SMT Caps
Measuring is the only way to go. The only caps that are marked are the square epoxy-packaged tantalums. Resistor values are usually marked on them. But ceramic caps remain unmarked. I need to work up an illustration for the special tools I made for measuring SMT parts. I made two.
One is similar to a Kelvin clip where I've soldered a tiny piece of double-sided PCB material to the inside of one jaw of an alligator clip. To the isolated side of this bit of material, I soldered a very flexible wire about three inches long and have a banana plug attached to the end of it. Another banana plug is soldered to the "wire end" of the alligator clip. The clip is plugged into the "-" connection of a digital cap meter while the loose clip goes into the "+" connection. This gives a low-capacitance test jig for those small-value ceramics. Just use tweezers to mount a cap between the jaws of the clip and meausre. I always hole the jaws open with a thick piece of plastic and zero the meter for more accurate readings.
The second tool I made is a pair of tweezers with double-sided PCB pads soldered to the tips. The inside of these pads connect to small coax cable about two feet long, the other end of which has banana plugs for connection to a digtal cap meter or a DMM. You can pick up parts, make a measurement and place the parts in a sorted pile, all in one easy step. It's great for verifying resistor values but has a lot of capacitance so is only good for rough sorting.
Dean