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info@drukkerijsk.eu

Film output image setting service

We are one of the very few companies in the Netherlands still providing film output image setting service. Our high-quality Screen Katana 5055 film imagesetter is capable of producing films up to 550 x 1160 mm. Negative, positive, with emulsion up or down in a standard resolution of 2400 or 3000 dpi.

Film output: the advantages

  • High max. density (D>4);
  • Calibrated halftone dots;
  • Dimensionally stable and scratch resistant:
  • Short delivery times, orders before 2.30 p.m. are shipped the same day;
  • Pick up is possible, for when you really need it quickly;
  • Use of branded film only (Agfa-Gevaert), no inkjet technology;
  • One contact point, accurate and fast response;
  • Various file formats are possible;
  • No investment required on your part;
  • Proven technology on a well maintained system;
  • Easy visual control of the films;
  • The minimum order value is € 10.25 excl. VAT & shipping costs;
  • Film: an economical choice for repeat orders.

Questions? Click on the texts below for more information

Price A-formats

A5 - 148 x 210 mm.: € 10.25 per film
A4 - 210 x 297 mm.: € 12.00 per film
A3 - 297 x 420 mm.: € 14.50 per film
A2 - 420 x 594 mm.: € 27.00 per film

Price B-formats

B5 - 176 x 250 mm.: € 11.00 per film
B4 - 250 x 353 mm.: € 13.00 per film
B3 - 353 x 500 mm.: € 16.50 per film
B2 - 500 x 707 mm.: € 31.50 per film
The longest side of the document determines the format. There is an additional margin of 10 mm. around, before the next format is calculated. The short side must be within that format.
For an indication of the dimension of your film, please download this handy excel sheet.
  • We do not charge setup fees;
  • For films with a resolution of 3000 dpi there is a surcharge of 25%;
  • Our prices are exclusive DTP-costs, VAT and shipping costs;
  • The minimum rate we charge you is the price of A5 film;
  • The page size that you supply determines the price, at an extra charge we can combine smaller formats to a larger format;
  • For sizes greater than B2, ask for a price calculation for other formats, up to a maximum of 550 x 1160 millimetres. Or check here for a price indication;
  • Our imagesetter is custom calibrated according to DIN 866/B standards, with a tolerance of 0.1 mm. per meter;
  • We do not use inkjet or toner technology for film output, but only light sensitive film material from Agfa-Gevaert to ensure the highest quality.
Do you need films that are longer than 71 cm. and need a quick price? Below is a price indication for these sizes up to a maximum length of 116 cm. The maximum width is 55 cm. If you want to have films at 3000 dpi, please take into account a surcharge of 25%.

Film length up to:

75 cm. € 31.75 per film
80 cm. € 33.00 per film
85 cm. € 34.50 per film
 90 cm. € 36.00 per film
 95 cm. € 37.50 per film
100 cm. € 38.75 per film
105 cm. € 40.25 per film
110 cm. € 41.75 per film
116 cm. € 43.50 per film

What are the shipping rates?

We produce your films in the Netherlands and send them all over Europe* / worldwide**. Based on the weight of your parcel, these are the current rates within Europe*:
up to  20 gsm € 1.75
up to  50 gsm € 3.50
up to 100 gsm € 5,25
up to 350 gsm € 8.75
up to 2000 gsm € 10,50
parcel post up to 2 kg. € 16.00
parcel post up to 5 kg. € 22.50
  • For envelopes, there is a maximum size of 370 x 260 x 32 mm. and a maximum weight of 2 kg. These are sent without track & trace unless otherwise indicated by you;
  • Films greater than 370 x 260 mm., are send as parcel post with track & trace;
  • Small mailing tubes that fit the letterbox, are not used by us. These tubes regularly get lost. Therefore films larger than 370 x 260 mm. are sent as parcel post;
  • For the delivery time of the film, you can look under the tab "delivery".
* Europe: Belgium, Denmark (excl. Faroe Islands and Greenland), Germany, France, (incl. Corsica and Monaco), Italy (excl. San Marino and Vatican City), Luxembourg, Austria, Spain (incl. Balearic Islands, excl. Canary Islands), United Kingdom (excl. Gibraltar and the Channel Islands), Sweden.
** Other countries: price on request.

