AI CS3 PMS- CMYK conversions

I am trying to convert my PMS 296C to a process color.
Why does the default conversion not match my PMS solid to process book?
The AI conversion is
C10
M4
Y0
K70
The PMS book conversion is
C100
M73
Y30
K83
Am I missing something?
Thanks!

If you take a look at a Pantone "Solid-to-Process" swatch book, very few, if any CMYKs match their Spot counterparts. There are some that come close. In Pantone's defense, there has to be some standards and they've done a good job standardizing something so objective as color. I've been involved with some fairly radical printing devices where I had to match Pantone Spot color using CMYK and in all cases I had to build custom CMYKs, as well as standard equivalents for comparison due to the limitations of the combination of print device + media substrate deviates, + atmospheric conditions ( i.e., temp, humidity, etc. ).
That said, all of the custom builds were compared to the Pantone Spot color swatch. That is the standard, "Known" factor in the process. We had a customer who specified a given Pantone Spot color and it was my job to match that color using the limitations of the CMYK printing process in my given workflow. The customer did not say, hmmm, how about a warm medium red? No that would be too arbitrary. They specified a specific Pantone Spot color number.
Chris, I'm not sure what you mean by "appearance"? And what do you mean by "wrong" color? We can agree that there are some CMYKs that do not match their Pantone Spot color swatch, but they've shown you what to expect using the process color equivalents in a CMYK offset printing process. Those are industry standards that most press operators use on a daily basis, but they themselves have to deal with different stock colors, whereas the white paper they are using probably isn't the same white color used in the swatch book. To assume it is would be totally unrealistic. Does a different white paper's "Brightness" affect the color? Absolutely. It's just another variable in the process. Does a 2002 Heidelberg print the same way as a 2009 GTO Heidelberg? I doubt it.

Similar Messages

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    Hi, I'm wondering what the 'safest' or most reliable method is for converting PMS spot colors to CMYK when we might not know the end printer?
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    Most of the time, we are not aware of the printer who will end up printing a certain piece. And in the cases when we do actually know, I've found that the majority of the printers I've spoken to don't have a custom profile for their press (or don't know what that is) and usually tell me they calibrate their presses to SWOP standards or something.
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    - So if all we know is 'use SWOP', and I have my document set to use US WebCoated SWOPv2, in general would using the LAB conversion give me a safer match or trusting the Pantone conversion?
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    Jethro,
    -  And for the sake of understanding, if we're usually printing on  uncoated stock but WITH a U/V coating, would coated PMS values be closer  than uncoated in this scenario?
    I do almost all coated stock, so I can't really answer that one. I suspect things will fall somewhere between uncoated and coated if using UV, but that is merely a guess.
    But IN THEORY, would this be the order of  preference for conversion?
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    2) Use Pantone Bridge PC conversion
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    Hi
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    Silence,
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