Please help. Pantone to CMYK conversion needed.

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

I have a customer who wants a particular green from the new Pantone Plus 336 color formula guide and I've tried to find a suitable conversion chart online and also tried to convert it using Corel, but alas we can't seem to find anything that will give us a close conversion as these are the newest Pantone colors and I can't seem to dig these colors up in Corel. What I need specifically is a conversion of PMS 2271 C. Can anyone please help me out? Thanks in advance.

 

[stoliker]

http://pantone.com/pages/pantone/color_xref.aspx?from=hpsilo

did you try this?

 

[CanuckSigns]

According to my pantone colour bridge the conversion is
C 74
M 0
Y 85
K 0

but it looks like it's one of those colours that cant match well in CMYK, the 2 swatches in the bridge are very different!

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Here is a link to free, downloadable scripts for Illustrator. CMYK to PMS is the 3rd one down. http://www.wundes.com/JS4AI/index.php

If you don't have illustrator, you could print a PMS color chart on your printer on the material your customer wants. Then get use the Pantone book to find the closest color match on your chart.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

So we ended up calling Pantone and they were very helpful in pointing out that we can update our Corel with their color management software to access the 336+ series colors. Phew! What a relief. Unfortunately, the CMYK conversion that they were also able to give me over the phone is way off from the original PMS 2271 c. She did mention that we may be able to 'tweak' it slightly but that information is a little bit out of her area of expertise.

So now my question is...

If you have the closest possible CMYK match (74 0 85 0) according to Pantone, how can it be possible to achieve something closer to the original Pantone color? I mean is that even feasible? I would think the CMYK number that I was given would be the quintessential match but it appears WAY off. Any ideas? Are there any experts on color management here that can guide me in the right direction? This job I have is turning into a headache already as the science of color matching is still very new to me.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

http://pantone.com/pages/pantone/color_xref.aspx?from=hpsilo

did you try this?

Yes sir.

 

[SightLine]

Quit trying to match it with CMYK values.... Your printer has a wider gamut than the CMYL values Corel and Illustrator can give. I know that seems counterintuitive since your printer is running CMYK inks but trust me. Match it in RGB or Lab as close as you can get on screen - RBG and Lab have a much wider color gamut than CMYK. Print a couple of 2 in squares (set the rendering intent in your RIP to perceptual) and see how it comes out. Tweak a little more and try again. Sometimes on the rare instance a little trail and error is the only way.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Quit trying to match it with CMYK values.... Your printer has a wider gamut than the CMYL values Corel and Illustrator can give. I know that seems counterintuitive since your printer is running CMYK inks but trust me. Match it in RGB or Lab as close as you can get on screen - RBG and Lab have a much wider color gamut than CMYK. Print a couple of 2 in squares (set the rendering intent in your RIP to perceptual) and see how it comes out. Tweak a little more and try again. Sometimes on the rare instance a little trail and error is the only way.

We don't yet print in house (less than 2 years in business) and we are trying to match CMYK values for business cards that will be offset printed. I should have mentioned that sooner, but thank you for the tip. I totally understand that the color gamut of RGB is far superior.