Colorchecker passport and WB

I can't find this answer anywhere and x-rite still hasn't replied to my email.

Im thinking about getting a colorchecker passport, however I already have a photovision WB calibrating tool.

So my questions is, can I color correct by doing a custom WB only or is it a good idea to do a color correction with the colorchecker passport in addition to the custom WB?

thanks
R.

All you have to do is shoot the x-right color panel with a good exposure to do a profile. You can then use the x-right WB spots to do a WB. I also shoot a WhiBal card because I find it to work the best for me.

so you do both?

R.

rickp1 wrote in post #12184950
so you do both?

R.

The X-rite passport software does not need a custom WB to do a profile only a good exposure.

To the OP, most people seem to be happy with a "regular" WB "target" as needed, so your Photovision could be sufficients I've never used the Colorchecker stuff -- you can do things like create color profiles for use in an app like Lightroom or Photoshop and peple have been happy with the results, but people who use it will have to chime in as to specifically how advantageous it is over using a "normal" White Balance tool, and you'll have to decide whether it's worth it to you.

When I have a people shot, I need that "passport" in the series...I'm naturally terrible with skin tones.

After using my CCP, I haven't used my WhiBal cards.
Sounds like a test is needed now.
I will try to compare the CCP and the WhiBal cards this weekend.

I shoot mostly nature, wildlife and landscapes, and I use the Colorchecker Passport for camera profiles for different lighting conditions and that seems to work fine. I can do my WB from the passport and it works okay for me, given what I tend to photograph. I will often shoot an image of the passport at the beginning of each day when I am going out for a days shooting, more for quality control and to check on the "current" camera profile, than anything else.

I don't do people, so I can't say how well it works, but I know of at least one professional who uses it in all his portrait work. My 0.02¢ worth.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

OK, so the OP has a WB target -- how much will it gain to buy a "passport" as opposed to using the WB target in the "normal" way?

tonylong wrote in post #12186915
OK, so the OP has a WB target -- how much will it gain to buy a "passport" as opposed to using the WB target in the "normal" way?

The CCP allows you to warm or cool an image by preset increments. I've found this to be quite handy.

Speaking strictly personally, I have never been that concerned with such a high level of color accuracy. My feeling is, "Heck, I'm gonna' change it anyways." I understand why other's might want accuracy, but for me a reasonable starting point and some time at the keyboard are all I ask.

I have to agree with that comment, but when I do portraits with lights, I have custom white balance settings that I made using a Lastolight grey flex card and have these custom settings for my Mola beauty dishes, Octabank and SoftlighterII with 580ExII. I have not however liked using the grey card outdoors and use AWB in the MKIII instead.

I went down the path of the XRite and WhiBal card because of difficulty I was having getting the leaves and stems of California Poppies and some of the Lavenders to reproduce correctly. Trying to get the blue/green color was a real pain. With that said, it still was not a panacea.

As stated above, they put me at a great starting point.

AWB is hit or miss, sometimes the hit is by far the best, other times it's awful. I shoot daylight WB everywhere, then futz in PP.

The XRite Passport card is really nice with its warming/cooling WB samples. My color theory is at nursery school level, so I need all the crutches I can get.

One thing to start is to understand is that White Balance and accurate color reproduction are two different animals.
For example, if you put a WhiBal card under a CFL source, you can use auto WB setting in camera or in post processing to get a neutral gray rendition to the card...correct White Balance. But if you have a photo of the ColorChecker in the same shot, you might still notice that some of the color patches are not truly accurate in rendition, due to gaps in the color spectrum emitted by the CFL.

This isn't a really tightly controlled example, but it does illustrate the principle in the above paragraph.

First Daylight (cloudy day) balanced ...