X-Rite i1Display Pro | Image Science
Calibrators come in two main types:
Colorimeters – can only read light emitting devices, like monitors. They are generally the best (and most affordable) option for calibration monitors. Essentially these are like simple digital cameras with a sensor and some filters in front of the sensor to separate the different colours of light.
Spectrophotometers – These measure the actual spectral wavelengths of light. They have their own light source so can handle both light emitting devices like monitors and reflective materials like paper. They’re very good at print but not as good as colorimeters for monitors generally, as the commonly available models tend to have some difficulty reading deep shadows on monitors.
A third type ‘Spectrocolorimeter’ – is something Datacolor came up with in their print calibrators. We at Image Science are …not huge fans.
Here’s a more comprehensive overview of the different types of calibrators (paraphrased from the ColorSync mailing list!):
1) Radiometer is a sort of light meter for some assumed spectrum; could be any electro magnetic radiation (EMR). If it is used for photography it’s literally called a Light Metre.
2) Spectrometer is a radiometer that can report spectral power distributions, e.g., the EMR contour of a spectra. This is classically about a prism, hot objects and the visible signatures of their elemental constituents. But also could be about any range of EMR.
3) Spectroradiometer – measurement of precise energy distributions across a spectra. This is about knowing not only the spectral distribution, but exactly how much power is being conveyed.
4) Spectrophotometer, is an application of a spectrometer for evaluating spectral power distribution in range of visual sensation. In domain of Colorsync Users, this tends to be optimised for reflective media, but such a distinction is application dependent.
5) Colorimeter, a device that reports tri-stimulus colorimetric (e.g, CIEXYZ) coordinates of spectra; optimised under an assumption of RGB emissive media, i.e. display technologies
These last two are applications most relate to colorimetry, whereas the former three apply to many other EMR domains. So if you’re a physicist or chemist or radio engineer, for example, you are generally thinking in terms of first 3, and if you are a colour user/engineer you are thinking mostly in terms of the last two.
