Datacolor DC SCK100 SpyderCheckr

Used item was shipped to me. Seller did give me discount after the fact. -1 star for shipping me used product, -1 star for difficulty of focusing on gray cards with AF.Other then the minus, very nice product. Wish they made a more portable/smaller version.

For those who find accurate colors in their photography important, this the product to get! Most have heard of products to calibrate monitors and to profile their printers but that only works on maintaining color consistency between the monitor and your print out. Now, another critical component in the process is capturing the colors accurately when you take the photo. Until recently, most photographers thought that if they used a gray card or color checker to get the white balance, they would get accurate colors when they processed their photos based on the gray patch/card. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Clicking for the white balance just fixes the white balance but does not address the nuances in colors that each camera produces.When one enters a TV store, he might see several TVs showing the exact same program but will notice that they may not reflect the same colors. All may show a red balloon, but the particular hue, brightness, and saturation of the color red may vary from TV to TV. That is a typical characteristic of a lot of digital devices including digital cameras. (If you check the dslr reviews in dpreview.com, you can see where they compare the cameras color rendition to other similar cameras, and they are never fully alike).So if a photographer is critical about color, he would also need a way to profile his camera so that he can complete the color management process - accurate and consistent colors from capture (taking the photo) - to monitor - to printing. Now, the Spyder Checkr allows for a relatively simple process of getting accurate colors from the photos you take.This product has both a set of color targets and software that integrates with some key RAW processing software. The process involves taking a photo of the color targets with your camera, load it into your RAW processing software like Adobe Lightroom, make a few simple adjustments to prepare the target, and then in a few clicks you are brought to the product software wherein it would make a preset that would be saved within lightroom. The next time you open lightroom, you can apply this preset to your images and it allows you to get accurate colors - the actual colors that your camera saw.Nope, I am not employed by Datacolor and have not even really been a user of their products. Many years ago, I did buy a Spyder two times for calibrating monitors but returned them each time because I didn't find the products accurate. So for many years, I had become an avid user of X-Rite/Gretag Macbeth instead. As a professional photographer and as a co-owner of a professional color managed photo lab, I had to study and rely a lot of color management equipment and software. I've been using X-Rite's colorimeters, densitometers, spectrophotometers, and color checker cards, and various software, etc, for many years. I have always been happy with their products and was pleased when X-Rite came out with their Color Checker Passport.I tried the color checker passport of X-Rite and was pleased with its ease of use and due to my longstanding trust in X-Rite's quality, I took for granted that their product and software would render accurate colors from my camera shots. Unfortunately, I soon realized that it was far from accurate. Some colors, particularly reds and pink tones tended to be oversaturated. Some blue colors also seemed inaccurate and too rich. The bulk of my work is photographing fashion and beauty products wherein color accuracy is critical. Sadly, when I took photos, specially of lipstick and other reddish products, the colors became way off. I tried different permutations and settings with the color checker passport and the results were the same. I even tried other color checker cards (in case it was something wrong with my card) but the results were the same. Then X-Rite came out with an updated software for the color checker passport, but the results worsened.The final straw for me was when I had to photograph a bright pink sponge, when I used the color profiles made through X-Rite passport, the pink was so oversaturated that the details of the sponge got washed out in bright pink colors. I wrote X-Rite, and inspite of their automated response saying they will get back to me within a few hours, its been a month and no reply.Eager to find a solution for color accurate photographs, I started to search for a similar product and I found Datacolor's Spyder Checkr. I was first hesitant since there were no reviews, plus my first experience with their products many years ago was not good. But, I decided to give it a try! And boy! I'm glad I did.I followed their procedure which was simple, easy to follow, and I soon discovered that it rendered accurate colors! I did several tests and even compared shots using the exact same settings then applying the profile made from X-Rite and from Datacolor's Spyder Checkr. Hands down, the Spyder Checkr wins by a mile!I just tried shooting the same pink sponge again and applied both the Spyder Checkr and the X-Rite Passport profiles. Spyder checkr = accurate colors, and details of the sponge texture are seen. X-Rite passport = severely rich and oversaturated pink, and the details of the sponge are washed out - its just a solid pink shape.Congratulations Datacolor! Excellent product!The added plus is that when I emailed them to ask some questions they answered! And answered very thoroughly!

Excellent size to keep in your camera bag so you can make sure your photos are 'on the money.' Well made.

EXCELLENT PRODUCT & SUPPER AMAZON SELLER A+++++

Perfect to get the right colors along with the cube on top. A little big for field work but fits in my photo vest inside pocket. Little known about camera settings and color, ANY and all settings from AWB to creative styles settings are for in camera processing for JPEGS only. Both RAW and jpeg may look alike but are not! Even in any post processing program that has camera styles to select from are best guess for the camera makers creative styles. If you see something pure white or 18% grey in your scene and color pick it, it maybe correct, and may look great. Example a sunset/rise the light changes every second, just put the datacube on top take a shot with both then your scene sync in a program then you will see what you saw. I use doing Milky Ways at night this process will bring out the high gas colors as well as the galactic center getting a dark sky vs a baby blue color. The cube also helps with proper exposure so the dark of night becomes daytime bright but with stars.