Hello,

Was just wondering about the machines, I guess they are called Photometers,
that most paint stores now seem to have to match colors. The one where you
put in a sample piece having the old color on it, and it cranks out the
formula for the new paint mix.

How good are they in practice ? (will be trying to match an exterior house
color)

Is it necessary to calibrate them often ?

Do they all use the same brand of machine, or are some acknowledged to be
"better" than others in matching ? Any experiences in what the Benjamin
Moore stores use ?

How do they match the "sheen" ? e.g., exterior paints (and I imagine
interior also) come in everything from flat to real glossy. Do they match
this also ?

Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

My 2 cents -- I recently took a book into Home Depot, wanting a paint color
that was one of the colors on the book cover. The paint "person" held up
the book cover to the computer "camera(?)", and the paint I left the store
with was and absolutely perfect match.
-- pj




"Robert11" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Was just wondering about the machines, I guess they are called
Photometers, that most paint stores now seem to have to match colors. The
one where you put in a sample piece having the old color on it, and it
cranks out the formula for the new paint mix.

How good are they in practice ? (will be trying to match an exterior
house color)

Is it necessary to calibrate them often ?

Do they all use the same brand of machine, or are some acknowledged to be
"better" than others in matching ? Any experiences in what the Benjamin
Moore stores use ?

How do they match the "sheen" ? e.g., exterior paints (and I imagine
interior also) come in everything from flat to real glossy. Do they match
this also ?

Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Robert11 wrote:
Hello,

Was just wondering about the machines, I guess they are called
Photometers, that most paint stores now seem to have to match colors.
The one where you put in a sample piece having the old color on it,
and it cranks out the formula for the new paint mix.

Last week-end I took a drive through a recently "gentrified" section of my
town. Several square miles. We're talking large, two story homes built, oh,
1900-1930, now all gussied up.

Every house was painted and trimmed in a different color! No two alike.

I would have hated, aboslutely hated, to be working the paint department at
the nearest Home Depot store for the past five years.

HeyBub wrote:
Robert11 wrote:
Hello,

Was just wondering about the machines, I guess they are called
Photometers, that most paint stores now seem to have to match colors.
The one where you put in a sample piece having the old color on it,
and it cranks out the formula for the new paint mix.

Last week-end I took a drive through a recently "gentrified" section of my
town. Several square miles. We're talking large, two story homes built, oh,
1900-1930, now all gussied up.

Every house was painted and trimmed in a different color! No two alike.

I would have hated, aboslutely hated, to be working the paint department at
the nearest Home Depot store for the past five years.

Don't see what difference it would make -- other than basic white,
everything has to be mixed anyway, and I'd wager 99.44% of the colors
simply came off the "select a color" paint chips which are programmed to
automagically mix them anyway...

Or did you have something else in mind???

--

"RJ" wrote in message
...
My paint store carrys six varietys of "base";
flat, semi-gloss and gloss. ( indoor and outdoor )

I just learned a few months ago that "eggshell" is a type of base and not a
color. I believe it falls between flat & semi-gloss.

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:06:58 -0400, "Robert11"
wrote:

How good are they in practice ? (will be trying to match an exterior house
color)

I live in the desert, so picking a chip to take in for matching can be
difficult. One tip here is to remove the metal access cover for the
cable coax (outside splitter box). In my case, for exterior paint
choice this was the least faded and closer to the original. The
location of the box cover gets less sun. Based on this we used a
printed color chart and matched a perfect match. Still haven't used
one of those machines, yet.

--
Oren

"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"

Robert11 wrote:
Hello,

Was just wondering about the machines, I guess they are called Photometers,
that most paint stores now seem to have to match colors. The one where you
put in a sample piece having the old color on it, and it cranks out the
formula for the new paint mix.

How good are they in practice ? (will be trying to match an exterior house
color)

Is it necessary to calibrate them often ?

Do they all use the same brand of machine, or are some acknowledged to be
"better" than others in matching ? Any experiences in what the Benjamin
Moore stores use ?

How do they match the "sheen" ? e.g., exterior paints (and I imagine
interior also) come in everything from flat to real glossy. Do they match
this also ?

Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob


They do a terrible job of matching fabric color -- especially carpeting
in my experience. I finally had to get a gray-haired guy at Kelly-Moore
to do it the old fashioned way.
Paul in San Francisco

In article ,
"Kitep" wrote:

"RJ" wrote in message
...
My paint store carrys six varietys of "base";
flat, semi-gloss and gloss. ( indoor and outdoor )

I just learned a few months ago that "eggshell" is a type of base and not a
color. I believe it falls between flat & semi-gloss.

There's also another sheen in there called "satin." Shinier than
eggshell, flatter than semi-gloss.