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Graphic Quality Consultancy

RANGING IN FUJIFILM COLOURKIT EDITOR SOFTWARE

Ranging refers to setting the white and black end densities of an image. Vital on high-end scanners!

Please read the previous article first, even if you don't have a Celsis scanner, as it will give you an introduction to ranging as used in highend imaging.

Fujifilm ColourKit Editor and Manager and Image Processor are very sophisticated scanning and image processing applications. They drive the most recent Fujifilm Lanovia and FineScan flatbeds. Related software was also available for sophisticated standalone image editing and processing.

The software will automatically range the image while opening it. This ranging will become an "edit" and will appear as such in the Edit Manager window. To see how an image has been ranged, open the Ranging menu.
You will see a white and a black ellipse, with a slider under each, going from a grey circle to a coloured circle. As you will have guessed, the amount of colour cast reduction in the highlights and shadows is shown by the slider's position. The middle position corresponds to "Auto", the left (grey) to "AN" and the right (coloured) to "Manual" in previous Celsis scanner terminology. The slider will normally default to the centre position , but can be positioned anywhere. As you move the slider the sample will change colour. If you clicked on the "show numerical controls" icon at the upper right, you will get a display of densities and the amount of cast removal. If you are not happy with the density you can manually enter a new number. If you don't agree with the ranging, you can use the dropper to select a new area for either the white or black entry points.
The menu shows default positions for the sliders. The white has 50% cast reduction, while the black keeps 100% of any cast. The "black" point may not be neutral but could be a "dirty colour"  such as a dark brown (wooden furniture or a person's hair). Be careful when reducing a "colour cast" in the black area.

Job Sheet.

If the parameters often need to be changed in a certain direction, you can change the defaults in most versions of the software. In V4.2 this is accessed in the Image Processor software under "Settings/Job Tickets".  The Job Ticket will be the relevant Input Ticket. You will see the Ranging sliders, and will be able to position them according to your requirements.  You will also see Range Targets for White and Black. These are in L* for Lightness, as in LCH.  The reason being that images can be processed in both RGB and CMYK colour spaces. All you need to remember is that L* goes from 100 to 0, with 100 being miniimum white, and 0 being maximum black. Typical default settings are 97.6 and 6.0 respectively.

You may also notice the "Image Type" window. This is relevant to the sharpness or detail "modulation" of the image. It is set to the type of scanner or digital camera: drum, flatbed CCD (also for digital camera), transmission TX, reflection RX, etc. See also U.S.M.

Back to How Ranging Works

Fuji ColourKit Colour Management