Abstract: A method of determining the color and profile of a target surface involves scanning the target surface with an incident light beam containing a plurality of component wavelengths, forming a beam of light reflected from the target surface and synchronized with the incident beam; and splitting the reflected beam into separate sub-beams of different wavelengths. The sub-beams are directed onto a sensor array to permit their relative positions to be determined as the incident beam moves over the target surface. A portion of the reflected beam is directed onto a color sensitive photodetector to obtain data representative of the approximate color composition of the reflected beam. The color and profile of the target surface is determined from the relative positions of the sub-beams on said sensor array using the data representative of the approximate wavelength composition to resolve ambiguities in the results.