Gray Card Vs Color Checker Passport

I am an enthusiast and new to portrait photography. I have been using my dslr on auto white balance and do not yet have a monitor but anticipate purchasing a NEC Pa series monitor in the future.

Is the x-rite color checker gray scale card fine for taking natural light and strobe portraits both indoors and outdoors or would the x-rite color checker passport be more useful as I hopefully grow more comfortable in photographing people. Any better product possibilities are welcome as well.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …cker_Gray_Scale​_Card.html

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …olorChecker_Pas​sport.html

for a few extra dollars the passport offers you a lot more value and is the preferred choice here

Whibal are a great option as well (for WB only)

Photovision target card. set exposure of key light with histogram, set wb after finding exposure.
Done in about 2 min or less. I use the 6 inch all the time.

The Passport is the better choice if you use LR. If you don't, the original Macbeth card is better.

Agree on the passport also. And you should love the NEC when you get it, loving mine.

I have purchased Lightroom 5 but have not installed it yet.

How close should you be when you take your test shot since the color squares of the colorchecker passport seem small? Just whatever your normal shot would be or in closer?

I just put in the frame of the shot for test and then remove. You can zoom in on if you need too

silvermesa1 wrote in post #17117588
How close should you be when you take your test shot since the color squares of the colorchecker passport seem small? Just whatever your normal shot would be or in closer?

The portrait photography videos featuring the colorchecker passport all show the basis shot being taken with the colorchecker being put against the model's cheek. Check out Adorama's youtube video for the Passport for details.

If your only concern is white balance, any reputable source for a neutral grey card is fine.

The benefit with the color checker is that it provides many more point to check. Most beneficial to me is the full range of grey (6 points) from black to white. When color correctness is critical, I check each of those points against what I feel should be the correct brightness value and color balance.

I also visually check to see how the RGB CMYK values look on the color checker. If something seems off I will read and correct the number values. I do all of this manually to my specifications and do not use the included software, so I think that whether you use the CC with Lightroom or not is irrelevant, it is still a great tool.

As an aside, unless you are doing product photography that requires "perfect" color, do not fall into the trap of making an image color correct according to grey/white balance. Color correct is not always the correct color.