Used to hand-check every proof with a loupe like some kind of wizard

Back in '08 when I was running a little quick print shop in Akron, I'd sit there with a 10x loupe going over every film output for dot gain. Now I just use a cheap desktop densitometer I got off eBay for $60 and it catches bad separations in seconds. Still miss the ritual of it though, like being a detective or something. Any of you old timers still break out the loupe for nostalgia?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy_clark6d ago

You're romanticizing the loupe a bit too much. The ritual was tedious and slowed down production more than it helped. I remember spending 20 minutes on a single proof trying to convince myself the dot percentages were right, when a quick digital reading would have told me in 2 seconds flat. That cheap densitometer is probably doing more for your color accuracy than the loupe ever did. Yeah, the detective thing felt cool, but it wasn't practical for getting jobs out the door on time. Progress is progress, even if it's less dramatic.

lucaslane6d ago

20 minutes on a single proof" try having that skill when the tech fails.