Photoshop/Illustrator and colour sampling question

[torndownunit]

I am rebuilding a logo for a client from a horrible quality, grainy, blotchy .jpg file. I am rebuilding it in Illustrator. I am trying to sample the colours from the original logo using the eye dropper tool, but because it's so grainy I can't get an accurate looking sample. Are there any tools I can use in Photoshop or Illustrator to work around this, or do I just have to 'eyeball' it?

Thanks

 

[FourCandles]

Does changing the sample size of the eyedropper not help - i.e. is 5x5 not enough?

 

[torndownunit]

I forgot to mention that I am far from an expert with Photoshop or Illustrator lol. I will try playing with the sample size. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Ray Manorak]

I would do it by eye. And round up the values to something sensible. If you find a pantone reference thats nice and close it'll make you look more professional to the client

The 'horrible grainy' jpg is probably RGB, so it may not truly represent whatever the official brand colour is/was anyway.

 

[eponym]

You're not really going to get a completely reliable value. There's a lot of factors to consider. The RGB values may have been just direct CMYK conversions. It may have been altered, re-saved, profiles adjusted etc. And they may have also been manually set values to approximate the printed spot colours on an average range of monitors (in which case you need to look at a swatch book).

Good luck!