GretagMacbeth ColorChecker®
The GretagMacbeth ColorChecker® has been around since 1976 when it was called the Macbeth ColorChecker®. Originally proposed by C. S. McCamy, H. Marcus and J. G. Davidson in 1976 as a test for photography, television and printing, it is still being produced and used for a variety of color tests and color profiling.
Description
The ColorChecker® consists of 24 squares of paint applied to paper then mounted to a cardboard backing with a black frame around all the patches. The colors were chosen to represent various natural objects, colors that are problematic for color reproduction, additive and subtractive primaries, and a gray scale.
Originally offered in a 13 x 9 inch form only, the ColorChecker® is currently offered in an 11 x 8 inches size and a pocket sized Mini ColorChecker® at 3.25 x 2.25 inches.
Data
| Original Munsell Notation | CIE 1976 L*a*b*, D50, 2° | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Hue | Value/Chroma | L* | a* | b* |
| Dark skin | 3.05 YR | 3.69/3.20 | 39.07 | 13.70 | 14.37 |
| Light skin | 2.2 YR | 6.47/4.10 | 66.36 | 18.08 | 18.56 |
| Blue sky | 4.3 PB | 4.95/5.55 | 50.66 | -4.84 | -21.44 |
| Foliage | 6.65 GY | 4.19/4.15 | 44.03 | -13.01 | 22.34 |
| Blue flower | 9.65 PB | 5.47/6.70 | 55.87 | 8.88 | -24.79 |
| Bluish green | 2.5 BG | 7/6 | 71.47 | -32.98 | 0.65 |
| Orange | 5 YR | 6/11 | 62.37 | 36.05 | 56.58 |
| Purplish blue | 7.5 PB | 4/10.7 | 40.77 | 9.18 | -43.58 |
| Moderate red | 2.5 R | 5/10 | 51.68 | 48.21 | 16.75 |
| Purple | 5 P | 3/7 | 31.27 | 20.00 | -20.83 |
| Yellow green | 5 GY | 7.08/9.1 | 72.74 | -22.60 | 57.15 |
| Orange yellow | 10 YR | 7/10.5 | 72.35 | 19.57 | 68.76 |
| Blue | 7.5 PB | 2.90/12.75 | 29.61 | 13.63 | -49.65 |
| Green | 0.1 G | 5.38/9.65 | 55.61 | -37.19 | 31.81 |
| Red | 5 R | 4/12 | 42.23 | 55.32 | 27.45 |
| Yellow | 5 Y | 8/11.1 | 82.65 | 4.44 | 80.52 |
| Magenta | 2.5 RP | 5/12 | 52.55 | 49.33 | -14.42 |
| Cyan | 5 B | 5/8 | 52.24 | -28.24 | -27.14 |
| White | N | 9.5/ | 96.37 | -0.30 | 3.26 |
| Neutral 8 | N | 8/ | 81.70 | -0.56 | 0.25 |
| Neutral 6.5 | N | 6.5/ | 66.49 | -0.33 | 0.03 |
| Neutral 5 | N | 5/ | 50.67 | -1.06 | -0.19 |
| Neutral 3.5 | N | 3.5/ | 36.23 | -0.48 | -0.26 |
| Black | N | 2/ | 20.68 | 0.17 | -0.55 |
The Munsell data is from the original McCamy et al publication. CIE 1976 L*a*b* coordinates were obtained by averaging spectral measurements from two October 2002 edition ColorCheckers® The charts were measured with a GretagMacbeth Spectrolino® equipped with a D65 filter. The spectral data was acquired, averaged and analyzed with SpectraShop™.
Color Management Profiling
For color profiling purposes, it is imperative that a custom reference file be created for each individual chart. This is especially important for programs that perform spectral profiling because the ColorChecker® colorants have been reformulated several times since its original release and the spectra for many of the patches have changed significantly. It is to GretagMacbeth's (now X-Rite's) credit that they have maintained the appearance of the patches during these reformulations but the profiling packages do not offer reference files for the different ColorChecker® editions. It is up to the user to make a custom reference file by measuring their individual ColorCheckers®.
Spectral Data
The spectral data for many different editions of the ColorChecker® may be downloaded from the Spectral Library. Using these files with the demo version of SpectraShop™ will allow you to compare the spectra for the different editions and get colorimetric values for a large variety of viewing conditions.
Reference
C. S. McCamy, H. Marcus, J. G. Davidson, A Color-Rendition Chart, Journal of Applied Photographic Engineering, Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 1976, pages 95-99.
Updated 27.4.2009
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