B&H Photo has some good ones that are fairly priced. I have ine that includes b&w. Cant remember the name but they only ad a few & it was 20 beans. I really like 'em. Helps level things out real nice.
When did we start using gray cards for white balance?
All you need is a neutral color, it doesn't have to be white. White is rarely white, so you are better off with gray.
Hmmm.. it still doesn't make sense to me. When you set a white balance on a gray card, you are basically telling your camera that that shade of gray is white.
Hmmm.. it still doesn't make sense to me. When you set a white balance on a gray card, you are basically telling your camera that that shade of gray is white.
Nope, you are telling it that that shade of gray isn't blue or red or orange. You're balancing hue, not luminosity.
Hmmm.. it still doesn't make sense to me. When you set a white balance on a gray card, you are basically telling your camera that that shade of gray is white.
Nope, you are telling it that that shade of gray isn't blue or red or orange. You're balancing hue, not luminosity.
I'm ignorant about custom white balance. I know how to do it but i never use anything other than auto. I tweak the colors in post processing if I need to.
I have the "old style" pocket one of these WhiBal cards. Want the new one now. They work great and are made of a solid material that is the same all the way through, so if ya scratch em, etc. they still look the same (they can be sanded also). Not to mention waterproof.
I have the "old style" pocket one of these WhiBal cards. Want the new one now. They work great and are made of a solid material that is the same all the way through, so if ya scratch em, etc. they still look the same (they can be sanded also). Not to mention waterproof.
Those are nice to have. You can take your first shot with one in it, then you can use that shot for a levels adjustment and have perfect white, gray and black points.
You know those diffusers that cover the flourescent lights in workplaces and I've seen in some peoples kitchens. Well that plastic is darn near the same material as those expensive discs that you will find on the internet for custom w/b. My facilities guy throws one of those out every month. If I could figure out how to cut it nicely I'd sell em... :)
That is what I use...darn near perfect white balance...set the lens to manual focus, grab a piece of that diffuser plastic and hold it flush on the lens...point at subject...shoot through the stuff and set custom w/b to the resulting shot... works every time when Auto won't get you close enough.
On occasion I'll use pavement or concrete for a custom WB. I have a small card that's about 1/8" thick made of plastic which fits nicely into my camera bag if I need something more accurate. Generally I'll only do a custom WB when I am using my IR filter or I have weird mixed lighting. Like fluorescent, incandescent and flash. Otherwise I'll go by the conditions and use a preset.
