Stamps4Life,
I would be extremely wary of taking advice from pseudo-scientists who appear to have little or no understanding of colour science or human vision, particularly when they also have a vested financial interest in the philatelic world.
Human colour vision is non-linear, and simply comparing RGB values tells you only that two colours have different numerical representations. It does not tell you how different those colours will actually appear to the human eye. A relatively small difference in RGB values can produce a very noticeable perceptual difference, while a considerably larger numerical difference may be barely perceptible.
Colour science and human vision are, in fact, remarkably complex subjects. Fortunately, some exceptionally intelligent people, far more intelligent than I, and, judging by some of the comments on this thread, considerably more so than at least one other, have spent decades developing and documenting the underlying theory. This means that people like myself can apply that knowledge to practical tools such as ChromaMate, rather than simply making uninformed assertions based on three RGB numbers.
This is probably well beyond the comprehension of some of the other commentators on this thread, but nevertheless, you may find it interesting:
https://web.stanford.edu/class/ee36...Combined.pdfChromaMate does, of course, use a colour library. Ideally, that library should be created using the same scanner that will subsequently be used to scan the stamps being identified, thereby minimising potential sources of error.
Clive
Replies: 9 / Views: 384
Posted 07/27/2026 5:12 pm