When to expect your films

Files that are delivered before 2.30 p.m., are often processed and shipped the same day, both with the post as the package service of PostNL, depending on the size.
The films can be sent as express mail or as registered mail. You can check the rates for letters and packages on the site of PostNL. These rates will be charged. During the holidays PostNL uses a custom delivery dates. For more information, visit postnl.nl/feestdagen. Our advice is to send the films during those periods as a package with T&T.

By default, the films are sent in a sturdy envelope by regular mail, without track & trace. Parcel post is sent with track & trace. There are extra charges for the T&T. With parcel post, you will receive an email from shipment@citymail (onlineparcel) with the track & trace code.

We cannot accept any liability for envelopes or packages that are lost or delivered too late by third parties.

Emulsion up or emulsion down? Positive of negative film?

Depending on the used printing techniques there are 4 types of film.

  • Films for offset printing are positive or negative - emulsion side down;
  • Films for screen print are positive - emulsion side up;
  • Films for photopolymer plates (letterpress and flexo) are negative - emulsion side up;
  • Films for pad printing are positive - emulsion side down;
  • Films for gravure printing (with photopolymer) are positive - emulsion side up.

If you need films with emulsion side down or negative films, it's not necessary to deliver your files in this way, our imagesetter ensures the correct settings.

  • Film emulsion side up, the text is readable;
  • Film emulsion side down, the text is in mirror print;
  • Positive: image is black, non-printing areas are transparent;
  • Negative: image is transparent, non-printing areas are black.
positive film, the image area is black, the photosensitive side (emulsion side / print side) is up, so the text is readable
positive film, the image area is black, the photosensitive side (emulsion side / print side) is down, so the text is in mirrorprint
negative film, the image area is transparent, the photosensitive side (emulsion side / print side) is up, so the text is readable
negative film, the image area is transparent, the photosensitive side (emulsion side / print side) is down, so the text is in mirrorprint
At the images above, the emulsion side of the film is located at the front.
The emulsion side is important. The emulsion side of the film should be placed on the emulsion side of the exposed material, to avoid parallax errors during the exposure.
the correct method of exposing film on photosensitive material, film and receiving material are both with the emulsion side side together
Fig. 1
the incorrect method of exposing film on photosensitive material, film and receiving material aren't with the emulsion side side together
Fig. 2
1. Light source.
2. Polyester base layer film.
3. Emulsion side film.
4. Emulsion side receiving material.
5. Base layer receiving material.

Fig. 1 and 2 are based on positive film.
Fig. 1: Correct exposure, emulsion against emulsion.
Fig. 2: Wrong exposure, the light can spread in the base layer of the film, which causes a difference in the image width on the receiving material. Narrower in case of positive film, wider in case of negative film.

Dots per inch

The correct name should be ppi (pixels per inch), but over the years the term dpi is more established. DPI should not be confused with lpi. LPI specifies the lines of dots as grey and colour tones are converted to dots (see "Lpi and images”).
So dpi (dots per inch) indicates the number of points the laser imagesetter will expose on one inch, both horizontally and vertically. By default, our laser imagesetter is set to 2400 dpi. For comparison, a bureau laser printer has a dpi usually between the 600 and 1200 dpi.
Pixelated text, low resolution image equals low output quality
400 dpi
Vector image of text in high resolution equals high output quality
2400 dpi
The higher the dpi, the sharper the image. The image above - highly magnified - displays the output effect of 400 dpi and 2400 dpi. Especially with round or angled forms the jagged pixels, become visible.
DPI is especially important for (scanned) line drawings. A line drawing consists only of black or white and contains no shades. To get a qualitative print, the scanned image should be at least 600 dpi, preferably higher. With 1800-3000 dpi, you get the maximum output quality from our laser image setter. Line drawings scanned on a lower resolution than 2400 dpi will never become 2400 dpi.

