X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Software

by X-Rite

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 4.9 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002NU5UW8
• Item model number: MSCCPP
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #2 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Light Meters & Accessories
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 15, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

ColorChecker Passport

Windows

• Microsoft Windows XP 32 or 64 bit (with latest Service Pack installed)
• Microsoft Windows Vista® 32 or 64 bit (with latest Service Pack installed)
• Microsoft Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit (with latest Service Pack installed)
• 512MB RAM
• Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP or better CPU
• 200 MB of available disk space
• User must have Administrator rights to install, uninstall the application.
• Monitor resolution of 1024x768 pixels or higher
• Internet connection required for software update

Macintosh

• Mac OSX 10.5.x, 10.6, or 10.7 (with the latest updates installed)
• G4 Processor or higher (Intel recommended)
• 512 MB RAM
• 350 MB of available disk space
• User must have Administrator rights to install and uninstall the application
• Monitor resolution of 1024x768 pixels or higher
• Internet connection required for software update

About the ColorChecker Passport

ColorChecker Passport is a powerful 'capture to edit' color solution for any photographer looking for more accurate, consistent color and creative flexibility. And when you combine ColorChecker Passport with Adobe® Imaging solutions you'll gain even greater benefits. ColorChecker Passport combines three photographic targets into one pocket size protective, self-standing case that adjusts to any scene. Together with the included camera calibration software, you get the ultimate in functionality, flexibility and portability.

There are so many ways to incorporate X-Rite ColorChecker Passport into your Raw workflow. Whether you take advantage of the entire solution, or just a couple of ColorChecker Passport's many features, you'll realize improved quality and productivity almost immediately.

CREATIVE ENHANCEMENT TARGET
Two rows of warming and cooling patches in the middle guide you to create pleasing and repeatable edits. Creatively refine the color of your image by adding warmth to skin tones or boost the deep greens or blues in a landscape. Simply click through the patches to view the adjustment, and select the one that provides your optimal look. Then, save the setting and apply it to other images that were shot under that same lighting to create pleasing edits - it's that easy!

When it comes to clipping, the Enhancement target highlights the power of working in Raw. A row of clipping patches across the bottom serve as a visual reference for judging, controlling and editing images for shadow details or highlight clipping. Although it may appear from a preview that shadow or highlight details have been lost, it is possible that the processing software just clipped them and they are still available in the Raw file. With some careful adjustments, you may be able to bring them back.

The clipping patches are separated into two groups: light and dark. The light patches are ordered with 1/3 of an F-stop difference between them. The dark patches are ordered the same, with the exception of the last patch; which represents the blackest patch in the ColorChecker target. The exposure difference between the darkest and next darkest patch is approximately 1/10th of a stop, and the dynamic range of the target is about 32:1 (5 stops). In Adobe applications, use these patches along with the clipping preview to ensure you are not losing details.

Across the top of the Enhancement target, the top HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) row includes 8 spectrum patches to ensure color fidelity across all hues so you can evaluate and edit for any color shifts.

WHITE BALANCE TARGET
The ColorChecker White Balance target is an all-new spectrally flat target that provides a neutral reference point across different lighting conditions that you encounter during a photo shoot. Since the target reflects light equally across the visible spectrum, creating an in-camera custom white balance can properly compensate for varying lighting. You'll be able to:

1. Eliminate color casts



2. Improve the color preview on your camera's display so your histograms are more reliable



3. Make post production color editing faster and easier by eliminating the need to neutralize each image individually

Setting a custom white balance for each lighting situation will make the previews on your camera's built in display more color correct, make your histograms more reliable, and speed up post production color editing. Raw shooters can capture anytime during the session to gain these benefits, while JPEG shooters should make it your first shot.


CLASSIC TARGET
The ColorChecker Passport includes a travel-sized version of the Classic 24 patch target. When combined with camera calibration software you can produce DNG profiles of your camera's response to scene lighting to get consistent, predictable and repeatable results from image to image and camera to camera.

The Classic target also provides a visual point of color reference. Photograph it in the same lighting as your images; then open it in your photo processing software as a reference to help with color correction. Each of the 24 color patches represents the colors of natural objects, such as sky blue, skin tones and leaf green; and each patch reflects light just like its real world counterpart. Each square is individually colored using a solid tone to produce pure, flat, rich color without dots or mixed tints.

The Classic can help you make global corrections based on accurate information. If you shoot a large number of images that all require the same color correction, you know that editing a few key photos and applying your changes can sometimes change colors you didn't intend to be changed. A shot of the ColorChecker Classic captured under the same lighting as your images will provide a point of reference, so you can see exactly how changes will affect the rest of your colors before you apply them. Since your changes can be applied to one photo or a group of images, you'll achieve consistency throughout your images.

