XRite_Mark's Profile

It was great to read all these positive comments about people’s experience with spectrophotometers or “spectros” for their paint color matching needs.

I just want to mention that I work for X-Rite (www.xrite.com) which produces “spectros” for the hardware stores.

Just wanted to chime in with some information regarding this topic, I hope you will find this helpful.

Yes, spectrophotometers need to be calibrated, but how often varies between the type of spectro and who the manufacturer is. X-Rite for instance has one spectro which only needs to be calibrated once a week, while another model requires daily calibration. So be sure to check with your paint store to make sure the unit is calibrated per manufacturers recommendations so that you can be sure to get the most accurate color match for your sample.

In terms of what type of material and the size of the sample not all spectro can measure everything. X-Rite latest spectro MatchRite iVue (http://www.xrite.com/ivue) can measure samples that are as small as 6mm and can also measure samples of almost any size and fabric samples because of its non-contact nature. Of course some of the other spectro models cannot provide accurate results with fabric samples.

For those of you looking for a handheld device for the home (like the one mentioned in the article), that can take color samples and match them to the nearest color on fandecks check out CAPSURE (www.xrite.com/capsure). This instrument can grab colors off of textured samples, and multi-colored patterns.
If you have any more questions feel free to email me.