From MacWorld:
AndrewRodney says:
Re: Better color management with Pantone’s ColorMunki
dominiquejames wrote:
So, what kind of "colorimeter" works best with LED-backlit display? And how do we know if it's a true Spectrophotometer or not? Does it say so on the box when we go out to buy one?
At this time, the only one that should be OK, but I have no direct experience is the Spyder 3 from DataColor. It has a newer filter set that is fine with wide gamut displays but I don't know about white LED backlight displays.
A Spectrophotometer has no such issues, it is actually measuring the spectrum of visible light within sets of bands where a Colorimeter breaks up the data into RGB measurements.
Generally Spectrophotometer's cost a lot more than Colorimeters. Previous to the ColorMunki, you'd have to pop about $1000 for one. So this is a great price point and an example of expensive technology coming down in price.
Generally speaking, a colorimeter is "better" for display calibration in how they handle low light levels. But they only provide one function where a Spectrophotometer is not fooled by differing illuminants but have more issues in measuring darker emissive devices like a display. Upside is they do many things, like allow you to build printer profiles as described in this review, ambient light etc.
IF you want to solely calibrate a display, a dedicated colorimeter will do a slightly better job due to its ability to measure darks. But if you're using a newer, exotic display, that could be an issue. Spectrophotometer's are generally more expensive, provide multiple functionality and for display calibration, are not as precise at measuring very dark colors. At least the Spectrophotometer's anyone can afford (a $21K spectroradiometer will do the job just fine, and take a hour to do so).
Finally........ a great post, thanks Andrew!