EXPODISC TESTS

[Sir Tristram]

Hi all, if you are after lab like results then please stop here. But for a bit of Friday night discussion I have decided to throw open a discussion on Expodisc's. I purchased one last week after much PP of pictures I had taken and after reading a lot of reviews about Light Sphere Lids, Pringles Lids ( Clear and White ) , home made white balance filters from fluro light covers etc etc etc.

I had attached 3 photos I took indoors with a D70s, SB800 and 1 newly acquired 77mm Expodisc. All the flashes were bounced off a white ceiling and on a tripod to ensure exactly the same results.

Picture 1: White Balance AUTO




Picture 2: White Balance FLASH



Picture 3: PRESET White Balance with an Expodisc




I'm no expert but from this test and field tests I have done, the white balance is a 100 times better being preset with an expodisc then letting the camera choose for me.


What are your opinions and or experiences?

[apsilon]

I've found much the same thing. The D200 auto white balance is good but the Expordisc is better.

[Yi-P]

Where do you get ExpoDiscs from Australian suppliers? Or did you order it overseas import?


Can you work the 77mm disk on the 67mm and 52mm filters? I mean, do you need a specific step up ring to put it in or just handholding it be enough? BTW, results are very stunning. I wanna try one out comparing results with my grey card tunings.

[Steffen]

Hard to tell. You should have posted pic that shows how the scene really looked like

Btw, how does the D200 (EDIT: make that D70) measure the colour temperature? I know the D2 uses three sources, the 1000 pixel colour matrix metering chip, the top-of-the prism-housing eye and the actual sensor image.

If I'm really paranoid about the WB (rarely) I take a shot with a Kodak grey card in the scene, and use the eye-dropper on that in PP. That's definitive for me, unless different parts of the scene are lit by different sources, in which case all bets are off anyway...

Cheers
Steffen.

[sirhc55]

After looking at all three pics I have to ask one question, The front of the animals - what colour are they supposed to be. If the answer is white or near white then I would assume the auto white balance to be the more accurate of the three

[Steffen]

After looking at all three pics I have to ask one question, The front of the animals - what colour are they supposed to be. If the answer is white or near white then I would assume the auto white balance to be the more accurate of the three

I agree. Although the first one might seem a bit bluish (especially after seeing the other two), the 2nd and 3rd appear far too warm. Hence my question above.

How many light sources were there, and where did you point the Expodisc?

Cheers
Steffen.

[birddog114]

Steffen,
ED is available for test or eval today at the mini meet, I have all three versions (Old, New and the portrait).

I use ED often at some shooting at happy with it.

[gstark]

Just to add to this, Thanh and I did a road test of an Expodisc at a minimeet about a year or so ago, and we were very impressed with the results.

But the salient question, for this test, remains: what does the scene really look like?

Sir Tristram, in your opinion, ehich of these images most closely resembles the reality? I'm presuming no PP on these, but could you please confirm that too?

That will help provide a more reasonable answer for you.

[MATT]

I'd like to see this with using the pringles lid also. Then we could tell if there is any real benifit in spending the money.

MATT

[big pix]

what colour are the walls, are there any strong colours around your test....... to bounce your flash will pick up any strong colours that are close by......the first one to me looks the closest to being correct as the other 2 have pick up colour, and warmed the images, from the yellow table cloth and colour unseen..........

....... days gone by commercial photographic studio flash heads did shoot a little on the blue side until the flash tube wore in.......10 yellow was always on the back of the lens attached to plate cameras, or in coken holders...... I always painted my studios about a 10 yellow because of this and any very old heads were used as fill or kick lights to add highlights where needed........ commercial processing also varied from lab to lab or from morning to afternoon....... but always within tollarence, so I was told......

[avkomp]

interesting comments made so far.

interestingly enough you guys are asking the exact same stuff I was in our telephone conversation.
I commented that I thought the first one had white stuff in it which only looks white in the first shot.
I also said that I couldnt comment because there was no way to determine which is the correct colours.

Perhaps a shot of a standard colour chart or something that we can reasonably be able to identify the correct colours??

Steve

[Sir Tristram]

The only light source other than the flash was a single fluro on the ceiling. As to what the scene really looks like then I can say without doubt that the expodisc is by far the closest to real life.

The wall colour was a soft pastel apricot. There was no PP exept a small amount of sharpening. The expo disk was pointed at the ceiling as per the manual.

As far as colours go if you look at the drum the penguin is sitting on in particular the whites in it, that was the 1st thing my eye went to as it is exactly the white is in real life.

As to where I purchased it from, I bought mine from L & P Photographics in Artarmon and they come in various sizes. I got the 77mm because that was the largest lense I was going to use it on. Even if I wanted to set a Preset WB on my 300mm I set it on a smaller lens and then swap lenses over.

I just thought I'd give you all my unqualified opinion on my latest addition to kit.

[beetleboy]

Correct me if I'm wrong but..

The first shot (Auto WB) was shot with direct flash not bounced. You can tell by the dark shadow behind the character sitting on the "T" block and the small reflection on the pink ball at the top (as well as small dark shadow around the lip of the drum under the penguin!). On the other shots the flash is clearly bounced as the light is softer - and I think it's also warmer due to your apricot wall.

As such, I don't think there's really much of a comparison to be made.

Good attempt but I think I'll keep the cigar!

One quick question - what the hell is that thing?!!!!

[birddog114]

Steffen will post the comparison in between the ED and few other WB Kodak card same as in camera soon.

Yes, we had an evaluation of those today at the mini meet.

[beetleboy]

Cool..

I was listening to a podcast the other day in which they were saying that Kodak grey cards (the 18% ones) were designed for exposure evaluation and not white balance and as such aren't as accurate as a 50% grey....

Whether it's true or not I don't know, and whether you want to be that anal or not is beyond me also!! I like to get my WB bang on, but in so many situations end up hand tweaking anyway.

[Sir Tristram]

All flashes were bounced off the ceiling.

[Yi-P]

Do you have a grey card there? If yes, can do you a grey card calibration vs the expodisc please

[beetleboy]

I really don't see how you can say the flash in that first shot was bounced. If it was bounced it was done differently to the other two. They are completely different.