Colorimeters and spectrophotometers are optical devices for measuring color, enable the measurement of color difference between the standard sample and the test sample. Colorimeters NR and NH series and spectrophotometers NS series are widely used in plastic, electronic, paint, ink, textile, garment, printing and dyeing, food, medical, cosmetic, optical image test industries and the field of scientific research, school and laboratory.
Color is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, blue, yellow, and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light power versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects or materials based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra. By defining a color space, colors can be identified numerically by their coordinates.
CIE L*a*b* (CIELAB) is the most complete color space specified by the International Commission on Illumination (French Commission internationale de l'éclairage, hence its CIE initialism). It describes all the colors visible to the human eye and was created to serve as a device-independent model to be used as a reference.
The three coordinates of CIELAB represent the lightness of the color (L* = 0 yields black and L* = 100 indicates diffuse white; specular white may be higher), its position between red/magenta and green (a*, negative values indicate green while positive values indicate magenta) and its position between yellow and blue (b*, negative values indicate blue and positive values indicate yellow).