Lines per inch

If (black and white) pictures or flat tones are to be printed, the raster image processor of the imagesetter will convert them into a pattern of dots. The lpi value is the number of lines per inch of these dots, also called the line screen.
The basic principles for this conversion are the following:
  • Large dots with a small amount of white in between, represent the dark tones;
  • Small dots, with a large amount of white in between, represent the light tones;
  • Dots with a more or less equal amount of black and white, represent the middle tones;
  • High lpi values equal more detail in the picture;
  • A smooth surface can be printed with a high lpi value;
  • A rough surface must be printed with a low lpi value;
  • Printing on a smooth surface with a too low lpi value may contain insufficient detail;
  • Printing on a rough surface with a too high lpi value can cause the darker shades to clog up.
For photos and flat tones, you need to specify how many lines per inch you want. The correct setting depends on the printing technique and the surface to be printed. Below you will find an overview of the default settings of our imagesetter with the lpi and (rounded) lpcm values.
 45 lines per inch = 18 lines per cm.
 53 lines per inch = 21 lines per cm.
 65 lines per inch = 26 lines per cm.
 74 lines per inch = 29 lines per cm.
 85 lines per inch = 33 lines per cm.
100 lines per inch = 40 lines per cm.
120 lines per inch = 48 lines per cm.
133 lines per inch = 52 lines per cm.
140 lines per inch = 55 lines per cm.
150 lines per inch = 60 lines per cm.
162 lines per inch = 64 lines per cm.
180 lines per inch = 70 lines per cm.
The lpi values from 45 to 100 are a safe choice for screenprint, letterpress and flexographic printing. The lpi values from 120 to 180 are often used for offset printing. Halftone images are often printed with an angle of 45°. Depending on the printing technique used and the number of colours, this may vary.
In screen printing, the mesh density and the angle at which a mesh is stretched are factors in the choice of a LPI-value and angle. There is a lot of information on the Internet about this, unfortunately this information is not uniform and may require testing for the optimal combination. The general guidelines are:

Mesh = xxx wires/lines per cm. Divide this value by 2.5 or 3.75 (for machine screen printing or 4 or 5 (for manual screen printing) = xxx lines per cm. that will be on the film.
For example: mesh T77 : 2.5 = 31 lines per cm. or 77 : 4 = 19 lines per cm. Multiply the result by 2.54 for the values in inches.

Angles in screen printing

Elliptical dot: the most dominant colour at 135°
Dark reproduction: C75 M15 Y0 K135
YM reproduction: C75 M135 Y0 K15
CY reproduction: C135 M75 Y0 K15
General: C15 M75 Y0 K135
Round dot: the most dominant colour at 45°
Dark reproduction: C75 M15 Y0 K45
YM reproduction: C75 M45 Y0 K15
CY reproduction: C45 M15 Y0 K75
General: C15 M75 Y0 K135
An elliptical dot is used for CMYK screen printing; a round dot suffices for other single-colour halftone work. Elliptical dots and if necessary, angles of +7.5° are there to counteract moiré. For detailed guidelines, you can download a manual here.
digital grayscale image
grayscale image
grayscale halftone image, lpi/lpcm low
halftone grayscale: lpi low, angle 45º
grayscale halftone image, lpi/lpcm high
halftone grayscale: lpi high, angle 45º

The shape of the dot

By default, our films have the following dot shapes:
  • positiv film, emulsion up: round dot shape
  • positive film, emulsion down: elliptical dot shape
  • negative film, emulsion up: elliptical dot shape
  • negative film, emulsion down: elliptical dot shape
Other dot shapes:
If you need a different dot shape, we ask a small fee for making the right settings and calibration.
round dot shape
Round dot
elliptical dot shape
Elliptical dot
square dot shape
Square dot
round euclidian dot shape
Round euclidian dot
elliptical euclidian dot shape
Elliptical euclidian dot
square euclidian dot shape
Square euclidian dot
You can also dither your files in photoshop. We advise you to make a few tests before you are going to use this technique.
Our Imagesetter is also capable of outputting stochastic fm screens. These frequency modulated screens contain no recognisable pattern. Ask us about the possibilities.

Our file input format is preferably pdf and eps.

