Keith,
Does this scanning mode allow you to read an entire strip of colors at once, or do you still have to click on each color?
Yes, naturally enough. In scanning mode (the default), you push the button once per row, when the SR spectrocolorimeter is on the leftmost patch, and then move it across the row to read the remainder, with no need of any button pushing on the rest of the patches. The SR sensor automatically detects transitions between the patches in the target print.
You're not limited to starting with the leftmost patch. You can click on any patch in the row, with the mouse, to select it, and then start scanning from that position as well.
It's also possible to switch the SR sensor to reading individual patches (by toggling a popup menu control in the Target measuring window) so that you can read one patch at a time with it; any patch in the target.
You can use the supplied plastic ruler to keep the SR sensor lined up on the row, or if (like me) you don't like using rulers, you can simply put the SR sensor down on the target and move it across by hand. (This saves the time needed to reposition the ruler for the next row, and so: you can finish a target more quickly this way).
You can move the SR sensor smoothly, if you like; or you can alternatively use a "stop and go" movement, where you very briefly "land" the nose of the spectro on a patch; wait to hear the measurement click; and then quickly move and "land" it on the next patch. Whichever way you choose, you don't need to push the button other than to start scanning on the first patch in the sequence.
Overall measuring speed is close to 2 patches/second this way, with no button presses other than once at the start of each row. Without trying to rush, I can comfortably measure a 225 patch target in around 2 1/2 minutes with only 15 button presses (one for the start of each of the 15 rows in the target). Likewise, I can measure a 729 patch target in around 9 minutes.
David Miller
Senior Software Developer, Digital Color Solutions
Datacolor
