Help me adjust WB with a sheet of paper!

jbswear

Okay, so I've read about doing it in books, and in the manual with my XTi, but the process just seems to elude my comprehension.

How do I do this?

I do know that I need to do it for each different lighting situation, but I can't even figure out how to do it once.

Help!

Scotty_R

jbswear wrote:

Okay, so I've read about doing it in books, and in the manual with my XTi, but the process just seems to elude my comprehension.

How do I do this?

I do know that I need to do it for each different lighting situation, but I can't even figure out how to do it once.

Help!

Are you having difficulty with the actual steps outlined in your camera's owner's manual to accomplish the task, or are you having difficulty getting a proper test exposure to define "white" so that the camera will then know what all the other colors in the image actually are? Knowing this will make answering the question easier. If the test exposure taken to define what is "white" is underexposed or overexposed, then all of the other colors will be the wrong. So which is it? Mechanics or exposure or both?

jbswear

Scotty_R wrote:

Are you having difficulty with the actual steps outlined in your camera's owner's manual to accomplish the task, or are you having difficulty getting a proper test exposure to define "white" so that the camera will then know what all the other colors in the image actually are? Knowing this will make answering the question easier. If the test exposure taken to define what is "white" is underexposed or overexposed, then all of the other colors will be the wrong. So which is it? Mechanics or exposure or both?

Seems that I'm just a bonehead. Easy as pie to do, just gotta remember to do it for each setting.

Another question though...my manual says that a sheet of white paper will work, but that an 18% grey card will work better. I went to Ritz to find one, but they don't sell it. Where would you recommend that I go to find one?

Thanks!

Scotty_R

jbswear wrote:

Seems that I'm just a bonehead. Easy as pie to do, just gotta remember to do it for each setting.

Another question though...my manual says that a sheet of white paper will work, but that an 18% grey card will work better. I went to Ritz to find one, but they don't sell it. Where would you recommend that I go to find one?

Thanks!

Here is a good explanation of what an 18% grey card does. And here is a good article about what they don't do. Now I bet you're confused! Thom makes some very good points, but he gets really fussy about color management issues and sometimes splits his hairs very thinly. I've used a grey card for years when I'm in difficult lighting situations, and I've also used an Expodisc which works very nicely and is more compact and easier to carry about but is significantly more expensive.

If you want a Kodak 18% grey card, Amazon sells them by the boat load as does B&H in New York City. Both products work well. Hope this helps and doesn't just confuse.

jbswear

Scotty_R wrote:

Here is a good explanation of what an 18% grey card does. And here is a good article about what they don't do. Now I bet you're confused! Thom makes some very good points, but he gets really fussy about color management issues and sometimes splits his hairs very thinly. I've used a grey card for years when I'm in difficult lighting situations, and I've also used an Expodisc which works very nicely and is more compact and easier to carry about but is significantly more expensive.

If you want a Kodak 18% grey card, Amazon sells them by the boat load as does B&H in New York City. Both products work well. Hope this helps and doesn't just confuse.

That first site you listed was the very first one that popped up when I did the google search. I haven't read the second one yet, but have glanced at it.

If a difference of 6% is all there is, well, either way, it's gotta be better than what I'm using now....NOTHING!

Just ordered a set off of Amazon.com. Thanks for the help!

Scotty_R

Glad I could help. Make sure to show us some results!

Art Scott

for white balancing any thing pure white will do......a white shirt for example is what I used when doiing video and TV work....point the lens at white subject matter hit the white balance button done.......
I leave my dslr on AWB and then make my changes in ACR seems to work just as well for me.

Grey cards are a hassle to keep in the camera bag and get bent out of shape easily, of course I put my camera bags thru hell a lot of the times and it is even a wonder they keep my cameras fron being destroyed.....

Newsy

What about using one of those microfibre lens cleaning clothes that are 18% gray? One of those kill two birds with one stone products.

Mine gets a little wrinkly in my camera bag but seems to works ok if I can drape it across a surface (my daughters back works well).

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