Grey Cards

marts_uk

marts_uk

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Martin
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Hi,

I'm looking to buy a grey card to help with white balance, exposures etc.

I've seen the Lastolite Xpobalance 38cm, but it seems expensive (I know you pay for quality and I dont mind paying that bit extra). The guy doing the gin and tonic setup on the Bowens stand used what looked like a dulux paint sample strip.

Can anyone make any recommendations, or should I just get the Lastolite Xpobalance?

thanks
Martin
 
The Lastolite ones are nice and not that much money. They are also neutral grey, which some 18% cards intended primarily for exposure, are not.

But the question is really why do you want one? What's wrong with a piece of white paper or card?

The Dulux paint chart thingy was maybe something from Colour Confidence https://shop.colourconfidence.com/section.php/10384/1/colour-charts?pageNo=2
 
Richard, do you know if the Kodak cards are 18% grey?
 
The23rdman said:
Richard, do you know if the Kodak cards are 18% grey?
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They are guaranteed 18% reflectance, but not neutral grey. Mine is very fractionally yellow/green.

The white side is recommended for neutral colour balance, and is 90% reflectance.

Kerioak said:
Doesn't the book "Understanding exposure" have a black/white/grey/grey card in the back?

I know I have seen one somewhere but always having been taught never to damage books was reluctant to tear it out :D
Click to expand...

If you mean Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure, it doesn't have a grey card in it, but that book needs ripping up anyway.
 
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get a sheet of A4 white paper - free!

Edit: I see that's been mentioned by Hoppy already!

No further discussion required then!
 
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If you have an Iphone or Android phone you can download an app with a Gray card and just meter of that. :)
 
HoppyUK said:
They are guaranteed 18% reflectance, but not neutral grey. Mine is very fractionally yellow/green.

The white side is recommended for neutral colour balance, and is 90% reflectance.



If you mean Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure, it doesn't have a grey card in it, but that book needs ripping up anyway.
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks.
 
Why do you think you need a grey card??
Are you shooing in raw?
 
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Indeed I wouldn't trust an iphone personally..

Look in the correct places there are many, take a look on warehouseexpress. Or even eBay. Again personally not a fan of lastolite.. seems cheap and tacky to me when used in the past.
 
I have the lastolite one, can't remember the cost.
Good thing is that the surface is vinyl, so when it gets dirty you clean it.
 
I think the Lastolite ones are rather good. They do various sizes and different tones, including 12% grey which is what most digital metering systems are calibrated to.

I've got their Tri-Balance here now, though it's not mine. Doubles as a silver reflector which is handy, and folds up small :thumbs: http://www.lastolite.com/exposure-and-calibration-tools.php
 
awp said:
Why do you think you need a grey card??
Are you shooing in raw?
Click to expand...

I am shooting in raw (+jpg) - I use the quick jpg just for reference on the PC. All the work is done on the raw file - so I know white balance doesn't matter so much in this respect.

I know I need to sort out my post production work flow - but thats for another day :)

I suppose I just want to be able to get as near the correct white balance as I can - to cut down on PP
 
marts_uk said:
I am shooting in raw (+jpg) - I use the quick jpg just for reference on the PC. All the work is done on the raw file - so I know white balance doesn't matter so much in this respect.

I know I need to sort out my post production work flow - but thats for another day :)

I suppose I just want to be able to get as near the correct white balance as I can - to cut down on PP
Click to expand...

Which makes perfect sense, but the question was why do you need a calibrated grey card to do it, when a sheet of white paper or card will do the job just as well?

Some folks will say that not all white card is absolutely neutral white, and may be a bit creamy or slighly bluish with artificial whiteners etc, but I've never found that to be problem. If it looks like clean white, then it is going to be extremely close. I would further argue that absolute accuracy with white balance is also technically impossible and anyway what is more important is colour consistency from shot to shot. We are very visually sensitive to that.

Wedding photographers' tip - take a custom white balance off the table cloth at the reception ;)
 
ziggy©;3491276 said:
If you have an Iphone or Android phone you can download an app with a Gray card and just meter of that. :)
Click to expand...

metering your exposure off a grey card that is backlit and therefore giving off light :thinking:
 
I realise this is a bit more expensive...but it seems to have everything in a package...reviews very well...you get the grey card and you also get the bonus of fixing out colours as well for skin etc...in a tidy package...

http://modifiedphoto.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/x-rite-colorchecker-passport-test-and-review/

Im thinking about combining this with a monitor X-rite 1i II...

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/eye_one_display2.htm


But still thinking as its expensive...(piece of paper)

STEVIER
 
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