WhiBal White Balancing Aid

<a

href="http://www.rawworkflow.com/products/whibal/index.html">WhiBal</

a> is an interesting white balancing aid for digital shooters. See

<a href="http://www.luminous-

landscape.com/reviews/accessories/whibal.shtml">Luminous

Landscape</a> for a "review" ...

I just got an ExpoDisc (the new warm version) yesterday. So far, I'm really impressed. It's smaller and easier to use than gray cards and other things I've tried. More info at http://www.expodisc.com/.<div></div>

Seems kinda expensive for what it is.

I should have mentioned a couple of things:

 

- The above image is a small JPEG straight out of the camera (except for re-sizing). I forgot to convert from Adobe RGB to sRGB.

 

- The ambient lighting is from sodium streetlamps. I have found this lighting difficult to color-correct, even by changing the white balance or setting a grey point in Nikon Capture, followed by tweaking in PSCS. In this case, I did none of that.

 

I often shoot in sub-optimal and mixed lighting. Additionally, I have never been satisfied with the color balance performance of my D100. These issues have led to many hours in PS and some development of my color correction skills. I am very optimistic that the ExpoDisc will pay for itself quickly in saved time and improved results. It's way cheaper that a color temperature meter and more practical than a gray card.

Sorry, But I prefer the Expo/Disc. Not only do I get a virtualy perfect white balance but the Expo/Disc converts my internal reflected meter to an incident meter with an accuracy of 1/10th stop. Kinda like having your cake and eating it too.

A recent thread on Expodisc:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00A8ro

<p>Before dropping $40 on a few pieces of PVC, you might try the <a href="http://www.kommerlingusa.com/komatex/">Komatex sample kit</a>. It bears a stunning resemblance to some products on the market and can be had for free from various sign supply shops. The main difference you'll note is there are a bunch of colored swatches included. Throw them away, rub the light gray card with sand paper to knock off the shine and you have a <a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB29&Number=249980">spectrally flat gray card</a>.

"Before dropping $40 on a few pieces of PVC, you might try the Komatex sample kit. It bears a stunning resemblance to some products on the market and can be had for free from various sign supply shops. The main difference you'll note is there are a bunch of colored swatches included. Throw them away, rub the light gray card with sand paper to knock off the shine and you have a spectrally flat gray card."

 

Ignorance continues. Same as if you bought a piece of ANY grey cardboard and called it an 18% average. Pleeeease.

<p>I recommend the Digital Grey Kard - it works well and it's cheaper than the WhyBal. Also, there are paper cards made by Delta -1 that are the least expensive option, but they tend to get wrinkled and creased and are subject to water damage.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.digitalimageflow.com/ebayItems/premiumDGKs.jpg" width="300" height="276" /></p>