Measurement of the intensity of electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum transmitted through a solution or transparent solid. It is used to identify and determine the concentrations of substances that absorb light of a specific wavelength or colour according to Lambert's law, which relates the amount of light absorbed to the distance traveled through the absorbing medium, and Beer's law, relating it to the concentration of absorbing substance in the coloured solution. A photocell is often used to measure the amount of light transmitted through a glass tube containing the solution to be analyzed; the result is compared with results from a similar tube containing solvent alone. Most elements and many compounds, in appropriately treated samples, may be identified by colorimetry or spectrophotometry, a closely related technique.

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Colorimetry or Colourimetry can refer to:

• the quantitative study of color perception. It is similar to spectrophotometry, but may be distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to tristimulus values, from which the perception of color derives.
• the determination of the spectral absorbance of a solution.

Instruments

Colorimetric equipment is similar to that used in spectrophotometry. Some related equipment is also mentioned for completeness.

• A tristimulus colorimeter measures the tristimulus values of a color.
• A spectroradiometer measures the absolute spectral radiance (intensity) or irradiance of a light source.
• A spectrophotometer measures the spectral reflectance, transmittance, or relative irradiance of a color sample.
• A spectrocolorimeter is a spectrophotometer that can calculate tristimulus values.
• A densitometer measures the degree of light passing through or reflected by a subject.
• A color temperature meter measures the color temperature of an incident illuminant.

Absorption colorimeter

In physical chemistry, a colorimeter is a device used to test the concentration of a solution by measuring its absorbance of a specific wavelength of light. To use this device, different solutions must be made, and a control (usually a mixture of distilled water and another solution) is first filled into a cuvette and placed inside a colorimeter to calibrate the machine. Only after the device has been calibrated can you use it to find the densities and/or concentrations of the other solutions. You do this by repeating the calibration, except with cuvettes filled with the other solutions. The filter on a colorimeter must be set to red if the liquid is blue. The size of the filter initially chosen for the colorimeter is extremely important, as the wavelength of light that is transmitted by the colorimeter has to be same as that absorbed by the substance.

Tristimulus colorimeter

In digital imaging, colorimeters are tristimulus devices used for color calibration. Accurate color profiles ensure consistency throughout the imaging workflow, from acquisition to output.

Spectroradiometer, Spectrophotometer, Spectrocolorimeter

The absolute spectral power distribution of a light source can be measured with a spectroradiometer, which works by optically collecting the light, then passing it through a monochromator before reading it in narrow bands of wavelength.

Reflected color can be measured using a spectrophotometer (also called spectroreflectometer or reflectometer), which takes measurements in the visible region (and a little beyond) of a given color sample. If the custom of taking readings at 10 nanometer increments is followed, the visible light range of 400-700nm will yield 31 readings. These readings are typically used to draw the sample's spectral reflectance curve (how much it reflects, as a function of wavelength); the most accurate data that can be provided regarding its characteristics.

The readings by themselves are typically not as useful as their tristimulus values, which can be converted into chromaticity co-ordinates and manipulated through color space transformations. For this purpose, a spectrocolorimeter may be used. A spectrocolorimeter is simply a spectrophotometer that can estimate tristimulus values by numerical integration (of the color matching functions' inner product with the illuminant's spectral power distribution). One benefit of spectrocolorimeters over tristimulus colorimeters is that they do not have optical filters, which are subject to manufacturing variance, and have a fixed spectral transmittance curve—until they age. On the other hand, tristimulus colorimeters are purpose-built, cheaper, and easier to use.

The CIE recommends using measurement intervals under 5nm, even for smooth spectra. Sparser measurements fail to accurately characterize spiky emission spectra, such as that of the red phosphor of a CRT display, depicted aside.

Color temperature meter

Photographers and cinematographers use information provided by these meters to decide what color correction should be done to make different light sources appear to have the same color temperature. If the user enters the reference color temperature, the meter can calculate the mired difference between the measurement and the reference, enabling the user to choose a corrective color gel or photographic filter with the closest mired factor.

Internally the meter is typically a silicon photodiode tristimulus colorimeter. The correlated color temperature can be calculated from the tristimulus values by first calculating the chromaticity co-ordinates in the CIE 1960 color space, then finding the closest point on the Planckian locus.

See also

• Photometry
• Radiometry

References

Further reading

• Schanda, János D. (1997). Handbook of Applied Photometry. OSA/AIP.
• Bala, Raja (2003). Digital Color Imaging Handbook. CRC Press.
• Gardner, James L. (2007). "Comparison of Calibration Methods for Tristimulus Colorimeters". Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 112 (3): 129–138.

External links

• MacEvoy, Bruce Overview of the development and applications of colorimetry. Handprint.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-17..
• Colorimetric equipment by X-Rite Optronik An informative brochure with background information and specifications of their equipment.