For a hassle-free operation please use the following guidelines:

  • When exporting to pdf in Adobe programs, use the default setting PDF/X-1a: 2001. For Adobe Indesign and Adobe Illustrator you can download these job options. For Adobe Photoshop you can use slightly different job options (zip files, please unpack before use);
  • Convert fonts to outlines;
  • No unused colour separations in the file. Please check for the correct colour separation (most of the Adobe programs have a panel for this);
  • Please check your black colour separation (no built up black from cmyk or rgb);
  • When creating pdf files, please check that the compression for line art (monochromatic images) is off;
  • Or choose Bicubic downsampling to 2400 ppi for images larger than 2500 ppi;
  • When using halftone raster images. Please specify the LPI or LPCM (lpi: 2.54 = lpcm);
  • If you need films with emulsion side down or negative films, it’s not necessary to deliver your files in this way, our imagesetter ensures the correct settings;
  • Trim marks, registry marks, colour marks, control strips, etc., must be already in the file.
Other file formats such as CorelDraw and cad-files can also be exposed, contact us about the proper delivery of these files. On this page, you will find more information about the delivery of files.

Extra large films

If you need films greater than size 550 x 1160 mm., we can output the films in parts with overlap. Please note, the overlap may not contain any halftone raster images.

Desktop Publishing

Sometimes the submitted files must be corrected before they are exposed. We can offer the following solutions:

Text

  • OCR (Optical Character Recognition);
  • Cleaning up text.

Images

  • Scanning of positives and negatives;
  • Colour correcting images;
  • Retouche images;
  • Upsampling pixel images and logos;
  • Vectorisation of logos (conversion of pixels images to vector images).

Miscellaneous

  • Lay out text and images;
  • Text and image conversion;
  • Text and image extraction;
  • Edit and customize pdf files;
  • File output in TIFF/IT-P1 (bitmap);
  • Make Microsoft documents suitable for print.

DTP specific for film output

  • Add printer marks etc. to the files;
  • Imposition of PDF files;
  • Conversion of PDF files to Indesign, Illustrator or Microsoft Word;
  • Films with trapping;
  • Conversion of RGB and CMYK vector files to PMS (pantone);
  • Conversion of RGB and CMYK black to real black (100% K).
trapping van film

Trapping

The software of the imagesetter is capable of automatically add trapping to the films. The image on the left is a simulation of CMY with trapping. The following is possible:
  • Adjustable width and height.
  • Feather steps with gradation.
  • Separate trapping of black objects;
  • Small object protection factor.
  • Sliding traps color limit.
  • Trap color density reduction.
Please contact us for the specifications you need.

Our films can be used for the next applications:

  • Offset printing;
  • Screen printing;
  • Letterpress;
  • Flexo printing;
  • Gravure printing;
  • Pad printing;
  • Cyanotype;
  • Carbon printing;
  • Gum printing;
  • Heliogravure;
  • Control Panels;
  • Printed circuits boards;
  • Model construction;
  • Holograms;
  • Ceramics;
  • Stamps.

Technical specifications Screen Katana 5055

DPI resolutions: 1000 - 1200 - 1500 - 1800 - 2400 - 3000.
For quality reasons, we only work with 2400 (standard) or 3000 dpi (on request). The other resolutions are possible, but only on request.
Film: Agfa Alliance Recording HNS, 0.1 mm. thick.
Matted film of 0.18 mm. on request.
Spectral sensitivity: Helium-Neon laser (630-670 nm).
Maximum output format:
2400 dpi: 550 x 1160 mm.
3000 dpi: 550 x 820 mm.
Films with 574 mm width on request.
Minimum line thickness:
2400 dpi: 0.016 mm. (16 µm).
3000 dpi: 0.013 mm. (13 µm).
Registration accuracy: 0.025 mm. (25 µm).

You did not find the information you were looking for?

If you have any questions about imagesetting or film output, please fill in our contact form and we will reply within 24 hours.

Contact

Zekkenstraat 36
3151 XP  Hoek van Holland
Netherlands

E-mail: info@drukkerijsk.eu
Web: www.drukkerijsk.eu/en
Telephone: +316-20874415

Chamber of Commerce Rotterdam 72865407
VAT no. NL859265936B01

Opening hours:
From Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm.