Colorimetry

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Not to be confused with calorimetry.

Colorimetry or Colourimetry can refer to:

Contents

[edit] Instruments

Colorimetric equipment is similar to that used in spectrophotometry. Some related equipment is also mentioned for completeness.

Two spectral reflectance curves. The object in question reflects light with shorter wavelengths while absorbing those in others, lending it a blue appearance.
Two spectral reflectance curves. The object in question reflects light with shorter wavelengths while absorbing those in others, lending it a blue appearance.

[edit] Absorption colorimeter

In physical chemistry, a colorimeter is a device used to test the concentration of a solution by measuring its absorbance of a specific wavelength of light. To use this device, different solutions must be made, and a control (usually a mixture of distilled water and another solution) is first filled into a cuvette and placed inside a colorimeter to calibrate the machine. Only after the device has been calibrated can you use it to find the densities and/or concentrations of the other solutions. You do this by repeating the calibration, except with cuvettes filled with the other solutions. The filter on a colorimeter must be set to red if the liquid is blue. The size of the filter initially chosen for the colorimeter is extremely important, as the wavelength of light that is transmitted by the colorimeter has to be same as that absorbed by the substance.

[edit] Tristimulus colorimeter

In digital imaging, colorimeters are tristimulus devices used for color calibration. Accurate color profiles ensure consistency throughout the imaging workflow, from acquisition to output.

[edit] Spectroradiometer, Spectrophotometer, Spectrocolorimeter

The absolute spectral power distribution of a light source can be measured with a spectroradiometer, which works by optically collecting the light, then passing it through a monochromator before reading it in narrow bands of wavelength.

Reflected color can be measured using a spectrophotometer (also called spectroreflectometer or reflectometer), which takes measurements in the visible region (and a little beyond) of a given color sample. If the custom of taking readings at 10 nanometer increments is followed, the visible light range of 400-700nm will yield 31 readings. These readings are typically used to draw the sample's spectral reflectance curve (how much it reflects, as a function of wavelength); the most accurate data that can be provided regarding its characteristics.

CRT phosphors
CRT phosphors

The readings by themselves are typically not as useful as their tristimulus values, which can be converted into chromaticity co-ordinates and manipulated through color space transformations. For this purpose, a spectrocolorimeter may be used. A spectrocolorimeter is simply a spectrophotometer that can estimate tristimulus values by numerical integration (of the color matching functions' inner product with the illuminant's spectral power distribution).[4] One benefit of spectrocolorimeters over tristimulus colorimeters is that they do not have optical filters, which are subject to manufacturing variance, and have a fixed spectral transmittance curve—until they age.[5] On the other hand, tristimulus colorimeters are purpose-built, cheaper, and easier to use.[6]

The CIE recommends using measurement intervals under 5nm, even for smooth spectra.[3] Sparser measurements fail to accurately characterize spiky emission spectra, such as that of the red phosphor of a CRT display, depicted aside.

[edit] Color temperature meter

Photographers and cinematographers use information provided by these meters to decide what color correction should be done to make different light sources appear to have the same color temperature. If the user enters the reference color temperature, the meter can calculate the mired difference between the measurement and the reference, enabling the user to choose a corrective color gel or photographic filter with the closest mired factor.[7]

The normals are lines of equal correlated color temperature.
The normals are lines of equal correlated color temperature.

Internally the meter is typically a silicon photodiode tristimulus colorimeter.[7] The correlated color temperature can be calculated from the tristimulus values by first calculating the chromaticity co-ordinates in the CIE 1960 color space, then finding the closest point on the Planckian locus.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ohno, Yoshi (Oct. 16-20 2000). "CIE Fundamentals for Color Measurements" in IS&T NIP16 Conference. Vancouver, Canada: 540-545. 
  2. ^ a b ICC White Paper #5
  3. ^ a b c Lee, Hsien-Che (2005). "15.1: Spectral Measurements", Introduction to Color Imaging Science. Cambridge University Press, 369. ISBN 052184388X. 
  4. ^ a b Schanda, János (2007). "Tristimulus Color Measurement of Self-Luminous Sources", Colorimetry: Understanding the CIE System. Wiley Interscience. DOI:10.1002/9780470175637.ch6. ISBN 978-0-470-04904-4. 
  5. ^ Andreas Brant, GretagMacbeth Corporate Support (2005-01-07). Colorimeter vs. Spectro. Colorsync-users Digest. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  6. ^ Raymond Cheydleur, X-Rite (2005-01-08). Colorimeter vs. Spectro. Colorsync-users Digest. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  7. ^ a b Salvaggio, Carl (2007). in Michael R. Peres: The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Digital Imaging, Theory and Application, 4E, Focal Press, pg.741. ISBN 0240807405. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links