Color Balance

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 13:20:19 -0700, "ShutterNut"
wrote:

Setting a custom white balance using a grey card in the lighting of the job
helps immensely. Thus one can lock in the color balance for that session.
Nikon should have a procedure for this in their owners manual, I know Canon
does.

I know that Nikon D1h did

For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used for a
white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise. Only the grey
side should be used for metering...unless you have some very strange needs.
There are products for twisting and warping the color balance. I consulted
on one called WarmCards (disclaimer) www.warmcards.com . The concept was
developed for video but adapts well for digital also...basically the same
technology in this regard. By selecting the properly shaded card you can
warm your shot up like it was taken during the golden hour...or adjust for
fluorescent lighting. The digital pack also has a KODAK grey card.


"ShutterNut" wrote in message
...
Setting a custom white balance using a grey card in the lighting of the
job
helps immensely. Thus one can lock in the color balance for that session.
Nikon should have a procedure for this in their owners manual, I know
Canon
does.

JS

Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

"David J Taylor"
schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

A good question you posed here!

Quite some time ago I bought gray/white card from a German manufacturer -
see their Web site at http://fotowand.net/ and ever since I have been using
it I have noticed a discrepancy between the WB set with the gray and with
the white side.

A while later I accquired an ExpoDisc and as I now use that for most of my
WB settings I set down one day and ran a few controlled tests, checking the
results with the color sampler tool in Photoshop.

What I found out is quite amazing: The gray side of my expensive card is way
off neutral whilst the white side corresponds within working tolerances with
what I get with the ExpoDisc.

As to the exposure measuring part of the business the gray side is
acceptably "neutral" whilst the white side nicely falls in the +2EV setting.

In view of this revealing experience I have decided never again to use the
gray side of my card for WB determination. Of course this does not restrict
me at all as I use the ExpoDisc whenever possible and and fall back to the
card only in those situations when a direct incident reading cannot be made.
And even then, by the way, using the white side allows me to do a WB setting
under much lower lighting conditions than would be possible with the gray
side.

Hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Johannes

"David J Taylor"
wrote in message ...
Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

A good question you posed here!

Quite some time ago I bought gray/white card from a German manufacturer -
see their Web site at http://fotowand.net/ and ever since I have been using
it I have noticed a discrepancy between the WB set with the gray and with
the white side.

A while later I accquired an ExpoDisc and as I now use that for most of my
WB settings I set down one day and ran a few controlled tests, checking the
results with the color sampler tool in Photoshop.

What I found out is quite amazing: The gray side of my expensive card is way
off neutral whilst the white side corresponds within working tolerances with
what I get with the ExpoDisc.

As to the exposure measuring part of the business the gray side is
acceptably "neutral" whilst the white side nicely falls in the +2EV setting.

In view of this revealing experience I have decided never again to use the
gray side of my card for WB determination. Of course this does not restrict
me at all as I use the ExpoDisc whenever possible and and fall back to the
card only in those situations when a direct incident reading cannot be made.
And even then, by the way, using the white side allows me to do a WB setting
under much lower lighting conditions than would be possible with the gray
side.

Hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Johannes

"David J Taylor"
wrote in message ...
Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

A good question you posed here!

Quite some time ago I bought gray/white card from a German manufacturer -
see their Web site at http://fotowand.net/ and ever since I have been using
it I have noticed a discrepancy between the WB set with the gray and with
the white side.

A while later I accquired an ExpoDisc and as I now use that for most of my
WB settings I set down one day and ran a few controlled tests, checking the
results with the color sampler tool in Photoshop.

What I found out is quite amazing: The gray side of my expensive card is way
off neutral whilst the white side corresponds within working tolerances with
what I get with the ExpoDisc.

As to the exposure measuring part of the business the gray side is
acceptably "neutral" whilst the white side nicely falls in the +2EV setting.

In view of this revealing experience I have decided never again to use the
gray side of my card for WB determination. Of course this does not restrict
me at all as I use the ExpoDisc whenever possible and and fall back to the
card only in those situations when a direct incident reading cannot be made.
And even then, by the way, using the white side allows me to do a WB setting
under much lower lighting conditions than would be possible with the gray
side.

Hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Johannes

"David J Taylor"
wrote in message ...
Gene Palmiter wrote:
For those who don't know...Either side of the grey card can be used
for a white balance as the grey side is a neutral shade color wise.

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better for
colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white nearer
to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Cheers,
David

"David J Taylor"
wrote in
:

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better
for colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white
nearer to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Making a white card is trivial. You have your home full of them.
Making a grey card is difficult - even more difficult making
one that stays grey over time. Really difficult. So ... I
would bet on the white side being most accurate. Personally
I don't think I would care about the grey one at all.


/Roland

"David J Taylor"
wrote in
:

In percentage correct terms - is the white or the grey side the better
for colour balance? It seems to me more likely that you can get white
nearer to true white than you can get grey nearer to true grey.

Making a white card is trivial. You have your home full of them.
Making a grey card is difficult - even more difficult making
one that stays grey over time. Really difficult. So ... I
would bet on the white side being most accurate. Personally
I don't think I would care about the grey one at all.


/Roland