About DeltaE (ΔE) (original) (raw)

DeltaE is a measure of the difference between two colors. The E stands for the German word Empfindung which translates to sensation, or impression. With one color as a reference, DeltaE is a measure of the error of that color from that reference.

The DeltaE chart is primarily useful, not to tell you what display controls to change, but to help you know when you are done.

Tip:

• Any error that is smaller than a DeltaE of 1 is generally invisible. It is usually not recommended or useful to continue tweaking settings once all measures are smaller than a DeltaE of 1.

DeltaE ITP

• DeltaE ITP (formerly DeltaE ICtCp) is a color error representation format specified in the Rec. ITU-R BT.2124 standard that is used as a part of the color pipeline in video and digital photography systems for high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut (WCG) imagery. For a more detailed explanation behind DeltaE ITP, see this White Paper by Portrait Displays Color Scientist Catherine Meininger.

DeltaE 1976

• DeltaE 1976 is based on color differences in the L* a* b* color space. It is a standard used in video calibration but it does not take into account the fact that the human eye does not perceive differences in color the same for all colors.

DeltaE 1994

• DeltaE 1994 is based on color differences in the L* C* H* color space. It is an application-specific calculation and is commonly used in video calibration. Like DeltaE 1976, it does not take into account the fact that the human eye does not perceive differences in color the same for all colors.

DeltaE 2000

• DeltaE 2000 is based on color differences in the L* C* H* color space. It is not an application-specific calculation and is commonly used in video calibration. Unlike DeltaE 1976 and 1994, it does take into account the human eye’s perceptual sensitivity at different colors.

DeltaE UV

• DeltaE UV is based on color differences in the L* u* v* color space which represents color based on the chrominance sensitivity in the human eye.

DeltaH

• DeltaH is strictly a measure of the difference between the display’s Hue and a reference target. It is the error in Hue (AKA Tint).

DeltaL

• DeltaL is strictly a measure of the difference between the display’s luminance and a reference target. It is the error in Luminance.

DeltaC

• DeltaC is strictly a measure of the difference between the display’s color and a reference target. It is the error in Color (AKA Saturation).