whatever happened to gray cards?

I saw a post here today asking about a gray card, and it dawned on me that

five-years ago, fifty-percent of the postings here were related to gray-card

usage, the whole shadow/highlight thing, shadow-detail, where to aim the globe

of the incident meter ... that kind of thing. actually, it was much more fun

than today, but the question begs - does the new digital-world of photography

care about a gray card, or is the histogram (not to mention instant-preview) the

gray-card of yesterday? of course it is, and I have no complaints ... other than

the observation that it rarely comes up in conversations any more.

 

I am wondering what the gray-card manufacturers are thinking? time to relegate

the card to that of the typewriter, Dektol, and dare I say it, film?

 

daniel

A 3-channel histogram tells me more about exposure than a meter and grey card ever did. IMO, white balance is better done with a white card because it's probably more neutral than a grey card. The grey card may still have its uses, but it's by no means essential or even very desirable anymore.

Back o' my hand, open up 2 stops. It's not going anywhere without an industrial accident.

Mamy, if not most, people on this particular site use digital cameras and a grey card is somewhat less useful for digital than for film. Gray cards have the same use they always have, but there are just more flashy tools around these days, like stiching for example, to captivate the masses.

 

- Randy

Hi,

 

Grey cards faded away and turned white...

A well-constructed grey card is useful when the subject is not "average" and you do not have an incident light meter. One example is for closeups with an SLR or DSLR (reflected light only). It is also useful for white balance for digital still and video cameras, or as a reference point when scanning negative color film. I usually carry one in the field, along with a G-M Color Checker card. They fit nicely in the computer pocket in my backpack (LowePro Computrekker).

 

Good grey cards are not cheap. An 8x10 inch card from Gretag-MacBeth costs nearly $70. For that you get a card with uniform reflectivity across the useful spectum of light, and a matte surface. You can get a cheap grey card, printed with CMYK dots, but subject to metamerism (non-uniform reflectivity). A cheap card is useful only for setting exposures. Is white better? Try comparing different grades or brands of "white" paper to see just how uniform they are?

 

White balance is especially important for video, since it is incredibly time-consuming to make corrections after the fact, and you don't have much wiggle-room at that.