jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There must be some of you who use the Passport X-Rite ColorChecker. I've read about it, but I don't see the need for the shooting I do. They now offer a ColorChecker for Video.

Does the ColorChecker make much of a difference?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I use it when I need accurate, consistent color, like when copying artwork for people. It will supposedly match color between different camera brands.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

I use it for client shoots because correct color is critical for interior designers and most furnishing finishers.
When shooting for myself or at fast moving events, I may or may not. If I don't I usually use a gray card in the beginning for PP later and set WB to the standard setting for the type of ambient lighting or flash. I almost never set to AWB unless the moment demands it. If the event has widely varying ambient light sources, I will shoot a gray card under each of them for PP referencing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Yes. But only if you need spot-on color, or you have to balance between two different color light sources. it also takes into consideration any variations in color temp between lenses, and will also make up for less than accurate color rendition in the sensor.

Here is a video that covers your questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDtebpvATzc

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Because I don't use PS software, I find it to be another costly gimic.

If I need precision color, I just use a free color chip sample available from any local paint or hardware store.

It doesn't look professional but works as good or better. If I felt like it, I could make something that did look expensive and professional but so far, nah. I rarely have a GAS attack for those type things.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

How does that work for skin tones?
Trust me, PS is not a gimmick. Neither is a good spell checker. Most of what you see in printed advertising was processed on Adobe software.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. I think my color is okay for my purposes. No one is paying me.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Then you don't need it. I use it routinely with flowers, which tend to have deep saturation. Getting the color just right is hard to do with any other method I have tried. At the moment and for the most part, no one is paying me either, but I do sell my images from time to time. Color accuracy is an old habit, from the days when I use to own three analog color meters - the Minolta, Spectra Tricolor, and a Gossen Sixticolor, kept my transparency film in the freezer after taking a test roll and determining the precise combination of Wratten filters to use with the emulsion run, etc. Digital is SO much easier -

djb663 Loc: Massachusetts

The most important aspect to me is calibrating your computer monitor and printer so that what you print matches what you display. That being said, if you use a gray card and the color checker you will definitely see subtle changes when you apply the profile to your photo. In my experiences, the changes from the profile are minimal if you use a gray card and the gray eyedropper in a program such as lightroom or dxo.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Gene, the word "it" is in reference to the OP's question and basically means any type of color checking device you need to buy.

As for PS being used by most magazines, I fully respect and admire their ability and congratulate them too!

As an additional thing to add to your "collection" of thoughts, most print services use PS also.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Besides my camera, two things I never leave home without are my colorchecker passport and my Sekonic 758 light meter. Invaluable for landscapes. Check out Joe Brady's videos on you tube where he explains and uses both together.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I have taken each lens, mounted it on each camera one at a time and taken pictures of the ColorChecker Passport in different lighting conditions so that I can create a profile in LR for each condition. Then when I import my pictures for the day, I use the "apply upon import" feature in LR so that my color is accurate. LR provide some basic camera calibrations that are based on the camera body you own so that it can apply the similar (as Canon calls it) "Picture Style". If you own Nikon, LR will have camera calibrations named the same as the picture styles you can apply to jpg in camera processing too.

Since most of my photography is outdoors, I must calibrate my long lenses for full sun subjects, shade subjects, and overcast days for my subjects. If I'm shooting against the light, then I just process the image in LR the best I can and play with the ColorChecker profiles to see which one looks best. There is usually one that is suitable. You can view some youtube videos on how the ColorChecker works and I'm telling you, it does make a difference when it comes to getting the colors right. My pictures that have blue sky are accurate now, and the blues, reds, yellow, greens are all as I saw them when shooting.

In fact, now that I've sold a couple of my cameras, I think I'll do a little grooming to get rid of some of the profiles I've created for those camera body/lens combos.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It really can. If you use it with the recommended software tools, it yields very accurate color for high-end printing, where the best color matching of paint and logo colors (Corvette red vs Coca-Cola red, for instance) is required.

Using ANY sort of exposure and white balance reference target is always preferable to using none, when you have the time and it's practical. The ColorCheckers are probably the penultimate solutions in that class.