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
and played with the demo, as well as read the 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.
But so far my personal opinion is that this might do more to lessen
accurate grading of stones than it does to increase it. Ok, discuss