Gray Card - don't leave home with out it?

N

navilluspm

Well-known
Local time
4:49 PM
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
434
Hi all,

In a different thread, something Al Kaplan said got my thinking - something to the affect: "Doesn't anyone use a gray card anymore?"

I just got a gray card (8x10) and did some "digital" experiments with it for whitebalance. I soon realized it is an extremely valuable tool for white balance for indoor lighting. Then, after watching a Canon DPP video on setting white balance color off a picture of a gray card, it got me thinking that for color film negative film, a gray card would be great: shoot a frame of a grey card in the lighting you are in and then, when it comes to scanning, set the whitebalance of all your other frames to the whitebalance of the gray card.

Having a gray card is also great for BW film for metering, and may help me visualize, etc. . . .

Anyhow: I see the benefits of a grey card, but I don't want to carry an 8x10 card around all the time. How small could I cut it to so that it is affective? And my next question is the same as Al's: does anyone even use a gray card anymore?
 
For metering purposes I occasionally use a reflected-light meter reading from the palm of my hand. Depending on your hand open up a stop or so, and there you go. It has to be surprisingly dirty to change much too.

Wouldn't be ideal for colour balance though, how about a white handkerchief or a paper tissue instead ? A pre-test would be needed of course - a quick comparison with the neutral grey card before changing brand of paper-tissue...
 
navilluspm said:
Hi all,

In a different thread, something Al Kaplan said got my thinking - something to the affect: "Doesn't anyone use a gray card anymore?"

I just got a gray card (8x10) and did some "digital" experiments with it for whitebalance. I soon realized it is an extremely valuable tool for white balance for indoor lighting. Then, after watching a Canon DPP video on setting white balance color off a picture of a gray card, it got me thinking that for color film negative film, a gray card would be great: shoot a frame of a grey card in the lighting you are in and then, when it comes to scanning, set the whitebalance of all your other frames to the whitebalance of the gray card.

Having a gray card is also great for BW film for metering, and may help me visualize, etc. . . .

Anyhow: I see the benefits of a grey card, but I don't want to carry an 8x10 card around all the time. How small could I cut it to so that it is affective? And my next question is the same as Al's: does anyone even use a gray card anymore?
Click to expand...

I don't use one myself, but I'm sure they are valuable to people who have taken the time to learn to use them properly.

There are a couple alternatives for the digital world.

The first may be along the lines of what you're asking for - pocket-sized and all. Whi-bal cards.

http://www.rawworkflow.com/whibal/

I don't use that, either.

I use an Expo-Disc. Lets me set a custom white-balance, and it has worked very well for me. Carry it everywhere.

http://www.expodisc.com/

However, no matter how one does it, setting a custom white-balance can be a terrific aid in wonky lighting. I prefer the Expo Disc because I can set the White Balance prior to shooting and not spend a lot of time adjusting it later in post-processing. But everyone has their own opinion on the subject.
 
I've got a collapsible one - very useful in the digital world - but Ialways think it's a bit off...

I've also got a Gretag Macbeth colourchecker chart, which is useful for calibrating ACR/Lightrooom for individual cameras and lighting conditions

Mike
 
Hi, thanks for all the information. I just want to correct one thing: a 18% gray card does help for white balance.

The Canon Rebel manual states that for setting custom whitebalance, shoot something white and set the custom white balance, etc. . . But there is a note on the bottom of the page which reads that using an 18% gray card instead of something white will give you a more accurate white balance. I tested it and it is true!

Canon's DPP tutorial on their learning center suggests taking a picture of a grey card and using the eye dropper tool to set the white balance of all raw pictures taken in that lighting - and it works!

My idea with color negative is the scan with vuescan as a processed DNG file (under the TIFF setting) and then in photoshop elements ACR use the eyedropper tool to set the white balance of all the frame shot in the same lighting. It should work the same as it would with the Canon Rebel RAW files. When I have an opportunity I will test it and post my results. I was just wondering if anyone tried it yet.
 
Last edited:
Photogdave, if you can use your left hand for setting white balance tell your doctor to call the undertaker. Actually I use my left hand a lot for setting exposure even though my meters are usually set up with incident attachments. You can move your hand a bit and get bot a highlight and a shadow reading which gives you a handle on how contrasty the lighting is. Also handy is a set of "color control patches", a sheet with a bunch of little squares of various known colors, and a grey scale consisting of a series of grey patches ranging from black to white. Get them right when you print and everything else will be spot on!

A lot of commonly found white things such as paper, poster board, white shirts, etc. contain artificial "brighteners" which flouresce slightly from ultra-violet light. They don't always photograph the way that they look, nor do they always give a correct brightness reading with your meter.
 
Last edited:
I have a couple 8x10 gray cards that were included in a used darkroom kit I purchased from eBay last year. I have yet to use them yet. I'm also one of those who uses my free hand to meter off of. And as far as proper WB goes, that's why I always shot RAW, so I could adjust it to what I wanted in the RAW conversion. I might have to give those gray cards a "shot" though. ;)
 
Well, maybe it doesn't work for digital, but apparently Canon thinks it does. Makes sense it would. Back in the day, we were instructed to include a grey card in one exposure that would be used for nothing else. The printer would use that to adjust the color temperature (white balance) for all the other shots. Sounds like what Canon is suggesting.

What's changed other than we can perhaps get closer to it with computers now. It can still be valuable if you are willing to take the time to use it.
 
Just yesterday the ColorRight thingy that Fotodiox is plumping came in the mail. I started shooting with it straight away and can say I will never shoot digital without it again (on the cameras where I can set custom white balance).

Anyone have any clue how to set custom white balance on the R-D1? :rolleyes:

BTW - I have no vested interest in ColorRight. I bought it and it is hella easier to use than a gray card.
 
Never used a grey card. When I don't have or cannot use an incident light meter, I take a reading off the palm of a hand and add one stop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom