ColorChecker® Turns 50

1976 saw the 200th anniversery of the founding of our country and it also saw the introduction of the ColorChecker® color chart. This chart has been very important tool to both film and digital photography, color science and color management. Over the years it has evolved into a wide variety of forms; from versions smaller than a business card, to ones as large as a desk.

One remarkable feature has been the consistency of the chart over its lifetime. A ColorChecker® purchased today has the same appearance as one purchase 50 years ago and measurements of its patches have close to the same values. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the ColorChecker® must be very successful judging from the many companies that have copied it.

Not widely known, this chart had its origin with one made almost 20 years earlier. Read about the consistency of this chart over its half century lifetime, its ancestor and some of the attempts to copy it in a pair of articles we have just published; the ColorChecker Project and ColorChecker Copycats.

Note: In this age of fake news and falsified data, you may rest assured that the information on these pages has been created and verified by our crack team of L*a*b* coated boffins. If you do not find something you need, let us know. We may be able to provide it.