ExpoDisc

[gregory_c]

Do any of you guys use a ExpoDisc for weddings ? I shoot 20D, 580ex flash,

AWB, jpeg, some shots with flash & some W/O, my outdoor shots look as good as

my Hasselblad, but indoor shots do not.SOme are yellow or have poor flesh

tones. I really do not want to spend hours adjusting raw images, thats why I

shoot jpeg. I would like to try a ExpoDisc for my indoor shots, thanks for the

advice,,

[carbon_dragon]

Are these Expo Discs the same things we used to use to turn an SLR into a makeshift incident light meter? Sort of a white transluscent disk held over the lens and pointed at the source of the light? Or are they something more complex?

[don_hill]

I've used an expo disc since the film days - I imagine mine is about 15 years old and still

works perfectly for white balance on the 10d and 5d. It is an easy tool to use, as it can

replace a lenscap and therefore always ready to use.</p>The original seems to be a bit cold

as far as color reproduction in skin tones, so the newer warm balance may be perfect

solution for digtal. The price has gone up drastically, but one will serve you well for many

years and it is certainly more elegant than shooting paper or your assistants white shirt for

white balance.

[seawolff]

I recently went to a dinner with Monty Zucker. He said he uses one on every shoot. I'm gonna get me one real soon.

[w.smith]

A Pringles lid or a styrofoam coffee cup are a loooot cheaper....

[matt_k1]

<i>> A Pringles lid or a styrofoam coffee cup are a loooot cheaper....</i>

<p>

Hmmm... How about a cheap screw-on UV filter with a diffusion gel taped or otherwise mounted over the front?

<p>

Seems like that would function pretty similarly to the expodisc, be just as conventient to carry along, and a lot cheaper... Cheap enough to try out anyway, right?

<p>

[carbon_dragon]

I wouldn't mind buying a real one, but they're pretty pricey aren't they, like over $100 aren't they?

[w.smith]

Well, somebody's got to pay for Mr. Expodisk's Caribean Island and staff, don't they? It

might as well be you, David....

[w.smith]

"I really do not want to spend hours adjusting raw images".

 

That's why they invented batch adjustments, imo.

[marcsaint]

IMO the ExpoDisc works just fine -- the problem is that using it at a wedding takes more time than I'm usually willing to spend. Part of it is the camera's fault (the keypresses needed to set a custom white balance) and part is my lack of discipline in keeping the white balance set properly. Auto WB and RAW files have been my friends very often.

 

The ExpoDisc definitely has it's place (outdoor portraiture comes to mind) but my wedding workflow hasn't been it.

[cariad]

Mr. Cottis......

"I really do not want to spend hours adjusting raw images, thats why I shoot jpeg."

Well, YOU DO NOT have to adjust the pictures in RAW if you don't have to or don't want to. IF you picture is great in JPG it will also be GREAT in RAW, but if you shoot RAW you have the option to make a great picture incredible if you decide you would like to do that.

As far as the ExpoDisc......I only have the cool one and to me that is to cool, I like warmth and feeling in the pictures :) maybe the other one is better.

[carbon_dragon]

Or in DPP or Aperture or LightRoom etc. You can fix the white balance for one of the picture and apply it to all your other raw images!

[conraderb]

g. cottis - you just need to use custom white balance or the kelvin scale indoors. you also need to think about fluorescent or tungsten lighting and how that matches with your flashes.

 

IMHO, AWB never gave me a nice white balance at all - I usually use flash or 'cloud' when I'm shooting indoors with flash.

 

IMOH, the people who make starbucks coffee and the people who make expodisc should get together and have a conference on "How to make anyone pay 100x more for a product with a bit of marketing".

 

Expodisc is a piece of white plastic. unless you shoot in an environment where accurate color is absolutely necessary, you can probably do just as well with the bottom of a coffee cup and calibrate it. does it require about two minutes of thinking and testing? yes. of course, some people with deep pockets would prefer to spend money than spend brain cells thinking...

 

white balance, after all, is not objective in the tastes of most people. a lot of people like a slightly warm image. that's what I like. expodisc might give me 'correct' white balance, but that might not be what I want.

 

haha - horus adjusting raw images? hahaha. IMHO, you are mistaken. give raw a chance and I bet you will be surprised at how much stress it saves you. I get 1.5 stop underexposure latitude and maybe 0.5 stop overexposure latitude with raw. plus easily adjustable whitebalances, plus great contrast control. I have no idea why I ever shot JPG. the extra time is probably one hour difference per wedding versus JPG processing, and several notches up in terms of quality.

 

if you have the resources to handle raw, do it. if you don't, however, that's fine - more weddings for me to book instead of you :-)

 

just joking about that last one.

[jasonsmith]

The other options is a "Whibal" which is a small plastic gray card which you can hang around your neck and include in shots where you are concerned about White Balance. It is then a matter of using the White Balance eye dropper and clicking on the Whibal to get your White Balance sorted.

 

http://www.rawworkflow.com/products/whibal/index.html

 

The other option is 85% of the Wedding Shots include the Bride who is generally wearing a White Dress. I often just find an area on the dress that is in shadow and click on it to get white balance. I find it fairly accurate most of the time.

[bakarichavanu]

How are ExpoDisc users using this gadget with flash photography? Also, I find custom white

balance a little difficult in wedding because the lighting conditions change throughout the

time I'm doing the shoot. So unless I forget to change the custom settings for different

lighting conditions or shoot RAW, there's a risk of screwing things up. I have an ExpoDisc and

it's very useful for single setting shoots, but it's cumbersome to use during a hectic wedding

shoot where the lighting conditions are constantly changing.

[gregory_c]

Conrad Erb - Philadelphia, PA, be careful of comments,I am a very good wedding photographer, just want it better & want my digital to match my film,,

[patrick_donahue]

I concur... any information anyone has on using the expodisc with flash would be very useful.

The whole concept of standing where you're subject is and aiming back at the light source

seems, to me, awkward in practice.

[conraderb]

g cottis - sorry if I sounded personal there. IMHO, too many photographers (myself included) buy gear for big $$ that does basically the same as cheap gear.

 

for example - starving photographers buy softboxes for $100/$200/$300 when they can often make something very similar for $10 worth of tracing paper, cardboard and aluminum foil. I know b/c that was what my first softbox was!

 

as for white balance: yes, using whibal or expo disc and the custom white balance will work, but why not just try to stay away from AWB in the first place?

 

that's the first thing I tell people who are having WB problem. for me, it is usually the cloud option for outdoor work (regardless of whether it is cloudy), and either flash or tungsten balance for indoor work. I have been pretty happy with the results from day one with my 20D camears.

 

if the presets don't give you good results, have you tried buying a white piece of foam core or a regular gray card? $3 from B&H.

 

I don't know about expodisc, but IMHO, whibal is, for most photographers, a very expensive gray card. if you are shooting in a studio and need perfect WB, fine, but if you are shooting weddings and moving around, I don't see how whibal is better than a card.

 

for expodisc: I think that finding a white plastic cup will give you a very similar effect compared to expodisc, and I bet that most photorgaphers who compare the right thickness of white plastic cup will find them very similar (again, maybe not commercial/studio photorgaphers...)

 

no, white cups and $3 gray cards don't give you perfect white balance, but I think that most people don't like a 'perfect' white balance anyway - my preference is a touch warm.