ExpoDisc? Used one or heard anything?

Hi, I'm debating getting an ExpoDisk to use to set my white balance. Has anyone here heard of them? Used one? Are they worth the money? Is there a generic version that works as well? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Federkeil wrote in post #3275675
Hi, I'm debating getting an ExpoDisk to use to set my white balance. Has anyone here heard of them? Used one? Are they worth the money? Is there a generic version that works as well? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I have the 77mm Expodisc, and it works great. I'm not disappointed in it at all.

If you do shooting under any lighting that's a pain to balance manually (say like at an arena), you'll love it. If you're primarily shooting in sunlight... you probably can live without it.

Here's a quickie set of comparison shots for you. First, my XTi's automatic white balance, lighting is an average (non compact-flourescent) light bulb:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif'

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif'

i have one and i love it. in fact, i love it so much that i ordered a second in a bigger size to fit my 77mm filter on my soon to arrive 24-70mm. always go with the size that matches your lens that has the biggest filter size. that way you can use one expodisc on all of your lenses by just holding it in front of your smaller lenses.

I use mine extensively at night while shooting at race tracks. There can be many sources of light on that track that can make WB difficult. It saves me lots of time by giving me a no-fuss average of all the lighting.

Worth every penny I spent on it.

There's another similar thread that was going on in Wedding Photography that may interest you:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=324082

I've never used one myself although I've seen them demonstrated. IMHO it seems like it is a top notch tool under the right circumstances, but limited in others. It's my understanding that they are most effective when they camera/disc is placed at the SUBJECT position and aimed back at the photographer. Lowbyte, how do you do this at the race track?

Well I usually shoot from one of three fixed posistions around the track. I try to set myself up so I can shoot at a 'hotspot' from the lights on that track in the middle of a turn.

Once in posistion I install the ED, set MF, shoot the hotspot on the track. Set CWB, start panning the karts, and trigger when they fall under the hotspot while I am panning.

For me its the color of the coverged lights that will change the paint schemes on the cars. So its all about the reflected light my camera gets. It works well for me.

Even if you wanted to have someone run out there with a grey card, the action of all the classes and heats don't allow the time- and the track saftey workers would toss you out of the place on your head for entering the racing surface on the track goes hot.

saperl-
Using an ED that way only makes sense to me if you were using a gel or wanted to key off of one light for your WB. In a studio I could maybe see doing that- but I use a ED b/c it is designed to capture and average the light available for the WB setting.

Very interesting - thanks for the quick response. From what I understand it sounds like you're not quite following the instructions for how to use the ED, but you have figured out a way to get the quality results that give you properly white balanced shots. The end result is all that matters.

Most of my work is weddings. I'd have to stand at the bride's position, dismount my flash from the external camera bracket, and have somebody several feet away manually flash the strobe back at the camera lens/ED. I work alone and this would not be practical. So far I've had excellent results with the 20" collapsible Lastolite disk.

Lowbyte wrote in post #3277553
Well I usually shoot from one of three fixed posistions around the track. I try to set myself up so I can shoot at a 'hotspot' from the lights on that track in the middle of a turn.

Once in posistion I install the ED, set MF, shoot the hotspot on the track. Set CWB, start panning the karts, and trigger when they fall under the hotspot while I am panning...............

"sapearl" - if you're shooting weddings you may find a Whibal more usefull. I have both the ED and Whibal and use both depending on the situation. I find the Whibal better for weddings since you can shoot white-balancing shots on the fly. The Whibal also provides a reference point showing where the shot was taken - something you can't do with the ED. In the last wedding I shot, I arrived at the church early and took Whibal shots with and without flash at various locations throughout the church where I knew pictures would be taken. Later in post-processing, all I had to do was find the appropriate Whibal shot and click to white-balance - worked like a charm.

I use both a whibal and a Expodisc. Of the two, the expodis is much easier if outdoors, the whibal easier indoors. Expodisc - I have nothing but good to say about it. Works very well and is the quickest to use. If you use it properly, you really eliminate a lot of the WB adjustment in post.

I'm all for avoiding as much post processing as I can.

J