Digital Grey Card

[lally0724]

Hello, I am switching from film to digital, I have the canon 20D and I was told that I should also get a new "color eyes digital gel card" for my grey card use. I was told that digital reads grey just a little bit different off of the card then film does, so I'm just wondering if any of you use a digital grey card, and if it is a big difference from a regular grey card.
Thanx,
Lally

[silica]

Don't know about any differences in thee gray card, but I use the card from www.whibal.com. It's easy to use and to carry.

[Jon]

Nope. I just use a Kodak 18% grey. There are some old rumours around that digital camera meters are calibrated for 15% grey, but I can't say that that makes any sense whatever. If you want to shoot JPEG warmer, or cooler, than the grey card gives you, just use a different colour temperature, or set the WB shift.

[lally0724]

Thanks that other card is about $100, I don't really want to have to buy it, if I don't need it.
Lally

[Dchemist]

I bought a grey card made by Fotowand and sold at www.thedopshop.com It is a plastic material and is washable.

It is 8.5" by 11 and cost around 20USD. I could not find the kodak version.

[Jon]

I got my grey card a few years ago - IIRC Louis Daguerre threw it in when I was buying one of his camera kits :{)#

Try here (http://www.tiffen.com/displayproduct.html?tablename=books&itemnum=E%20152%207795) for Kodak's. It's a pack of 2, as I recall, $14.95

[gasrocks]

Grey cards cost money, get dirty (and then are no good,) and it's one more thing to carry around. Do a test of the palm of your hand vs. either a grey card or the Sunny f/16 rule. Why carry a grey card?

[Jon]

Ever tried to set white balance from the palm of your hand?

[Adam Hicks]

Oh ok.. when I saw the topic I thought you had bought one of those really cool black and white CF cards.

:)

I use the Kodak cards as well.. though shooting RAW and watching for blinking lights in the viewfinder where they shouldn't be (bride's dresses for me) pretty much does away with the need for a grey card anymore. Just EC down until areas are no longer overexposed and adjust minor color tones in the RAW image and WHAMMY.

[jimsolt]

Grey cards cost money, get dirty (and then are no good,) and it's one more thing to carry around. Do a test of the palm of your hand vs. either a grey card or the Sunny f/16 rule. Why carry a grey card?

Why don't you use your finger -- then it would be digital. Of course we appreciate your pointing out that people like Kodak make and sell products that get dirty and are then no good. Thinking like that will get us to the moon someday.

Jim

[tiagosays]

can you post he f/16 rule

[kwsanders]

Grey cards cost money, get dirty (and then are no good,) and it's one more thing to carry around. Do a test of the palm of your hand vs. either a grey card or the Sunny f/16 rule. Why carry a grey card?

Yep... cost about $5.00. If it gets dirty, they can be replaced again for about $5.00. :D

Seriously, some people might have a hard time setting white balance when taking skin tone into account.

[Jim_T]

I've got a run of the mill 5 buck 18% grey card too.... It works great.. I don't use it a lot, but it's handy to have at times....

[J Rabin]

Lally:
Let me be a second to Silica's post - "IF" your digital workflow involves shooting RAW, you can't beat the Whi-Bal cards for the way they speed up post processing. I just put it in the scene every 15 minutes, or as lighting changes.
I do NOT use gray cards for exposure, like palm of hand in film days, but for true White-Balance (color of light - blue amber axis) and tinting (green magenta axis).
If you're not shooting RAW, just learn to read histograms vs. what your eye sees for exposure. If you do a custom White-Balance for JPEG, then ANY $5 gray card will do.

One guy's opinion. Hope it helps.

[PhotosGuy]

One guy's opinion. Hope it helps. We always get a lot of opinions on that. Not to confuse you I hope, but I use a white "card". Hang in there. It does get easier!
Gray card: Why your meter may be lying to you! I started out to check one thing & learned about another.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54281
Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=58677
========
Curtis's thread:
How NOT to expose to the right
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=93712
Comparisons of metering modes - an eye opener!
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=86497

[lally0724]

Thanks again for all the responses, I think I'll just go with a standard grey card, and shoot raw, that way I can always adjust things. Thanks again,
Lally

[jimsolt]

Thanks again for all the responses, I think I'll just go with a standard grey card, and shoot raw, that way I can always adjust things. Thanks again,
Lally

Spoken like someone who will some day have a picture on the cover of National Geographic. You have seen that it is not necessary to re-invent the clock to tell what time it is:lol:.

Jim

[Jon]

You have seen that it is not necessary to re-invent the clock to tell what time it is:lol:.

Jim
. . . but it's a lot more interesting and informative . . .

[jimsolt]

. . . but it's a lot more interesting and informative . . .

It is that I'll grant you, but I usually reserve things like that for after I've taken my photos. For instance, setting white balance is a really simple concept. You are telling your camera what the color temperature of the light you are using to illuminate your subject is. That's it . . . neither you nor the camera need be concerned at that point that if you measured the light temperature by another means the calculations involved in determining the color temperature and then telling the camera what it is, would involve a different set of measuring devices, skills, etc.

In fact one might write a Doctoral Thesis about this subject, but one does not need to read or write the thesis to tell the camera what color temperature the light is.

Jim

[Flitt]

I got this gray card today. It's collapsible, and the other side is an all white reflector. http://www.lastolite.com/ezybalance.php#

[Lester Wareham]

Nope. I just use a Kodak 18% grey. There are some old rumours around that digital camera meters are calibrated for 15% grey, but I can't say that that makes any sense whatever. If you want to shoot JPEG warmer, or cooler, than the grey card gives you, just use a different colour temperature, or set the WB shift.

I checked my 20D against a 18% greycard and incident and reflected light meter for both ambient and flash when I first got it and it was spot on in all metering modes.

I do rememeber someone saying that the real world is ment to be 15% rather 18% grey, but to be honest things are so variable does this matter.

With digital I always use the histogram to fine tune exposure, I only use a card for a colour reference if there are lots of stong colour in the frame. I always found an incident light meter more usful that they grey card for film anyway.