White Balance and 18% Grey Cards

[rflower]

After reading a bit on this forum about setting the white balance using a 18% grey card, I thought I would go to the camera shop and look at buying one. They can't be that much .... right ??

I went to Ted's in Elizabeth St, Melbourne. When I asked about a grey card, the guy behind the counter pulled out a pouch (almost A4 size), and mentioned that there were 3 (kodak) grey cards inside (one 6x4 ish and the other two were 8x10ish)

I almost fell over when he told me the cost was $48

He also mentioned that there was a material one (similar to those car shades that spring into shape from a smaller bundle) for around $50

Is this about the going price? Should I have asked for a grey card? or something else?

Is there somewhere that I can purchase these cheaper?

Thanks.

Russell

[Matt. K]

That's a rip. You should pay around $24 from any decent dealer.

[moz]

Do you want 18% grey to meter off or just something for white balance?

If it's the latter it's easier to use the pringles lid or any old bit of white/grey stuff you have handy. Company I work for gives away cloth "flying disks" that fold to ~80mm diameter and flip out to 3x that. I use one of those, since it's mostly white.

Or carry one of the "photographers rights" pages and use that.

[Oz_Beachside]

Hi Russell,

Lastolite make a great fold up one, the 30cm one is about $35 upstairs in Melbourne Teds.

Its 18%grey on one side, and white on the other, so you can use it as a small reflector also. They fold up about the size of the palm of your hand



http://www.vanbar.com.au has V-Tec ones, which are a little cheaper for the same tool.

[Oz_Beachside]

just checked vanbar, http://www.vanbar.com.au/catalogue/index.php

has one for $30, for 30cm twist card

[myarhidia]

There's always the tight-arse method using a coffee filter, unused of course. Check it out here

[Yi-P]

I bought a 18% grey at a local shop here for $20, came in an A4 size carboard, works great for both film and digital exposures.

If you only need to set WB, a super-bright (semi-glossy) white A3 carboard from your local art shop will do the trick 95% of the time. Cost, $1.20 for an A3 size, trim down to 1x A4, 1xA5 and 2x wallet size cards... all for $1.20

Works great for me btw...

[aim54x]

I just bought the V-Tec one from Van Bar, I'll probably only ever use it for white balance. I have in the past used the white centre section of a 5 in 1 reflector and that has worked really well for white balance.

[Matt. K]

Grey cards are indispensable and every photographer should have one. They have 2 important characteristics...they are totally colour neutral (so perfect for colour balance corrections), and they represent an average daylight scene as far as their reflectance goes, which makes them useful as an exposure reference.

[ATJ]

Grey cards are indispensable and every photographer should have one. They have 2 important characteristics...they are totally colour neutral (so perfect for colour balance corrections), and they represent an average daylight scene as far as their reflectance goes, which makes them useful as an exposure reference.

White objects that you pick up may appear white but aren't always colour neutral and the subtleties are not always obvious.

[Bugeyes]

I much prefer a whibal for colour balance, 18% grey cards are good for exposure, but are not ideal for precision colour balance.

I bought one after viewing Tape's tutorials... http://www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials/Wh ... index.html

http://www.rawworkflow.com/whibal/

[aim54x]

Grey cards are indispensable and every photographer should have one. They have 2 important characteristics...they are totally colour neutral (so perfect for colour balance corrections), and they represent an average daylight scene as far as their reflectance goes, which makes them useful as an exposure reference.

I was thinking I would use the white side for setting a preset white balance when I am on the go. But I'll try and see if metering off the grey side when I get a chance, I have never used one and relied on the camera's light meter (with a little chimping). I guess you could use it like a WhiBal but setting 18% grey.

I do like the sound of the WhiBal though.

[Suri]

Having used a D70, 200 and a D300 without any thought to WB, I find myself searching the web for a better understanding of the process after having less than favourable result OUT OF CAMERA with the D3.

Need to study more.

[aim54x]

Having used a D70, 200 and a D300 without any thought to WB, I find myself searching the web for a better understanding of the process after having less than favourable result OUT OF CAMERA with the D3.

Need to study more.

On that note I am thinking of writing an article for my website on the topic, but I really do not have the time to do so at the moment.

[gstark]

Having used a D70, 200 and a D300 without any thought to WB, I find myself searching the web for a better understanding of the process after having less than favourable result OUT OF CAMERA with the D3.

What issues are you experiencing? How are you doing this now?

Have you looked at this thread? Although it relates to the D70, I expect that most of the underlying principles will apply to any modern DSLR.

My expectaion is that with the D3 this should be an easier, rather than more difficult, task.

[ATJ]

I just did a few quick preset white balances using my Kodak "Gray Card" and various "white" objects. After each preset I took a photo of a Munsell ColorChecker chart and then loaded the images into Lightroom. I don't have time to process each of the images now, but there is some noticeable difference between the results from the grey card and the "white" objects. When I have time I'll do more and post the results.

Here are the Colour Temperature and Tint readings according to Lightroom:

Kodak Gray Card: 5600K, -6
Kodak Photo Quality Inject Paper: 5750K, 0
A4 Copier Paper: 6000K, -7
The back of a Telstra Bill: 5950K, -4

As you can see, they don't all give the same white balance and subtle differences are noticeable on the ColorChecker.

[gstark]

One very simple trick, especially useful if you have a constant lighting source (studio shoot, bright sunny day ... ) is to just include a colour checker in your first image, and set a co stant baseline wb - say, daylight.

Calibrate to your first image - the colour checker, and adjust all the other images to match.