subject: Using A Colorimeter To Calibrate A Display Monitor [print this page] The purpose of calibration is to bring correct colors to what is seen on the screen, which allows the person viewing it to see it as it actually should look. The use of colorimeters in this calibration task will also cause the printed image to look almost exactly like the images on the screen. (Printer quality, however, can affect the result.)
Users of monitors can do the calibration work themselves, of course, but monitor manufacturers dont build in controls that will produce as high a level of accurate calibration as a colorimeter will. This device measures in fine detail the color accuracy of what a viewer sees on a monitor. It is not a hit and miss operation, the way doing the adjustments yourself can be.
There are standards for what colors should look like. They are set by the International Color Consortium and give technicians and manufacturers clear guidelines to use in the calibration process. Only through accurate color measuring devices can these standards be consistently met.
The way a colorimeter works is, it evaluates the settings on a monitor through the revealing of colors, various gray and white tones, midtones and brightness. After evaluating how the colors and tones are displayed when a given setting is programmed on the monitor, software relays that data to another computer.
The data allows technicians to see how the colors were displayed on the adjusted monitor compared with one that has not been adjusted. After making necessary adjustments, a correct profile can then be saved electronically and used for tasks in the future.
Colorimeters are compact and portable and easy to use for color measurements of the highest accuracy. In addition to display monitors, these instruments are used widely in the food industry. Here they are able to determine the correct colors of both processed and fresh food.
Most people dont realize how many food and drink items look the way they do because of color measurement. Cheese, coffee, baked goods, tomato products, soda and ice cream are just a few of these items.
Until the advent of colorimeter technology, any color measuring task was far more difficult and much less precise. These instruments have been beneficial by allowing manufacturers in numerous industries to turn out products whose coloring is always consistent and predictable.
As technology advances, its likely that more and more people who calibrate display monitors and companies that make food and beverages will use colorimeters to help them achieve results that are accurate and consistent.