CAMERA CALIBRATION SOFTWARE With the included ColorChecker Passport Camera Calibration Application and Lightroom® Plug-In, you can quickly and easily build DNG profiles for Adobe® Imaging solutions including Lightroom®, Photoshop®, Photoshop® Elements, Camera Raw (ACR) and Adobe® Bridge.

This new advanced profiling technology provides excellent results with just the small 24-patch ColorChecker Classic target, producing DNG profiles that work exceptionally well, even in unusual artificial light sources. Plus, software auto-detection will locate the target automatically. Whether you are shooting with just one camera or multiple cameras, you'll easily establish an accurate color foundation and maintain control of your colors. A very powerful feature of the software is the ability to create dual-illuminant DNG profiles. This type of profile takes into account two different light sources to create a single profile, which can be applied to an even wider variety of lighting conditions. Dual-Illuminant profiles can be made with any two of twenty-one supported illuminants, allowing you to create a profile for just about any kind of lighting condition you may encounter. Dual-illuminant profiles allow you the freedom to move between the represented lighting conditions without switching profiles.

• Camera calibration for Raw shooters enables greater capability to calibrate and correct color
• Accurate color gives a consistent foundation for creative interpretation
• Minimize color differences between cameras and lenses
• Adapt for mixed lighting
• Make color balance match across different scenes

SHOOTING JPEG NOT RAW?
You'll still gain many great benefits when you include ColorChecker Passport in your workflow.

White Balance Target

• Ensure your JPEG files are captured with the correct white point
• Eliminate the chance of any extreme white balance errors which cannot be corrected later in JPEG workflow
• Save time on post production edits of each individual shot

Creative Enhancement Target

• Evaluate and optimize shadow details or highlight clipping with gray ramp patches
• Use as visual reference for color spectrum and color adjustment with HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) patches
• Warm or cool images

Classic Target

• Photograph the Classic target in the same lighting as your images and use as a visual reference to help with color correction

Product Description

Combining the powerful color capabilities of the ColorChecker Passport and Adobe Imaging solutions into your RAW workflow will undeniably reduce your image processing time and improve quality control. Quickly and easily capture accurate color, instantly enhance portraits and landscapes and maintain color control and consistency from capture to edit. Achieve superior color results in a fraction of the time. ColorChecker Passport combines 3 photographic targets into one pocket size protective case that self-stands to adjust to any scene. Together with the software you get the ultimate in functionality, flexibility and portability. Starting with an accurate white balance ensures the colors you capture are true. Use the White Balance Target to create a custom in-camera white balance for a set of images and eliminate the need to correct each image later.With the Enhancement Target you can creatively refine the color of your images with just a few clicks. Add warmth to skin tones. Boost the deep greens or blues in a landscape. Put warmth and depth of film back into your digital photos. Or use as a visual reference for judging, controlling and editing images for shadow details, highlight clipping or color shifts. Adobe Imaging users – Lightroom, Photoshop, ACR or Elements – gain a new level of accuracy and precision. Use the Classic Target with the included camera calibration Lightroom Plug-In or desktop application to automatically create a DNG profile of your camera’s response to the scene. You’ll get consistent and repeatable results from image to image and camera to camera even if you return to the same location later. It’s fast, it’s effortless and it will bring your color control to a whole new level. The Classic Target also provides a built-in point of visual color reference and is compatible with Adobe DNG Editor. ColorChecker Passport is so convenient and portable you’ll want to take it with you to every shoot!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The difference between amateur and professional, December 9, 2009

By 

tachi1 "tachi1" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Software (Electronics)

(What's this?)

There are two parts to this system: there is the software you install and use on your computer, and there is the "hardware" the color checker you use when you're photographing and to which you reference the software.It is a system that speeds up your workflow, increases your accuracy and efficiency, and leaves you with prints you can be proud of.

Before I go on, let me clarify that I use this system with Photoshop ACR, not with Lightroom. Since the software does not install as a Plug-In to Photoshop (as it does with Lightroom), I have to use it as a "stand-alone" program. This isn't a hardship, but it is a distinction, and my review is based on this scenario only.

Another important fact is that for the purposes of creating profiles, this program requires that at least the profile-generating image be in .DNG so, whatever program you use to process your RAW captures has to be able to save as .DNG.

