The Spectro LFP measures whole charts on its own table: you lay the sheet down, the instrument finds the chart and reads every patch. CC Capture drives it, and the job you open in ChromaChecker tells it which chart to expect.

This page covers connecting, Setup, chart positioning, barcode charts and the spectral unit off the table.

Connecting

USB – use the long cable delivered with the instrument, with the USB-A plug on the computer side. Any other cable must be passive, such as a plain USB-C 2.0 cable: active Thunderbolt or USB4 cables can leave the instrument invisible to the computer, however good they are.

Ethernet – faster than USB, most of all when the instrument photographs the table. Reserve a fixed IP address for the instrument on your router (ask your IT if you do not manage it). Then, in CC Capture's Connect window, choose Ethernet, click "…" and enter that address.

Setup

Open it from the instrument icon (right-click, Setup…) or from the Device menu. Setup is used for every measurement; when the ChromaChecker job names a setting, the job wins for that job.

Different settings give different numbers

That is how measurement works, not an error. Each aperture reads a different area of the patch. The measuring modes are close but not identical. M0, M1 and M2 light the sample differently in the ultraviolet, so paper with optical brighteners, or inks that fluoresce, read differently – sometimes a lot. Calculated M-conditions are common today and accepted by ISO, but ISO does not promise results identical to a physical measurement – sometimes not even close.

So never mix data measured with different settings. Wherever measurements are exchanged – between sites, between instruments, between you and your customer or supplier – agree on one set of settings and use it on every instrument in the chain.

Chart positioning

The 24 mm minimum comes from the lines themselves: each must end with its own end marker. Both camera methods need the camera option activated on the instrument.

Manual positioning on three marks is not supported in CC Capture.

The method is a preference, not a rule

Setup sets the method the instrument tries first. If it cannot find the registration lines and the camera option is activated, it positions the chart from a photo of the table instead – the camera lights up although you chose lines, and the scan goes on. Only when both fail does CC Capture stop with "Registration lines not found".

With the camera option the instrument photographs the table on every scan: about half a minute over USB, much less over Ethernet.

Charts with registration lines

• Print at 100 % – never "fit to page". A scaled chart is not where the instrument expects it, even if it looks right. One row must measure the number of patches times the patch size, for example 28 × 8 mm = 224 mm.
• Lay it at the top of the measuring area – the instrument looks for the horizontal registration line from the middle of the table's top edge downward, and only a few centimetres down: it does not search the whole table. The chart's upper line must lie in that band and cross the middle of the table's width; a chart laid lower, or off to one side, is not found.
• Flat and fully on the table, the lines not covered or folded.

The camera option

Barbieri activates the camera per instrument with a TAN code, entered in Barbieri Gateway (Tools – Enter TAN; close CC Capture first, the two cannot use the instrument at the same time). Ask us or your Barbieri dealer. Without the option, Setup shows the camera methods as "not available on this instrument", and registration lines still work. The camera may still light up and photograph the table – that photo is not used to position the chart.

When positioning fails

Barcode charts

Barcodes do not necessarily make measuring faster – they prevent mistakes. Each printer and paper gets its own chart with its own code. When the instrument reads the code, the measurement goes to that printer and paper and starts by itself. Nobody has to keep track of which print came from where, so the work needs less operator experience.

1. The camera option is activated on the instrument.
2. In Setup, Chart identity, turn on "Camera-based barcode automation".
3. Each chart carries the code ChromaChecker generates for it – best at least 20 × 20 mm, on the left side of the sheet. Other codes are not recognized.

The barcode button is in Print Inspector, in the middle of the bottom bar. Lay the chart on the table and click it. While the instrument is measuring, the button waits.

Button	Meaning
	READY (light grey in dark mode) - hit to START
	ACTIVATED – the instrument is photographing the table and reading the code.
	ACCEPTED – a code was read; the measurement starts by itself. Black again when it ends.
	FAILED – no code was found: check that the code is printed, on the table and not covered, then click again. Also red when the code belongs to no chart – the page then says "Barcode not recognized".

The code is read with the instrument's own camera. The Barcode Reader plugin is for separate, external barcode readers and is not needed here.

The spectral unit off the table

The LFP qb's spectral unit can be taken off the table and used by hand for spot readings. It is a separate instrument for CC Capture: in the Connect window choose Barbieri Spectro LFP unit (spot), not "Barbieri LFP / LFP qb".

• Always use the positioning adapter that slightly raises the unit – measurements without it are false.
• One M-condition per session: choose it in Setup; the unit calibrates for it when it connects.
• Several M-conditions at once, and OBA/FI work, need the table – put the unit back and connect "Barbieri LFP / LFP qb".
• Start measurements from CC Capture, not from the unit's own button.
• If the unit sleeps and disconnects, reconnect from the Connect window.

The recommendations window

After connecting, CC Capture shows one window: what affects how the LFP works, with a link to this page. "Don't show this again" hides it; "Barbieri – quick start…" in the app menu, or the same button in Setup, opens it again.