubles. - while there were and still are other reasonable offerings around in terms of RGB working space ICC profiles ECI wanted to see one that … has a gamut that covers all colors that can be printed on today's printing presses - whether sheet fed or web offset, gravure or newsprint - but not much beyond (in order to not to waste precision for bits that never really get used) … produces a neutral gray whenever the values for Red, Green and Blue are equal … offers equidistance, i.e. equal difference between two color values in eciRGB mirrors an perceived equal difference when these colors are seen by the human eye … is based on a Gamma of 1.8 and a light source of 5000K. This profile was created and tested in 1998 and provided to the public free of charge in early 1999. Most ECI members have meanwhile based their internal workflows on eciRGB as the preferred (and often the only) RGB working color space, and have been more than satisfied with the advantages achieved.

Is eciRGB the only working color space that makes sense? Definitely no. Other experts and user groups in the industry as well as vendors have been working on this issue and have come up with alternative options that may work as well as eciRGB. If you happen to have been working with let's say Adobe RGB or ColorMatch RGB until now, it would not be a good reason to convert your image database to eciRGB just for the sake of then having eciRGB data. Nevertheless, when you are about to set up a new print oriented workflow, the ECI is confident that there are hardly better options than eciRGB (though possibly quite a few that are comparably good).

How does eciRGB compare to sRGB? sRGB has seen excessively wide use, as especially HP and Microsoft were promoting it as the standard RGB profile (in the end often going so far that they - whether directly or indirectly - propose not to use any ICC profiles anymore but instead to simply implicitly store and exchange any RGB data as sRGB. More and more digital cameras, low end inkjet printers and even monitors now simply assume sRGB. While this may look like a smart move, it must not be forgotten, that sRGB as a color space has serious weaknesses - there are a lot of colors today's printing presses as well as other output devices like photo printers, large format printers and many inkjets (not to speak of up to date monitors or digital cameras) can produce that cannot be stored in sRGB. If quality is important, sRGB is not an option.

Should I get rid of my scanner profiles right away and use eciRGB instead? No, definitely not. Simply assigning eciRGB instead of the specific profile e.g. for a scanner is one of the worst things you can do. Always use the correct source profile for the data at hand, and then convert from that color space into eciRGB.

Note 1: What's a working color space anyway? The short answer is, that such a color space is good for working on an image (or rather any color object), whether color correcting or retouching it or editing it in any other way. A working color space can be made such that it is independent of idiosyncrasies of a specific device (e.g. it can be made uniform to preserve detail equally well in each area of the color space). At the same time it can be made such that it serves a class of color spaces well, e.g. that it comprises all or most of the colors that can be output with all monitor and printing devices that are available today.

Note 2: In ISO there is currently work underway - as ISO standard “ISO/CD 22028-2 Photography and graphic technology - Extended colour encodings for digital image storage, manipulation and interchange - Part 2: Reference Output Medium Metric RGB colour image encoding (ROMM RGB)” - to possibly arrive at a working color space that is even better than eciRGB or other widely used working color spaces.