Instrument Spotlight: Barbieri LFP

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m (Special Features of the LFPqb)
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Here are some of the features unique to the LFPqb:
Here are some of the features unique to the LFPqb:
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The addition of the  [[I_LUV_UV#ISO_measurement_modes M1 measurement mode]] brings this instrument into the modern world. M1 is recommended for most pressroom measurements nowadays.  This can be combined with other measurement modes so that, for example, you can measure transmissively using M1.
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The addition of the  [http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/I_LUV_UV#ISO_measurement_modes| M1 measurement mode] brings this instrument into the modern world. M1 is recommended for most pressroom measurements nowadays.  This can be combined with other measurement modes so that, for example, you can measure transmissively using M1.
The LFPqb’s camera vastly improves the speed of the auto chart recognition. The camera gives the LFPqb enough information about the placement of the chart that it can start measuring almost immediately. The camera is also called into play when measuring textiles. Fabrics are notorious for not laying square and can easily be skewed as one attempts to lay them out flat for measuring.  The camera sees the angles of the fabric and compensates for that in the internal calculations of the chart dimensions. Barbieri makes a version of the LFPqb specifically for textile measuring.
The LFPqb’s camera vastly improves the speed of the auto chart recognition. The camera gives the LFPqb enough information about the placement of the chart that it can start measuring almost immediately. The camera is also called into play when measuring textiles. Fabrics are notorious for not laying square and can easily be skewed as one attempts to lay them out flat for measuring.  The camera sees the angles of the fabric and compensates for that in the internal calculations of the chart dimensions. Barbieri makes a version of the LFPqb specifically for textile measuring.

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Instrument Spotlight: The Barbieri LFP

Vvvaarrooooom!

This issue’s Instrument Spotlight features the Italian racecar of spectrophotometers: The Barbieri LFP.

History

"Motor Valley"

Hailing from a small town in the Italian Alps, the Barbieri company has been making instruments for many decades. The first LFP was introduced in 2004. They came out with the LFP Series 3 in 2010, and today’s top-of-the-line model is the LFPqb. Naturally,their products have a robust following in Europe, but the addition of a corporate office in New York and a service center in Utah has made them more readily available to the North American market; accordingly, they recently have sparked more interest in the US. Located a mere 100 kilometers from the famed Italian “Motor Valley,” I can’t help but wonder if the folks at Barbieri have been inspired by the precision engineering that goes on down the road at Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini. The company creed has always been about quality: Barbieri wants their customers to always be able to measure color in the most accurate way.


The LFP is a table-based spectrophotometer, which means there is a bed or table on which the media to be measured lies, and this table is moved underneath the measuring head to measure each patch. This makes for automated measuring: once you set the chart up to be measured, you can walk away and do other things while measurement occurs. This will naturally leave less room for human error than the hand-held devices we have spotlighted earlier. If you have been in the industry long enough to remember the old Gretag Macbeth SpectroScan tables, you have a general idea of how this works.

Any further comparison between the two is valueless when looking at the modern LFP. These units are very robust, accurate, and fast - they are capable of finishing a 960-patch chart in as few as 8 minutes using scan mode, a typical aperture, and no filter in the measurement. (Patch by patch measuring and the use of a polarizer will make measurements take longer.) The new LFPqb model is even faster.

This Spotlight will feature both the LFP Series 3 and the LFPqb because they both continue to be actively sold and supported. To continue my sports car analogy, the LFPqb is more of an ultra-high-performance Lamborghini, while the LFP 3 is more of an everyday-exotic Italian Alfa Romeo.

Special Features of the LFPqb

The Barbieri LFPqb

In CHROMiX’s Maxwell cloud-based color tracking system, we account for every kind of measuring condition that goes with the measurements that are collected. With all the instruments on the market, these variables can be quite numerous, including:

The reason I bring this up here is that the LFPqb can be set to any of the variables above. This is an instrument that can do just about *everything* and does it very well.

Here are some of the features unique to the LFPqb:

The addition of the M1 measurement mode brings this instrument into the modern world. M1 is recommended for most pressroom measurements nowadays. This can be combined with other measurement modes so that, for example, you can measure transmissively using M1.

The LFPqb’s camera vastly improves the speed of the auto chart recognition. The camera gives the LFPqb enough information about the placement of the chart that it can start measuring almost immediately. The camera is also called into play when measuring textiles. Fabrics are notorious for not laying square and can easily be skewed as one attempts to lay them out flat for measuring. The camera sees the angles of the fabric and compensates for that in the internal calculations of the chart dimensions. Barbieri makes a version of the LFPqb specifically for textile measuring.

Prior to the release of the LPFqb, customers who wanted a hand-held instrument to take spot measurements would have had to use a different tool than the LFP Series 3. Now, the LPFqb has a detachable measuring head (the spectral unit) that is battery operated and has a touchscreen on the top. Slide the head into the aiming guide to take spot measurements, make calculations, and view the results in Lab readings on the display.

Finally, the speed and smoothness of this new LFPqb is in a class by itself. It is so smooth, quiet, and fast that you might not realize it is scanning the first time you watch it.

Environmental sensors. The LFPqb head records the temperature and relative humidity from within the instrument with every measurement.


The Barbieri LFP Series 3


Taking a spot measurement with the LFPqb aiming guide and the Spectral Head.



The Barbieri Spectropad



Thanks for reading,


Patrick Herold
CHROMIX, Inc.



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