Absolutely ideal for field photography is Macbeth's mini-color reference card. Being stiff it is much stronger than the color card of Kodak. And, being about 2x3 inches in size, the mini-Macbeth fits easily into your pocket. The Kodak color card is long, thin, and crumples easily.

Macbeth ColorChecker.

Whether digital photography or film-based photography, you still need the traditional gray card and color charts. Even though Kodak has a color card, Macbeth has been able to provide professional photography with an international standard reference card, both for colors and for gray scale.

Macbeth has gone through several corporate changes; I know them best as a (former) division of the Kollmorgen Instruments Corporation. Macbeth is now allied with a prominent Swiss company, Gretag. The new combined company is GretagMacbeth (no space between the words).

Despite corporate name-change for the parent company, Macbeth itself is evidently still located at 405 Little Britain Road, New Windsor, NY 12553-6148, tel 1 800 622 2384), 1 800 COLOUR ( Canada ). Fax in USA is (845) 565-0390. web site is gretagmacbeth.com

The images on this page are quickie snapshots, raw (uncorrected). In the hands of a capable graphics artist or digital photographer the presence of these cards will allow color correcting to the original 8th century color of this ancient Maya vase.

Be sure to use a Macbeth ColorChecker and not the Kodak Q-13 or Kodak Q-14 gray cards. Macbeth ColorChecker is the international standard for the digital era. The Kodak Q-13 card was the favorite decades ago, but skip it and upgrade to the Macbeth ColorChecker.

Avoid the Gretag digital ColorChecker DC ; use instead the newer ColorChecker SG. These are if you intend to do ICC color profiling. For basic color balance, continue to use the original Macbeth ColorChecker.

This is the old version of the digital color checker; we recommend you use the newer better version (which we do not yet have).

Munsell Color is a division of Macbeth; Macbeth itself is now part of GretagMacbeth . Munsell Color is the international scientific reference for the colors of artifacts. All the Maya pottery of Tikal was recorded with Munsell color references.

Most recently updated Oct. 22, 2004 .
Design updated June 19, 2008.