Background. A new shade guide, the Vita 3D-Master (3D), was manufactured to simplify shade determination. Objectives. To compare the use of the Vita Classical shade guide (CG) and the 3D guide to the VitaEasyshade (ES) handheld spectrophotometer, by dental students. Materials and methods. 14 students, acting as both observers and subjects, selected shades for teeth 11 and 13, using the two shade guides. Selections were repeated one week later. The results were compared to selections made by an expert panel and the spectrophotometer. Results. The intra-observer agreement by both the students and the expert panel using the CG and 3D guide was lower than anticipated. Observers were more likely to match the shade generated by the ES when using the CG than the 3D shade guide. Conclusions. In the hands of dental students, the improvements in design of a new shade guide did not result in improved shade selection.