The real magic—and one of the best things about ColorChecker Passport—is in the included Camera Calibration software which is a breeze to use.

I first saw X-Rite's ColorChecker Passport at a "behind-closed-doors" NDA meeting at PMA 2009 last March. X-Rite officials who showed off their creation at the time to a select group of the press explained it was still a work-in-progress. Then, in the months after the show, I received periodic updates from X-Rite's helpful PR team as to how close the Passport was to launching. Finally, in mid-September, X-Rite gave the green light and officially brought the product to market, offering it for a price of $99.

That's a surprising amount of time and intrigue spent on a product that is really only a re-imagining of the classic 24-patch ColorChecker calibration target from X-Rite (formerly Gretag Macbeth). The attention to detail on the Passport, which has almost the same dimension as a U.S. passport but is a bit thicker, really shows though. If you do lots of location shoots and are obsessive about getting your color right—particularly if you shoot in RAW—I can think of few better traveling companions than the ColorChecker Passport and its easy-to-use software.


PASSPORT OUT

Though the ColorChecker and Mini ColorChecker have been consistently popular color targets for X-Rite, they leave something to be desired from a durability standpoint. And when it comes to color accuracy, you don't want any wear-and-tear on your target throwing off the calibration. In the Passport, the Mini ColorChecker chart has been encased in hard plastic to protect it from nicks, scrapes and scratches. It's also been paired with two other targets: a White Balance neutral gray card, and what X-Rite calls a Creative Enhancement Target. This target I found less use for. It's designed to help you cool or warm your portraits or landscapes through a series of blue and gray patches.

The build of the passport is quite good, with enough stiffness and rigidity that you can self-stand it without worrying it will get knocked over in the wind. As with many of these color calibration tools—such as the DataColor SpyderCube we looked at in March—the calibration process includes photographing the target of your choice next to your subject and using the image of the chart to help you calibrate the color during post-production. (Clearly this works best when photographing a predictable subject such as a still life or a model.)

The real magic—and one of the best things about ColorChecker Passport—is in the included Camera Calibration software. Available on one disk as both a standalone application or as a plug-in for Lightroom, the software takes a lot of the pain out of the process, letting you create a custom camera profile to use as a standard to sync to other exposures from your shoot. The process is quick— we counted about three clicks—from creating the profile to exporting it to use as a standard. (I loved the software's auto detection feature which will locate the target in your image automatically.)

Keep in mind though that your images must be in Adobe's RAW (.DNG) format to work with the software. This isn't a problem if you're using the supplied Adobe Lightroom plug-in since Lightroom will convert native RAW formats to .DNG right at import. The other option is to convert your proprietary RAW images into .DNG via Adobe's DNG converter. Not a big deal but it's an extra step.

Once the profile is built, you can use it as a selection standard in either Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW to color calibrate your images.

One great feature about the software is that you can also use it to create "dual-luminant" profiles combining two different light sources—sun and shade, for example—into a single profile. This is a great help in getting your color right if you're shooting in mixed lighting conditions.


THE BOTTOM LINE

If you're traveling on assignment and are a stickler for getting the color right in your digital images, don't forget to bring X-Rite's ColorChecker Passport along for the ride. And if you're traveling in a foreign country, make sure you remember your regular passport as well.

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

www.xrite.com Pros: A well-designed, durable set of calibration targets in one smart little passport-sized kit; easy-to-use software helps get color right in post production. Cons: DNG Profiles only. Price: $99