Amateur Photographer (2019-05-31)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 25 May 2019 51

Ataglance

●Colourreferenceand

calibrationtarget

●Pocket-sized, fold-open

design

●Includesfourtargets

● Robust plastic construction

COLOURmanagementis a trickybusiness.Even

if youhavea perfectlycalibratedmonitoranduse

customprintingprofiles,that’snotnecessarilytheend

of thestory.Forreallycriticalresults,youalsoneedto

haveconfidencein yourcamera’swhitebalanceand

colourresponse.Thiscanbeparticularlydifficultunder

artificiallighting:forexample,fluorescentlampscan

flickerthroughdifferentcolourtemperatures,while

cheapLEDlightsproduceanoddspectralresponse.

Evenwhenshootingoutdoors,varyinglevelsof blue

skyandcloudcanaffectwhitebalance.

Formanypurposes,theautowhitebalance

systemsof moderncamerasdealwiththese

situationsremarkablyeffectively.Butforimportant

shoots,therecanberealvaluein usinga

standardisedcolourcharttoensureyou’regetting

thebestpossibleresults.Thisis wheretheX-Rite

ColorCheckerPassportPhoto2 comesin.

Tenyearsafterthedebutof theoriginalversion,

thisupdateaddsan18%greycardtoaidwithwhite

balanceandmetering.Butotherwiseit’smuchthe

sameasbefore,beinga sturdy,pocket-sizeddevice

that’seasytocarryaroundanduse.Simplytake

sometestshotsincludingitscolourandexposure

targets,andin principleit’llprovideallyouneedto

avoidpost-processingheadaches.

Thedeviceis sturdilymade,withthickblackplastic

coverstoprotectthecolourtargetsinside.It folds

opentorevealtwopairsof targets.Thestandard

24-patchcolourtargetcanbeusedforprofilingyour

camera’sresponseunderawkwardlighting,whilethe

adjacentCreativetargetis designedtohelpyounail

yourexposureandwhitebalance.Tothisend,it

includesa light-greyscaletargetin sixth-stopstepsto

avoidhighlightclipping,anda dark-greyscaletargetto

visualiseshadowrendition.There’salsoa seriesof

clickablewarm-andcool-tonedpatchesfor

achievingpleasingwhitebalance.

Turningtheinside‘page’revealsthe

lightgreyand18%greytargets.The

lattercanbeusedformetering,toget

aninitialestimateof yourexposure,while

eitherfunctionasclickabletargets to set

a neutralwhite balance.

Ve r d i c t
TheColorCheckerPassportPhoto2 maynot
beradicallydifferenttotheoriginal,butit’sa timely
reminderof justhowusefulanaidit canbefor
gettingaccuratecolourandexposure.It’ssmall
androbustenoughtocarryeverywhere,andthe
free-standingdesignmakesit easytoincludein test
shots.Theadditionof the18%greycard,alongwith
ALL PRICES ARE APPROXIMATE STREET PRICESCapture One support, is the icing on the cake.

X-RitehasalsoupdateditsfreeColorCheckerCameraCalibrationsoftwarefor

WindowsandMacto version2.0.It can now create TIFF profiles for use with Capture

One,aswellasDNG

profilesforAdobeLightroom

andCameraRaw.Simply

converta rawfilecontaining

the24-patchtargetto DNG

or TIFF,andtheprogramwill

findit andgeneratea colour

profile.Thisprovidesa

standardisedstartpoint

for further processing.

COLORCHECKER CAMERA CALIBRATION 2

X-Rite ColorChecker

Passport Photo 2

AndyWestlakeexplores a handy colour-management tool

● £111● gb.colorconfi dence.com

Recommended

Creative

target

Helpstweakwhitebalance

toeliminatecolourcasts,

andfine-tuneexposure

toavoidhighlightor

shadowclipping.

ACCESSORIES Testbench

Greycard

Thenewlyadded18%

greycardsitsalongside

theexistinglight-greytarget,

givinganextraoption

formeteringand

whitebalance.

Calibration

software

X-Rite’saccompanying

softwarecreatescamera

profilesforusewithboth

Adobesoftwareand

CaptureOne.

Maintarget

Thisstandard24-colour

targetcanbeusedby

colour-profilingsoftware,

aswellasforvisually

checkingcolour.