Datacolor Spyder Checkr Video: A real-world test during my trip to Japan – Part 1 – On Location

Being a member of Datacolor’s Friends with Vision as well as creating photography, videography and fine art prints for several years now, I deal with a lot of situations where accurate color representation is very critical to my finished work.

As a hybrid shooter who produces both photos and videos, I often deal with different formats and color representation between a variety of systems. Adjusting the differences in color in post-production takes a lot of time, and the results can still be slightly inconsistent since I usually try to adjust everything by eye. Especially when working with different cameras, it can be very frustrating to make everything fit together seamlessly.

But there’s good news: Datacolor recently introduced an exciting product, the Spyder Checkr Video. This is a great tool to ensure that colors, contrast and white balance, are correctly adjusted for accurate, consistent results.

All you need to do is capture a reference shot during your shoot. For video use, this can then be used in post-production to adjust the color accuracy of your clips to the Rec.709 industry standard.

All of this sounded very promising to me, so I decided to take the Spyder Checkr Video with me on my latest trip to Japan. This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to test this solution in a real-world scenario.

But before we get to the trip and how to use the Checkr Video on location, let’s take a closer look at the features of this helpful tool, first.

Features of the Spyder Checkr Video

The Spyder Checkr Video consists of 5 color target cards housed in a protective, portable case. The case is ergonomically shaped, which makes it comfortable to hold and allows for a safe grip. It also helps ensure you don’t accidentally touch the high-gloss color cards, so fingerprints don’t compromise their color accuracy or interfere with environmental light and reflections.

The case is extremely compact and can easily be carried with you to any location. This is particularly useful for me when traveling, as the Spyder Checkr Video takes up so little space.

Inside the case you’ll find Spyder Checkr Video’s unique Color Pattern Card, which is configured to the well-known Rec.709 standard. The patches on this card will later be used to adjust the colors within your editing software, by using the vectorscope tool. The high-gloss cards are slightly reflective, to make you aware of any reflections within the scene. This is a nice feature that ensures your colors can be correctly adjusted later on.

Along with the Color Pattern Card, you’ll also find a grey scale card, which is used for adjusting the white balance and contrast of your footage in post-production.

A standard grey card is also included, which is suitable for setting a custom white balance in your camera while on location, as well a focus star card for adjusting your focus when working with manual focus lenses.

Additionally, Datacolor has included another set of color cards, created specifically for photographers, so if you’re a hybrid shooter like me, you can easily swap the grey and focus star cards for these. This way you are equipped for both video and photo work at all times. It is really nice to see, that Datacolor provides both options in a single solution and focuses on modern creators, who often switch between photography and videography rapidly and seamlessly.

Alright, I guess that’s enough for the technical specs for now. So, let’s continue with my trip to Japan and how I feel about using the Spyder Checkr Video on location.

Using the Spyder Checkr Video in Japan

This time in Japan, I was traveling with several camera systems for creating photo and video content. I had my daily workhorse with me, the Canon EOS R5, my Apple iPhone 13 Max Pro and the recently released DJI Osmo Pocket 3. Next to these, a friend of mine was able to provide me with her A7R III from time to time. So all in all, this was a nice range of gear to test the Spyder Checkr Video’s capabilities.

As most of you should know, each of these cameras has its own color look, due to the manufacturer’s own profiles, different lenses and the built-in image sensors. Therefore, I was very curious to see how well the different footage can be adjusted in post to look the same. But more on that later.

Using the Spyder Checkr Video on location is incredibly easy.

Once you’re all set and ready to record, simply hold the Color Pattern Card and Greyscale cards of the Spyder Checkr Video in front of your camera setup and create a short reference clip. A few seconds are all you need.

Just make sure to avoid reflections of any kind, in order to get the most accurate reading from the patches. The best way to do so is to tilt the Spyder Checkr Video cards ever so slightly in all directions, while recording. This makes it easy to select a suitable frame later in post.

The whole process feels quick and straight-forward. Personally, I think that’s great because there’s nothing worse than interrupting your creative flow by fiddling around with cumbersome tools.

Repeat this process of creating a short reference with every camera system you plan to use or whenever you change the location or the lighting setup in your scene. Doing so ensures that you have different references to choose from for every situation in post-production.

If you’re traveling solo like me, chances are you might not be able to hold the Spyder Checkr Video in front of the camera yourself. For example, this might be the case when working with a telephoto lens or when the scene to be captured is in the distance and affected by different light compared to your own position.

But don’t worry, because I came up with a really nice solution for this:

The kind people from Fidlock sent me one of their awesome VACUUM systems for testing purposes. This system offers a wide selection of bases as well as cases and special adhesive patches with a combination of suction cup elements and magnets.

In my own process, I use the VACUUM Mini Tripod as a base and then attached one of the adhesive patches to the back of the Spyder Checkr Video case. This way I’m able to either use the Mini Tripod’s selfie stick function for more reach in front of the lens or I can simply place the Spyder Checkr Video somewhere in the scene on the tripod.

I really love the simplicity and versatility of this setup and furthermore you can use the Fidlock system for a variety of other scenarios, like attaching your smartphone or LED lights. Also, everything is super compact and lightweight.

Part 2 – In Post-Production

About the author – Chris Martin Scholl

Chris Martin Scholl is a German based travel photographer & videographer and has been a member of Datacolor Friends with Vision for several years. His work focuses on urban landscapes, architecture and lifestyle photography, as well as always being on the lookout for that perfectly framed moment.