danielh
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 18
Being as I am working on my GIA GG degree, and in the last phase, and hardest part, colored stones, I was wondering what it would take to get the new GemEwizard from Stuller, and now endorsed by GIA. I went to the GemEwizard website
http://www.gemewizard.com/ and played with the demo, as well as read the information on this software. While I found it full of bells and whistles, one thing kept bugging me. Color! Half of my immediate family are currently , or have in the past, worked in the technical engineering end of television , movie production, and computers. Growing up around 5 people who were pedantic about correct color settings was often a pain in the butt, especially at those family get together where all the nerds would form a circle in one corner of grandmas living room and talk tech. But I must have accidentally learned something being in the same room with them. Correct color is hard to get.
I wondered how this software could have correct color, when color standards differ depending on where in the world you are. Just in TV alone, NTSC, PAL, PAL 3, Pal 4, SECAM, and so on, they are all a little different. NTSC, ( My Dad joked that stands for Never Twice Same Color) what we use in the states, does not use true black for black. While Pal in England, uses black in its color bars.
Then I wondered, what about monitor settings, which are almost impossible to get correct and keep correct. Pantone sells a cool little gadget called the Spyder, that you put on your screen and it helps you set correct color for a little over $300.00. But who’s correct colors do you get? Pantones. Granted they are the industry standard on print colors and many in the film and video industry use it as well, but once again, that is for the US.
How can this help when dealing in a global economy as we have today? I sure cant see it.
And what about ambient light , where you actually are holding the physical stone you want to grade? At least with the old color Popsicle stick types, you could have it in the exact same conditions as the stone you are judging. You cant do that with you monitor. Your arms would get tired real fast.
Now according to my lessons for my GG, diamonds and the master stone should be viewed under the same light, under the same conditions, and next to each other. Considering that some colored stones can cost more per carat than diamonds, I would have expected at least the same standards when it comes to grading them. But then again, Im no expert. I just cant imagine a gem dealing in Thailand or India paying $500 for the software, and $30 a month just because we can fee and another $300 for the pantone spyder to setup moniters. And that is where most of the stones will come from. In my research I found some reviews that pretty much confirms my suspsions about the GemEwizard, I think this one does it the best. http://www.preciousgemstones.com/gfsum03.html#2
But so far my personal opinion is that this might do more to lessen accurate grading of stones than it does to increase it.
Now I did get a reply from GemEwizard, which seemed a little disapointing, and cause of more questions to come into my busy head.
“We see in our records that are not a Gemewizard customer and so you are not elegible for support, however please read the attached on how to calibrate LCD. LCD is a must when using Gemewizard and we have found that calibrated LCDs give fairly homogenous results.”
Now they didnt address my questions about ambeint lighting and such, but personally, Im not overly impressed yet.
Now if I would think if they could build it into an all in one stone grader, like the diamond graders sometimes use, and sold a unit pre calibrated from the factory and a way to recalibrate it in the field so everyone using it gets the same results no matter the conditions, then this would be consistent and a nice little gadget I would think. And I think the extra price would be worth it as most people I know would probably have to buy a good LCD screen, and maybe even have a computer dedicated to this software just so no other programs mess with the video card settings, as some do, like adobe products can for one example. Spending a couple grand for a stand alone grader, drop the stone in, slide the cover over, and push the button, would be well worth it if many in the trade used it. it would be like everyone having the same eye to grade the color of the stone.
but the word fairly , when it comes to stones that could cost hundreds, even thousands a carat, I dont like the sound of it when its sounds like its no more accurate than the system used now, the human eye and best guess.
Does anyone here have experience with this software? What is your opinion?
Daniel
http://www.gemewizard.com/ and played with the demo, as well as read the information on this software. While I found it full of bells and whistles, one thing kept bugging me. Color! Half of my immediate family are currently , or have in the past, worked in the technical engineering end of television , movie production, and computers. Growing up around 5 people who were pedantic about correct color settings was often a pain in the butt, especially at those family get together where all the nerds would form a circle in one corner of grandmas living room and talk tech. But I must have accidentally learned something being in the same room with them. Correct color is hard to get.
I wondered how this software could have correct color, when color standards differ depending on where in the world you are. Just in TV alone, NTSC, PAL, PAL 3, Pal 4, SECAM, and so on, they are all a little different. NTSC, ( My Dad joked that stands for Never Twice Same Color) what we use in the states, does not use true black for black. While Pal in England, uses black in its color bars.
Then I wondered, what about monitor settings, which are almost impossible to get correct and keep correct. Pantone sells a cool little gadget called the Spyder, that you put on your screen and it helps you set correct color for a little over $300.00. But who’s correct colors do you get? Pantones. Granted they are the industry standard on print colors and many in the film and video industry use it as well, but once again, that is for the US.
How can this help when dealing in a global economy as we have today? I sure cant see it.
And what about ambient light , where you actually are holding the physical stone you want to grade? At least with the old color Popsicle stick types, you could have it in the exact same conditions as the stone you are judging. You cant do that with you monitor. Your arms would get tired real fast.
Now according to my lessons for my GG, diamonds and the master stone should be viewed under the same light, under the same conditions, and next to each other. Considering that some colored stones can cost more per carat than diamonds, I would have expected at least the same standards when it comes to grading them. But then again, Im no expert. I just cant imagine a gem dealing in Thailand or India paying $500 for the software, and $30 a month just because we can fee and another $300 for the pantone spyder to setup moniters. And that is where most of the stones will come from. In my research I found some reviews that pretty much confirms my suspsions about the GemEwizard, I think this one does it the best. http://www.preciousgemstones.com/gfsum03.html#2
But so far my personal opinion is that this might do more to lessen accurate grading of stones than it does to increase it.
Now I did get a reply from GemEwizard, which seemed a little disapointing, and cause of more questions to come into my busy head.
“We see in our records that are not a Gemewizard customer and so you are not elegible for support, however please read the attached on how to calibrate LCD. LCD is a must when using Gemewizard and we have found that calibrated LCDs give fairly homogenous results.”
Now they didnt address my questions about ambeint lighting and such, but personally, Im not overly impressed yet.
Now if I would think if they could build it into an all in one stone grader, like the diamond graders sometimes use, and sold a unit pre calibrated from the factory and a way to recalibrate it in the field so everyone using it gets the same results no matter the conditions, then this would be consistent and a nice little gadget I would think. And I think the extra price would be worth it as most people I know would probably have to buy a good LCD screen, and maybe even have a computer dedicated to this software just so no other programs mess with the video card settings, as some do, like adobe products can for one example. Spending a couple grand for a stand alone grader, drop the stone in, slide the cover over, and push the button, would be well worth it if many in the trade used it. it would be like everyone having the same eye to grade the color of the stone.
but the word fairly , when it comes to stones that could cost hundreds, even thousands a carat, I dont like the sound of it when its sounds like its no more accurate than the system used now, the human eye and best guess.
Does anyone here have experience with this software? What is your opinion?
Daniel
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