In industrial production, color measurement related instruments such as a spectrophotometer, colorimeter, and colorimetric lightbox are always useful. Why is it necessary to use professional color measurement instruments for color measurement? How different will the data observed by the naked eye be from the data detected by the instruments? What is the need for color measurement in industrial production?
First, when we observe color with the naked eye in our daily life, it is affected by the environment. Three elements are needed to measure color: the light source, the object, and the observer. The light source of the environment affects our judgment as an observer who can see the color of the object. For example, an apple placed before a bright background looks darker than one place before a dark background, which is called the contrast effect.
Secondly, when observing an object from a different direction, even if the light source does not change, the color of the car may not be the same as previously observed. This is due to the directional characteristics of the paint on the car. Certain materials with color, especially metallic paints, have strong directional characteristics. For accurate color communication, the observation angle and illumination angle of something must be kept constant.
As well, human as an observer, each person has different visual abilities, for example, some people’s eyes are sensitive to red and insensitive to blue, and some extreme ones will have red-green blindness or something like that. Observing colors with the naked eye is obviously inaccurate, and industrial production must be tested with professional instruments if the color of the product is required.
To sum up, color detection needs to maintain certain conditions, and the use of color detection instruments is to provide this constant color detection environment, color lightbox can provide a constant light source and observation angle for color detection, colorimeter makes the data results more accurate.
