The Ugra/Fogra Media Wedge is the most widely recognized control tool worldwide and has existed in its two-row form for over ten years. In 2008 the Media Wedge was re-designed with a third row so as to provide increased sensitivity in highlights and shadows.
The new version is compatible with the original -- meaning that all of the original 46 colour fields of the version 2 Media Wedge still appear in version 3 -- but the additional colour fields match the tolerances specified in ISO 12647-7.
The new fields comprise:
[A] Fields in the highlights area [10 % and 20 % tone value] – Columns 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15
[B] Second greyseries of composed grey – Fields C1 – C5
[C] Chromatic colour overprinting on black – Column 22
[D] Fields in the shadow areas [L ≤ 35] – Columns 23, 24
The target values are available to all licence partners of Fogra in their corresponding evaluation programmes, due to which an additional file [MKPruef. xls up to now] with the new target values is not separately necessary. At the time of selecting measurement devices and proofing systems, users of the Media Wedge should make sure that these support the new Media Wedge and that they display standard compliant CIELAB measurement values [without polarising filter and without UV cut filter]. If the measurement devices do not comply with these specifications and work with UV cut filter for example, then the characterisation data provided by Fogra [e.g. FOGRA39] cannot be used as target values without a previous correction.
Standard version and file format
In the future, the standard package of the Media Wedge consists of only two layout versions supplied as a combination. Thus it is possible for the user to check the entire process chain at any time. This is recommended, when new user programmes, new programme versions are used or modifications in the procedures/operations have been made. Testing of the workflow as well as of the proofing system is necessary for a secure and colour-reliable output in order to assure that the image content undergoes the same colour transformation as the Media Wedge. A test of the output systems alone is not enough to consistently avoid problem cases.