The process is simple: you shoot a series of photographs under a particular set of circumstances; you select one that is typical of the conditions present in the whole series; you save it as a .DNG; you open the "stand alone" Passport program; you open that representative image and tell it to create a profile based on it; you give the profile a descriptive name. The profile it creates will automatically appear in the camera profile drop-down menu in the Camera Calibration tab within ACR. You open the rest of the images in ACR and apply the profile to all of them as the first step in your RAW processing.

So far, I have successfully created two profiles for one of the cameras. It will be necessary, over time, to create a separate profile for each shooting situation for each camera. For example, on my Nikon D-80, I shot the color checker under "indoor, bounced flash" conditions. I created that profile. I then opened the 22 images that I shot under those conditions and applied the profile to them as the first step as soon as I entered ACR. Sure enough, on my calibrated monitor, the colors were right on target. I had the right shade of deep red, the right shade of aquaish-blue, and a perfect capture of skintone for each different person (and this was a diverse group). Additional adjustments in the basic tab were needed later but, starting from an appropriate profile, I could apply batch settings and only tweak individual shots lightly. I waited to write the review until I was able to make prints of the images that looked so great on the monitor and, sure enough, they look great when printed as well. I'm absolutely delighted.

I would say that the time saved is considerable. For an advanced amateur, like me, it's definitely worth it. For a large-volume professional, it is probably essential. Not only do you save time in the processing part of the equation, you also save money by not having to reprint.

Of course, the matter of creating camera-specific varieties of profiles can be time-consuming, but you don't have to do it all at once. You create them as the need arises and then you have them there for all subsequent matching situations.

The unit also comes with non-profile related swatches. Among them it has several intensities of neutral grays to help you quickly establish white point or check for clipping, and several artistic interpretation swatches designed for changing the color temperature of your photograph to make it progressively warmer (more golden) or cooler (more blue) than it really was. The latter are further broken up into cooling or warming for people or for landscape pictures. (Really, very well thought out.) There is also a white balance swatch/card that will come in handy in mixed-lighting situations. Though I haven't had to use it yet, it's very handy to have it in the same unit that I'm carrying along anyway.

The only factor on the minus side is that you have to really struggle to find information, instructions, and explanations of the procedure, features and swatches. The process is absolutely straightforward once you understand it, but getting there is a struggle. The X-Rite company website is badly organized and of very little help (I already knew that since I own their eye-one calibration software which still hasn't been updated for Windows 7).

The "for more information click here" link in the interface takes you to a dead end. The CD has totally-irrelevant "training modules" that deal with general calibration issues with no reference to this product. The zipped "online tutorial" that has to be downloaded from within the interface takes five minutes to download using DSL and requires Flash Player. When you register the product, they send you another link to download the same online tutorial again as a "thank you" gift. I believe your best bet is the written documentation PDF (on the standalone proram it is in the help menu>documentation). It is 59 pages long, well-illustrated and rambles a bit (but, so far, everything I wanted to find was there). Make sure you check it out before starting and be amazed at the difference in your images.

117 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great way to calibrate color, December 12, 2009

By 

digerati "digerati" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Software (Electronics)

(What's this?)

Length:: 6:38 Mins

Shows how the product can perform white balance, color calibration and dual-illuminant color calibration using the included software and Adobe Lightroom on a Windows 7 PC. 4 stars as the out-of-the-box experience is poor -- not until you have gone to the website, read the instructions and downloaded & watched the video examples will you know what to do.

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect - everything I expected, October 5, 2009

By 

Bo Lorentzen "Photographer" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Software (Electronics)

Im a professional photographer and use the digital-camera color checker, which is a rather large and bulky device to say the least, it is also complex to create and apply profiles.

The new X-rite passport ROCKS..! plain and simple.. it is easy to use, naively with lightroom, and easy with PhaseOne Capture. The quality of the profiles is not quite matching the digital camera checker, but nobody in their right mind would expect that. The passport create a very use-able profile in a matter of seconds.

Here is how it works.

1. snap a shot with the passport in the same light as you are working.

2. select image in Lightroom, then select EXPORT and export to X-rite.. this will create a profile, I suggest naming the profile by the date and album it applies to.

3. restart lightroom, go to develop, select the profile in camera profile, then sync to the rest of the album.

NOTE - if you have several lighting environments in the same folder, shoot a passport shot for each light change, then apply to the images which matches that passport.

The card also have a set of off-white patches for warming or cooling portraits and another set for landscape, use them to set the whitepoint in a image to warm or cool as desired.

X-rite have made available a very well designed instruction video for download from their site.

Overall, this is a very successful product, it does what I expected and it does it well. If you shoot digital and am concerned about color management, this is a MUST HAVE product.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.