White Balance and the Digital Advantage

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pundit

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I had the opportunity to try an similar wb filter to the Expo Disc today and wow - just ordered the natural and warm 4x4 for my use. My Canon Mk II, 5D and M8 all struggle most times with complex lighting sources and seem to be off almost all the time when shooting with man made light. This little device is awesome, cover the lens, set wb to manual, point at the lighting, shoot and bang dead on color correction.

In addition, it seems that I can use this to make a Photoshop mask depicting the dust pattern on the sensor and then voila - auto spotting. How I used to hate spotting too.

Wondering if anyone has any real experience with these new fangled toys?

I should have mine in a week or 2 and will post before and afters on flickr then.

I just posted the 2 test shots that I made with the loaner - was not Expo Disc and was less money now that I think about it. Test shots were taken at Cameraland (NYC) when I picked up my spare M8 battery today.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/85974234@N00/378891054/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85974234@N00/378890941/


I shoot DNG only - so the JPEG conversion masks the efficacy of the addon somewhat - but it is still apparent in the skin tones of the subject. Hmm seems it is not the JPEG conversion but rather the upload program to flickr that desaturates the photos a bit.
 
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Hi Pundit,

The colors still look a little off using the demo product at Cameraland. Where did you point the WB filter when you took the WB shot? At the overhead lights or the fluorescent lights in the display case?

I would also recommend a WB filter. I bought a cheap $8 one from Ebay and it works almost as good as my Expodisc ($120). I would say 90-95%. Then while doing test, I used a white sheet of paper.....again, pretty close to the Expodisc. Both of these are way better than trying to WB later or when the auto/predefine WB doesn't seem to cut it. Now, I look back and say....Expodisc is nice but a waste of money if I think about it. Either method, I would highly recommend using some kind of white filter in front of the lens to set a manual WB prior to taking pics, especially in Fluorescent and incandescent lights. So far, I have not seen any camera that is accurate all the time no matter what you do. But manual WB helps significantly. Even your white Tshirt works in a pinch. 🙂

I have 2 Canon dslr (1dmk2 and 10d) so I was disappointed with the lack of the manual WB feature in my new Epson R-D1 rangefinder. For that, I am going to try a different workflow where I take my first shot with a WB filter and then use it in postprocessing to set my WB. I need this because not all pics have black, grey, or white in them. Plus....it's more accurate.
 
Getting the WB spot on in the field is fine however for me it's only an indication when chimping of what to expect later in post process. Batch processing later I can set the WB based on light temperature on a calibrated monitor. This seems to do the trick.
 
"The colors still look a little off using the demo product at Cameraland. Where did you point the WB filter when you took the WB shot? At the overhead lights or the fluorescent lights in the display case?"

I pointed them at the overheads with the camera pointed in the direction of the me. When I uploaded the image, the colors desaturated and changed. I think I save for RGB rather than for web when converting the RAW to JPG.

Here is an image that I captured tonight after work. It is not very inspired, other than to point out some color correction issues that I can have shooting artificial light that is mixed sources.

Btw, which do you prefer either of the color versions or the b+w?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/381607577_60a716ff33_m.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/98/381606576_b589057ef8_m.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/381605495_29fe82bcec_m.jpg



Sure wish I could figure out how to get images attached.
 
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To add pics, login first...then
At the bottom of the Reply to Thread....there is an Additional Options section. Under Attach Files, click the manage attachments.

I prefer the B&W. It also hides the strange lighting 😉 . In this situation, it is very difficult to WB. If you WB to the incandescent lights, the statue is green. If you balance to the statue, the background is magenta.

Here is another thread on WB....but it's for the Epson R-D1.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35741
 
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