In summary
While accurate colour reproduction may not be vital for snapshooters, photographers looking for faithful reproductions of the hues and tones in the scenes they photograph, and consistent colour reproduction across a number of cameras and lenses, will find the SpyderCheckr tools valuable.
The SpyderCheckr 24 will be more than adequate for most tasks and has the advantage of being more portable than the SpyderCheckr and providing excellent value for money.
Portrait photographers who rely on accurate reproduction of skin tones will be better served by the larger, ‘professional’ SpyderCheckr. Even though it is heavier and bulkier, it’s a handy tool that doesn’t take up much space in a studio environment and would justify its higher price tag.
Full review
Datacolor’s SpyderCheckr 24 is a cut-down version of its original SpyderCheckr professional colour reference tool.
Consisting of a double-sided reference card with 24 colour patches on one side and six greyscale tones (from white to black) plus a larger mid-grey patch on the other side, it is less than half the price of the original SpyderCheckr but almost as useful. Affordable and portable, it provides an easy way to calibrate colours for both still and movie workflows.
The SpyderCheckr 24 comes in a cardboard box roughly the size of a DVD case. (Source: Datacolor.)
Both products are compatible with the software used by the majority of photographers in their normal post-production workflow, including Adobe’s Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom v2, Hasselblad Phocus and video editors like Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 11 or higher.
SpyderCheckr targets also enable photographers to create custom camera calibrations that include adjustments for lens and sensor characteristics.
What is it?
The SpyderCheckr 24 is a colour reference tool that can be used to calibrate any kind of camera, still or video.
Inside the box is the colour/greyscale reference card plus a flexible plastic sleeve.
The patches on both sides of the target are printed with ‘spectrally engineered’ pigments that are both stable and colour accurate. The reference card is supplied with a flexible plastic sleeve.
The colour side of the card has a six-step greyscale with white and black patches plus four intermediate grey levels. Beside it is a column of six more patches that cover the primary hues of cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green and blue.
Next in line are six colours that are often difficult to replicate: orange, cobalt blue, watermelon pink, purple, lime green and yellow ochre. The final column has patches of aqua, mauve, olive green, blue-grey and two skintone patches for European and brown skins. The reverse side of the card has a large (180 x 88 mm) neutral mid-grey patch plus the same greyscale strip as the colour side.
The reverse side of the reference card is a greyscale reference target.
An accompanying printed card carries details of the URL for a website dedicated to the product. Here you can download a two-page Quick Start Guide, a more detailed 30-page User’s Guide (which covers both SpyderCheckr models) and the software needed for creating and using calibrations.
Who’s it for?
Compared with the original SpyderCheckr, the SpyderCheckr 24 has a few limitations, as shown in the table below.
|
Feature |
SpyderCheckr 24 |
SpyderCheckr |
|
Patch Number |
24 |
48 |
|
Colour coverage |
Saturated Colours |
Saturated & Low Saturation |
|
Skintone Patches |
2 |
8 |
|
Gray Ramp Patches |
6 |
13 |
|
Near White Tints |
0 |
3 |
|
Near Black Tones |
0 |
3 |
|
Gray Face |
Medium |
Large |
|
FadeCheckr |
No |
Yes |
|
Tripod Mount |
No |
Yes, 1/4-inch x 20 |
|
Cube Mount |
No |
Yes, 1/4-inch x 20 |
|
Case structure |
Thin & flexible |
Rigid |
|
Dimensions Open |
14cm wide, 20cm high, 1mm thick |
31cm wide, 23 cm high, 20mm thick |
|
Dimensions Stored |
15cm wide, 21 cm high, 4mm thick |
15cm wide, 23 cm high, 15mm thick |
|
Weight |
52 grams |
400 grams |
|
RRP (AU$) |
$75 |
$210 |
For starters, the colours on the colour side of the card are all saturated hues. This means you won’t be able to calibrate pastel tones and near whites as precisely and there will be a limit to how accurately you can match skin hues that are obviously different from the hues on the card. Whether this will be problematic depends upon they types of images you capture, the display medium used for viewing them, how accurately you need to reproduce particular hues, how well your workflow is colour managed and whether you are able to adjust colours accurately enough by eye.
The illustrations above show the differences between the SpyderCheckr 24 (left) and the original SpyderCheckr.
We doubt most potential users would be affected by these problems and the SpyderCheckr 24 should be more than adequate for most types of subjects, including landscape and general scenic photography. Aside from its price tag, it has a few significant advantages over the original SpyderCheckr. Being much thinner and lighter, it doesn’t take up much space in a camera bag, making it easier to keep on hand when you’re shooting on location.
How to use
The instructions in the Quick Start Guide are brief but straightforward but to get the most from the product we recommend downloading and reading the User’s Guide before you begin work. Download and install the SpyderCheckr software for your computer’s operating system from the Datacolor website. When you run the installer, a folder named SpyderCheckr will be created in your Datacolor applications folder. This software is self-launching in Lightroom but must be launched manually through Adobe CameraRaw (ACR) if you use Photoshop.
To colour calibrate your camera equipment set up the target card in the kind of lighting you plan to use, remembering that every combination of lens and camera sensor has a unique color signature, which may change in different lighting conditions. You will need different calibrations for natural and artificial lighting.
Datacolor recommends lighting the target with a single light source, with no reflector or diffuser, from a moderate distance. The ‘sweet spot’ in the centre of the light field should completely overlap the edges of the target to ensure all patches receive the same amount and colour of light. The grey side of the target can be used to check lighting consistency.
Align the camera so it is perpendicular to the target with the target covering roughly half of the frame. The central axis of the lens should be in line with the centre of the target and the target should be parallel with the camera back. Photograph the target with the camera set for raw file (or RAW+JPEG) capture. Take a few frames at different settings, if you are unsure of any of the variables.
Cropping the target image in ACR.
Import the file into your editing software and open it as you would with any raw image. Crop and rotate the image to contain only the SpyderCheckr target and use the white balance eyedropper tool to sample any of the light or medium gray patches for white balance measurement. (The first patch below the white patch is a good starting point.)
Adjusting the brightness range in ACR. This screen grab shows the black point adjustments (circled in red).
Once this is done, adjust the exposure slider until the white patch appears as approximately 90% in Lightroom, or about RGB 230, 230, 230 in ACR. Then check the black patch and adjust it until it appears as approximately 4% in Lightroom, or about RGB 10, 10, 10 in ACR.
Save the resulting image in TIFF format with 16-bit color depth to the desktop (or another easily-accessed location). Click on “Open in Image Editor” to open this file directly from the SpyderCheckr software.
The Checkr start screen.
Checkr will auto-launch if you have set it up correctly in Lightroom. Choose “Edit a Copy with Lightroom Presets” to assure that your white balance and exposure adjustments are included in the exported file. For ACR, go to the Checkr application’s folder, double click on the Checkr app, and it will launch itself. Import your target file by dragging it from the desktop into Checkr or use the ‘Open’ command from the menu.
The target in position on the Camera Utility screen. Note the drop-down menu for selecting the colour preferences and the radio buttons for choosing the raw file converter you use.
Superimpose your target image in the reference image in Checkr making sure it has the same orientation. Adjust the alignment by dragging on any edge or corner of the image area. The colours inside the sampling squares should be slightly less saturated than the patch colours.
Use the drop-down menu to select a rendering mode from the Preferences pane. Choose from Colorimetric, Saturation or Portrait, depending on how you will use the calibration. Colorimetric produces the most accurate colour reproductions and is best for photographing art works and products where accurate colours are vital. Saturation applies a small boost to saturation that suits landscapes and general photography. Portrait has the opposite effect, reducing saturation to make skin tones appear more attractive and natural-looking.
Saving the ACR calibration preset.
Click on the ‘Save Calibration To…’ button and your calibration corrections will be calculated. You will be prompted to name your new calibration preset. Include the name of the camera and lens plus other relevant data, like the light source.
Video Calibration
The best way to calibrate equipment for a video workflow is to record the target as a video clip, using the same set-up as described for the stills workflow. Then capture a still frame from the video and process it in the same way you would any SpyderCheckr target shot. The resulting Preset can be applied to subsequent video clips using the Sync Settings button.
Once the clips have been colour corrected for the camera and lens, they can be exported from for processing in any other Video Editing application you use. Be sure to check the Include Video Files checkbox.
Using and Adjusting Calibrations
Profiles created with SpyderCheckr can be used when converting raw files into editable formats. With ACR, they are accessed via the Presets tab in the software, which calls up a list of the profiles you have created, allowing you to select the appropriate one.
Selecting an adjustment profile in ACR.
You can apply a profile to multiple images shot with the same camera and lens. In ACR, this process must be done via Adobe Bridge. In Lightroom you simply select the images and choose the required preset.
Colour calibrations created with SpyderCheckr can also be adjusted to compensate for colour biases in the output media. For example: if your printer prints skies with excessive purple under some lighting conditions, you need to avoid adding too much magenta ink to the sky tones. You can adjust the blue sliders in the HSL pane to correct this.
Similarly, if your method of lighting portrait shots requires changes to the saturation of skintones, the orange sliders in HSL can be adjusted to meet those needs. The edited
settings should be saved under a new name to provide a customised colour calibration preset for subsequent use.
The SpyderCheckr grey target can be used for checking colour neutrality and contains an enlarged 50% grey patch for use when a larger sample area is needed. Applications include checking the in-camera colour balance for different lighting conditions and checking the neutrality of a monitor. It can also be used to standardise colour reproduction across a number of different camera bodies and/or camera-and-lens combinations.
Using the SpyderCheckr 24 target as a colour reference at the start of a portrait shoot. (Source: Datacolor.)
You can also use the SpyderCheckr targets as a colour reference when shooting in the field. Each time you embark upon a shoot, photograph the SpyderCheckr target in the same lighting as you will use for subsequent pictures. Re-shoot the target if you re-position the subject or if the lighting changes during the shoot.
Importing the target shot into the SpyderCheckr software gives you a quick way to make visual colour comparisons and identify colours and tones that may require further tweaking when files are edited.
Conclusion
While accurate colour reproduction may not be vital for snapshooters, photographers looking for faithful reproductions of the hues and tones in the scenes they photograph, and consistent colour reproduction across a number of cameras and lenses, will find the SpyderCheckr tools valuable.
The SpyderCheckr 24 will be more than adequate for most tasks and has the advantage of being more portable than the SpyderCheckr and providing excellent value for money.
Portrait photographers who rely on accurate reproduction of skin tones will be better served by the larger, ‘professional’ SpyderCheckr. Even though it is heavier and bulkier, it’s a handy tool that doesn’t take up much space in a studio environment and would justify its higher price tag.
Rating
RRP: AU$75
- Robustness: 8.8
- Ease of use: 8.8
- Versatility: 8.8