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advantages with lc and lm vs dual cmyk

asd

New Member
what are the advantages of running lc, lm in solvent printers vs dual cmyk, I have always printed with cmyk and now I have an option to go with lc and lm. are pms colors, grays and magentas any better?
 

victor bogdanov

Active Member
You will get less grainy light colors, possibly smoother gradients. but will the average customer notice the difference, probably not.

Dissadvanges = slower print speeds and higher ink cost

I used to have my roland set up with LC and Lm and switched to 2cmyk, way faster and no visual difference that I can see
 

netsol

Active Member
i think too, it depends on the age (what generation of technology) the printer is
we have a roland sc545-ex CMYK lc. lm
and a mutoh vj1617h CMYK +W and a couple weeks agoi wanted to see which gave me a better 'fire engine red". walking back to the samples a day or two later we argued over which came from which printer
 

Pauly

Printrade.com.au
Only time you run Lc and Lm is if you're doing more photographic work where light gradients are more important.
Other than that, there's 0 benefit.

it is still CMYK so you will not expand your colour gamut (will not get more colour)
It will cost more as you'll use (very round figures) 100% Lm for printing 50% M where if running 2x CMYK, you'll only use 50% M.
 

netsol

Active Member
Only time you run Lc and Lm is if you're doing more photographic work where light gradients are more important.
Other than that, there's 0 benefit.

it is still CMYK so you will not expand your colour gamut (will not get more colour)
It will cost more as you'll use (very round figures) 100% Lm for printing 50% M where if running 2x CMYK, you'll only use 50% M.
but...
you don't get more colors, maybe


there are basically 3 ways to achieve the "difficult" light cyan & magenta colors

light cyan & magenta inks

printing them with fewer dots (more white space between them [grainy appearance])

the ability to print different dot size with an algorithm (like mutoh intelligent interleaving)
fools the eye, you don't see graininess (achieving a better presentation of those colors)

kind of like the difference between kodachrome and ektachrome or agfa transparencies for those of us
into photography 50 years ago. you could make the argument then, as well that both printed the same range of colors...
 

netsol

Active Member
cmyk is cmyk BUT none of us can hit every color in that color space
and no doubt the 6 color machine can hit MORE of those possible colors

just like the CMYK with orange and green can hit more colors & the epsons can hit more especially the yellow, reds and oranges

i love to pick on a friend who has 2 epsons and tell him the epsons can print a job that has noticiable fading much sooner than any other manufacturer
 

Langelot

New Member
I saw the term "photographic work" being given for the advantages of light cyan and light magenta ink - I agree and maybe, to put a finer point on this, I would describe it as "skin/flesh tones".
So, yes apart from better gradients, if one's work involves lots prints of faces and or people - having those extra colors may prove beneficial. If not, or if this isn't critical, then one is better served with double CMYK.
 

Superior_Adam

New Member
You will notice the difference in photos. We run a ton of senior banners and noticed a big difference. If you just running standard graphics you wont notice much and dual CMYK will give you faster speeds.
 
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