Lend me your expodisc?

marlinspike

I am strapped, so I can't buy one outright, but I only shoot in one arena all season. I wonder, is anybody willing to send me their expodisc so that I would have it Friday the 3rd and I would mail it back along with a check for say $14 (which I figure would be cost to ship + $10)?
Thanks,
Richard

Scott_Quier

marlinspike wrote:

I am strapped, so I can't buy one outright, but I only shoot in one arena all season. I wonder, is anybody willing to send me their expodisc so that I would have it Friday the 3rd and I would mail it back along with a check for say $14 (which I figure would be cost to ship + $10)?
Thanks,
Richard

Save youself the $14, borrow a coffee filter. Use that as you would the Expodisc.

marlinspike

Scott_Quier wrote:

Save youself the $14, borrow a coffee filter. Use that as you would the Expodisc.

I use coffee filters, but they just aren't 100% on, and I can never get it just right by eye.

ian408

marlinspike wrote:

I use coffee filters, but they just aren't 100% on, and I can never get it just right by eye.

I've done the coffee filter and expodisc. Are you using a white coffee
filter? If so, it should work well enough.

You should be able to set to the white balance if you shoot raw. Can you
do that?

marlinspike

ian408 wrote:

I've done the coffee filter and expodisc. Are you using a white coffee
filter? If so, it should work well enough.

You should be able to set to the white balance if you shoot raw. Can you
do that?

Yep, white coffee filters.

Yes, I shoot RAW, but I can never get it quite right for some reason. I'll get it to where I think it's right, then I'll make an adjustment and see that what I thought was right had a green hue or something like that. Maybe things will get easier when I get my new laptop with a good screen?

wxwax

marlinspike wrote:

Yep, white coffee filters.

Yes, I shoot RAW, but I can never get it quite right for some reason. I'll get it to where I think it's right, then I'll make an adjustment and see that what I thought was right had a green hue or something like that. Maybe things will get easier when I get my new laptop with a good screen?

Well, if your monitor isn't calibrated, it's impossible for you to know if your white balance is good or not.

marlinspike

wxwax wrote:

Well, if your monitor isn't calibrated, it's impossible for you to know if your white balance is good or not.

True (one of my motivations for getting the new computer, this one is uncalibrateable, the new one is calibrateable and I'll snag my eye-one display 2 from home over Thanksgiving break. That's another reason I was hoping to borrow an expodisc - so that in the mean time I could just trust the expodisc.

wxwax

marlinspike wrote:

True (one of my motivations for getting the new computer, this one is uncalibrateable, the new one is calibrateable and I'll snag my eye-one display 2 from home over Thanksgiving break. That's another reason I was hoping to borrow an expodisc - so that in the mean time I could just trust the expodisc.

You can set you camera's white balance with a piece of white paper. No need for fancy gadgets.

marlinspike

wxwax wrote:

You can set you camera's white balance with a piece of white paper. No need for fancy gadgets.

Like I said, it's never dead on (you may say, how do you know that if you can't calibrate your monitor - I've bought my own prints before to test, and white paper and coffee filter white balance have too much blue.

BenA2

The numbers man

marlinspike wrote:

Like I said, it's never dead on (you may say, how do you know that if you can't calibrate your monitor - I've bought my own prints before to test, and white paper and coffee filter white balance have too much blue.

If your monitor is not calibrated, there's still hope. it's all in the numbers. Use the eyedropper to get the RGB values of what should be a neutral object. If they're all within +/- 2, that's pretty darn neutral. It's a pain, but it's better than nothing.

ziggy53

BenA2 wrote:

If your monitor is not calibrated, there's still hope. it's all in the numbers. Use the eyedropper to get the RGB values of what should be a neutral object. If they're all within +/- 2, that's pretty darn neutral. It's a pain, but it's better than nothing.

Actually, it's better (more accurate) to use the eyedropper to sample for neutral tones than trusting a calibrated monitor or print. The eyedropper shows exactly what is going on with the sample.

You may need to set a larger sample size for the eyedropper tool, as well as create a seperate layer and blur the sample area to gain the advantage of averaging.

I used a plain white piece of paper (95 whiteness) to set a custom WB for most of the night HS football games this season. It's pretty accurate, but there are still problems with exposure and flicker with some of the fields. I used at least 3 exposures of the paper, and then chose the best exposure for the custom WB for best results.

ziggy53

marlinspike

Well, assuming my lights are steady, how do I know which paper is white white. Some papers appear off white, some appear white, some appear blue-ish, though they all say white. See, that's the problem with the eye dropper, how do I know what really is white (I can tell you this much, white jerseys aren't even close).

BenA2

marlinspike wrote:

Well, assuming my lights are steady, how do I know which paper is white white. Some papers appear off white, some appear white, some appear blue-ish, though they all say white. See, that's the problem with the eye dropper, how do I know what really is white (I can tell you this much, white jerseys aren't even close).

I just puchased the WhiBal card to address this problem (I obviously had too much cash lying around:D). But, what I hear others saying is that the coffee filter is "close enough" to true neutral to rely on for white balance.

Here's a test: Assume the coffee filter is "good enough". Set a custom white balance with it in camera. Then use the eyedropper to confirm the whate balance was set correctly. If it measures neutral, your image is balanced, even if it appears to have a color cast on your monitor (due to lack of calibration). Then, make a print. If the filter is white, you're golden. You'll just have to learn to ignore your screen until you can get it calibrated. (Some would argue you should always ignore the screen anyway, and just trust the numbers, because they never lie).

wxwax

Some camera bags have dividers made out of neutral grey.

If you aren't having luck with white paper, and have such a bag, use the grey to set white balance.

Even if the shots aren't right, in post you'll be able to use the eyedropper to get it right.