Best White Balance Accessory

[sdshutterbug]

Hey all,
I'm loving my new Canon T1i, but what stands out to me as its worst feature is its WB. AWB is useless in poor lighting scenarios, and the "tungsten" WB is rarely accurate in tungsten lighting. Even the custom WB isn't that great when I point it at a grey piece of cloth. I'm looking for an accessory I can purchase to give me better WB in camera when I need it. Yes, I know I can just shoot in RAW, but I prefer to get it right in camera, esp. since I like to shoot JPEG a lot of the time. I'm not looking to spend more than $30 unless there's something out there that's incredible for more. I've heard about a lot of products but I'm wondering what you all use?

And for you flash users - how do you handle mixed WB when using your flash? I'm brand new to this stuff.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Hey all,
I'm loving my new Canon T1i, but what stands out to me as its worst feature is its WB. AWB is useless in poor lighting scenarios, and the "tungsten" WB is rarely accurate in tungsten lighting. Even the custom WB isn't that great when I point it at a grey piece of cloth. I'm looking for an accessory I can purchase to give me better WB in camera when I need it. Yes, I know I can just shoot in RAW, but I prefer to get it right in camera, esp. since I like to shoot JPEG a lot of the time. I'm not looking to spend more than $30 unless there's something out there that's incredible for more. I've heard about a lot of products but I'm wondering what you all use?

And for you flash users - how do you handle mixed WB when using your flash? I'm brand new to this stuff.

Congratulations on your new Canon T1i (and on your switch from Sony)!

I'm not sure that the Auto White Balance problem is unique to the Canon T1i. I'll bet you'll get the same variable Auto White Balance with any other DSLR.

I know that there are a bunch of white balance products out there, but I don't use them...although I probably should. It seems so inconvenient for ever-changing lighting conditions, especially when I'm just walking around Disney World. Am I really going to stop and take a sample white balance photo for each group of photos? (my wife is already on the verge of killing me for stopping every 10 steps to set up a tripod) The easiest solution for me is to shoot RAW.

If you're in a controlled environment and you're doing a photo shoot and all your photos are going to have pretty constant / consistent lighting, I can see where a white balance thingy would be helpful.


If you're using flash and you encounter mixed white balance, you should consider adding a "gel" to your flash. A "gel" is a transparent colored sheet that you'd attach to the head of the flash (where the light comes out). If your background is tungsten lighting, you'd choose a slight orange-colored "gel" for your flash, and set the white balance of your camera to tungsten. That way, your foreground subject (lit by the flash) will have approximately the same color temperature as your tungsten background. The orange gel you want for this is called CTO, or "Color Temperature Orange."

For a background lit by florescent lighting, you'd use a light green gel for your flash & set the camera's white balance to Florescent. The green gel is called "Window Green".

Here's the technique described on the Strobist Web site: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-using-gels-to-correct.html

I must admit, however, that I've gotten as far as buying 2 large sheets of gels ($6 each), but I haven't gotten around to cutting them to fit my flash. So in the end, the advice I'm giving you above is stuff that I don't even do myself. Go figure.

 

[sdshutterbug]

Thanks disneyboy - I was wondering what these CTO gels I heard about are all about. My fear though is that my camera won't accurately interpret the tungsten lighting - it usually doesn't come out all that great when I select it.

 

[ukcatfan]

I am sure that your camera has a custom WB setting. Follow the instructions on how to do that from your manual, but basically all you are doing is setting it to a white or neutral gray solid colored thing. I usually just do RAW, but I always carry a white piece of model foam (less than $1 from Wal-mart) for when I do want to set it to custom. Basically, you can already do what you want with what you already have (or at least with an investment less than the cost of gas to get you to Wally World).

 

[ukcatfan]

I'm not sure that the Auto White Balance problem is unique to the Canon T1i. I'll bet you'll get the same variable Auto White Balance with any other DSLR.

Pretty much all DSLRs have this issue. My Pentax K-x does have an option for the WB to be "aggressive" at the WB setting for tungsten though. So far, it has worked very well, but there have been a couple shots where it over did it and actually went a little too much to the blue end. Since I shoot RAW, it really does not matter, but does make pp a little easier. If you are an exclusive JPG shooter, this might be a big selling point for the K-x though.

 

[YesDear]

For what you want to spend I would get one of these

If you are willing to spend a little more then here

 

[AndrewWG]

I have to say that the expo-disc thingy's have to be the BIGGEST scam on the market today. I mean, c'mon now. What can easily be changed in post processing using the most basic programs shouldn't cost someone $70+ for EACH size lens that they own. What a joke. I can see how the other item that YesDear posted above could be helpful and I may think of buying one if I ever run into it in a photo store (I like to see what I am buying before pulling the trigger nowadays). Still, the white balance will never be perfect with ALL shots and post processing will be necessary, in my opinion.

