Color matching

[Generic Eric]

Is there an easy way to do color matching from a actual paint color to my paintshop, photoshop etc editing program?  I'd like to keep the colors as authentic as possible.

[kspiff]

I have yet to print out the result (it sure does look off on my screen, but I would guess the color will look 'true' when printed).. but I just Googled the paint manufacturer, looked up the color in their color catalog, saved a BMP of the sample (or -- in my case, since the color match applet was Javascript -- hit ALT-PRINTSCRN and paste into MSPaint to save), opened it in Photoshop, and used the eye dropper tool.

The only reason I can see this messing up is if the color was converted (ie: if the color is part of a 32-bit color spectrum and I saved in 24-bit BMP then reconverted to [I think] 32-bit color in Photoshop.. that sort of thing)..