Buyer’s Guide
Colorimeter Guide — What It Is and Who Needs One
A colorimeter is a small sensor that measures the light coming off your screen and builds a correction profile so colors are actually accurate — not just “looks fine.” Here’s what one does, how it differs from a spectrophotometer, and who should buy one.
What is a colorimeter?
A display colorimeter is a puck-shaped device that hangs against your monitor and reads the color and brightness the panel actually produces. Paired with calibration software, it compares what the screen shows against known reference values and creates an ICC profile that corrects the difference. The result is a display whose colors are accurate to a measurable standard, and whose behavior you can reproduce next month or match to a second monitor. This is the step a browser-based visual calibration fundamentally cannot do, because software has no way to measure the light leaving your screen.
Colorimeter vs. spectrophotometer
Both measure color, but differently:
| Colorimeter | Spectrophotometer | |
|---|---|---|
| How it reads | Filtered sensor (a few color channels) | Splits light across the full spectrum |
| Best at | Displays, especially dark tones | Print, paper, and any surface |
| Speed | Fast | Slower |
| Price | Lower | Higher |
| Typical buyer | Photographers, gamers, video editors | Print shops, studios matching to paper |
For calibrating monitors, a colorimeter is usually the right tool: it’s faster, cheaper, and more sensitive in the shadows where display accuracy matters most. A spectrophotometer earns its keep when you also need to profile printers and paper.
What is ΔE (Delta-E)?
ΔE is the standard number for “how wrong is this color.” It measures the distance between a color your screen shows and the color it was supposed to show. A ΔE of 1 is roughly the smallest difference a trained eye can notice; under about 2 is generally considered accurate for professional work. A colorimeter reports ΔE values so you know objectively how good your calibration is — something you can never learn by eye alone, which is the whole reason the hardware exists.
Who actually needs one?
- Photographers and retouchers — so edits look the same on other calibrated screens and in print.
- Video editors and colorists — for consistent grading across a project.
- Designers matching brand colors — where an off screen means wrong output.
- Anyone with two or more monitors that need to match.
- Serious gamers who want correct, punchy color without guesswork.
If you just want your screen to look better and you’re not doing color-critical work, start free with the visual calibration assistant — it may be all you need. If accuracy has to be measurable and repeatable, a colorimeter is the tool.
The main colorimeter families
Two product lines dominate the consumer and prosumer market. Rather than chase model numbers that change every year, it helps to know the families:
- Calibrite (formerly X-Rite’s i1Display / ColorChecker line) — widely used in photography, bundled with well-regarded software.
- Datacolor Spyder — a long-running competitor with a range from entry level to studio, also with its own software.
Within each family the differences come down to how bright a display they can read, whether they support high-end HDR and wide-gamut panels, and which software features are unlocked. Buy the tier that matches your monitor: an entry model is fine for a standard sRGB screen, while a wide-gamut or HDR display wants a higher tier that can measure it accurately.
Before you spend anything
Run the free tests here first. Confirm the panel itself is sound with the Dead Pixel Test and OLED Screen Test, then push it as far as visual tuning goes with the calibration assistant. A colorimeter fixes color accuracy — it can’t fix a defective panel, so it’s worth knowing your screen is healthy before you invest in calibration hardware.