 

[sdshutterbug]

Thanks for the links - I've heard that about ExpoDisc. I have used custom white balance on my camera but it isn't terribly accurate and the colors come out muted.

 

[YesDear]

I have to say that the expo-disc thingy's have to be the BIGGEST scam on the market today. I mean, c'mon now. What can easily be changed in post processing using the most basic programs shouldn't cost someone $70+ for EACH size lens that they own. What a joke. I can see how the other item that YesDear posted above could be helpful and I may think of buying one if I ever run into it in a photo store (I like to see what I am buying before pulling the trigger nowadays). Still, the white balance will never be perfect with ALL shots and post processing will be necessary, in my opinion.

If you believe that it is a scam then you will save yourself the $. I know about 20 professionals that swear by it when white balance is critical to that assignment. I do not own one but have used one and found it easy to use and to set up. Many will buy the 77mm on and use for most lens.

I do have the travel white balance card and carry it with me almost all of the time and find it also easy to use and find it worthwhile.

Everyone should use what what works for them.

 

[mainstreet1997]

I use the ExpoCap

http://www.expoimaging.com/product-...d=5&keywords=ExpoCap_Custom_White_Balance_Aid

Basically its a lenscap with a white front. You take a shot aimed at your light source with it on (turn AF off for this), set your custom WB to that shot then go!

There is also the Expodisc which Im sure gives better results but costs more and Im happy with the Expocap.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

White balance is a great way to cure your jpg addiction. You should consider Lightroom, Aperture, or some software that gets you over your RAW aversion.

There are two basic ways to do custom white balancing. You can shoot at something neutral in the same light as your subject or you can shoot through something translucent at your main light source. A gray card is cheap and easy to use. Another idea would be to dress your subjects in 18% grey clothes.

For shoot through devices, the lid of a Pringles can is your cheapest option. An expodisc might be a little more accurate, but it's a lot more money. If you go with the expodisc, get a big one so that you can use it on all your lenses.

I use a 77mm Expodisc. It does what it is supposed to. I rarely use it for photography because I shoot RAW and prefer to white balance to taste rather than based on accurate white balance. I use my Expodisc primary for video.

I agree with disneyboy2003's explanation of using gels. One thing to be aware of, however, is that there is not solution for mixed lights. If you have a scene light by sunlight and tungsten or fluorescent lights, you are going to have some color issues somewhere.

You can, by the way, white balance jpgs. The results aren't that good if you don't get the original somewhat close, but it is possible.

As far as the Expodisc being a scam, I disagree. It's certainly ridiculously expensive for something so simple. On the other hand, it does what it is supposed to do. It's really easy to use. You only need to buy one once in your life. You can use it for stills and video. If I had to do it again, I'd probably just by a decent black/white/gray card and use that, but it is far from my worst photo gear purchase regret.

 

[AndrewWG]

Alright, alright. I was in a bad mood yesterday looking up photography products and seeing the high prices of everything out there that can be done using other much cheaper means. I will retract the word scam from my post and replace it with rip off. It is not a scam if it works but it is a ripoff if it costs a large amount of money for something that can be done by much cheaper means such as a white card or simple by post processing. I have yet to find a perfect white balance remedy. The closest I can get is by post processing RAW files through Lightroom. Quick and easy and as close to what I perceive the white balance to have been at the time of the shoot. I almost always start with using a white card, then tweak it in Lightroom, if necessary (I usually find it to be necessary).

Does that mean that the expo-disc is useless? Probably not if it works for you. I also think that the Really Right Stuff is a ripoff but the many people here that think otherwise have made me think that it may be worth it to buy the stuff if I can ever get into photography as more than just a hobby. To me there are far more important photo items that I can spend my measly little paycheck on at this point.

 

[mabas9395]

When I bought Scott kelby's Lightroom 2 book it had a tear-out grey card in the back. That has been close enough for my non-proffesional needs.

But honestly, most people would get better color by investing in a monitor calibrator than in a white balance device.

 

[boBQuincy]

I go along with Mark, adjusting the WB to my interpretation of the scene instead of worrying about what it actually was. By using JPG we are throwing away a lot more than the ability to adjust WB, there are few good reasons to not use RAW and *so* many reasons why we should.

But honestly, most people would get better color by investing in a monitor calibrator than in a white balance device.

So true! In fact there is little point in even doing much with WB until we know that our monitor is displaying something close to a real color balance.

 

[ssanders79]

I was considering the ExpoDisc way back then looked into making my own... Then I started to shoot RAW. For most of the time I just leave my camera on AWB and make any adustments in Lightroom.