Gray Card or White Card?

[TCav]

It doesn't really matter, but a white card is harder to keep white than a gray card is to keep gray. And, in some circumstances, anything (i.e.: a white sheet of paper) is likely to be better than AUTO WB, but it won't be as good as a white card or gray card.

I use an 18% gray lens cleaning cloth. It's easier to store, and it does double duty.

[imut]

18% gray lens cleaning cloth

Any gray cloth can't be 18%? How can you be sure it is 18% if it doesn't write over it? Because i have one gray microfiber glass cleaning cloth and i had good results with it but i am not sure if it is 18% or not.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by imut

Any gray cloth can't be 18%? How can you be sure it is 18% if it doesn't write over it? Because i have one gray microfiber glass cleaning cloth and i had good results with it but i am not sure if it is 18% or not.

How can you be sure that an 18% Gray Card is actually 18% gray? How can you be sure that a White Card is actually white? The international standard for white is magnesium oxide. Do you carry some of that around in your camera bag?

Try http://www.adorama.com/CPCEG.html or http://www.adorama.com/CPMFCGXL.html

If the manufacturer says it's 18% gray, chances are it's close. And even if it's not, what's important is that it's a consistant color over its entire surface and it doesn't have a color tint, not that it's actually 18.000% gray.

[imut]

• UPS Worldwide Express $57.55
• FedEx International Economy $75.55
• FedEx International Priority $85.55

These are the shipping costs of that little 18% gray cleaning cloth. What you suggest me to use instead of gray card? and nothing about gray card in local stores even sellers don't know about gray card. One of good member shoturtle i guess said i can use hand for exposure and white printer paper for custom wb. I think i really need to listen him

[TCav]

Those will work, though I'd just use autoexposure instead of using the palm of my hand for setting manual exposure.

[shoturtle]

With those prices, I would go with a nice piece of white printer papaer for WB, and the palm of my had with the 1 f stop correct down to lock exposure.

Originally Posted by imut

• UPS Worldwide Express $57.55
• FedEx International Economy $75.55
• FedEx International Priority $85.55

These are the shipping costs of that little 18% gray cleaning cloth. What you suggest me to use instead of gray card? and nothing about gray card in local stores even sellers don't know about gray card. One of good member shoturtle i guess said i can use hand for exposure and white printer paper for custom wb. I think i really need to listen him

[JimC]

Some cameras can be sensitive to light reflecting from some papers if they're too reflective (resulting in "hot spots" that are too bright to be read accurately). Also, some papers are whiter than others, impacting the lighting temperature a camera is reading if the paper is too warm (resulting in "cooler" results than sometimes desired)

So, I'd use premium paper with lower reflective qualities to set it with, making sure the paper is thick enough to reduce any background colors from showing through.

For example, the last time I set a custom white balance, I used Staples "Photo Supreme" Double Sided Matte Paper. It's a higher quality paper compared to the typical inkjet paper used for documents; as it's specifically designed to produce higher quality photo prints, and the Matte surface helps to reduce any potential for light reflections causing "hot spots" which can impact your results when measuring lighting temperature to set a custom white balance.

[imut]

among white cards, white balance lens caps, expodisc, custom lids like pringles and other funny things the double layer matte photo paper i heard it from here and looks reasonable to me. What about exposure JimC?

Have you used glossy photo card? Is there huge difference between it and matte one?

[griffina6]

Originally Posted by imut

• UPS Worldwide Express $57.55
• FedEx International Economy $75.55
• FedEx International Priority $85.55

Wow! That's incredible cost to ship a little piece of cloth. In the USA, our shipping rates are much better than that. Here is an example where I got three items including a Gray Card from B&H and the shipping was only $9.40!

As far as the Gray card goes - Sometimes it seems to work great but often in the orange colored dim little gyms it is hit or miss even using a slower shutter speed to set the custom WB. However, I do feel silly taking pictures of it while people are starring and thinking I am some sort of a nut.

Andy

[JimC]

Originally Posted by imut

among white cards, white balance lens caps, expodisc, custom lids like pringles and other funny things the double layer matte photo paper i heard it from here and looks reasonable to me. What about exposure JimC?

For exposure, I'd use the camera's metering, taking advantage of exposure compensation if needed (just use playback with histograms to get a better feel for your exposure settings and adjust from there).

Have you used glossy photo card? Is there huge difference between it and matte one?

I wouldn't try that, since I've already seen issues with plain paper ("hot spots" that are brighter than average when using more reflective subjects for setting white balance can negatively impact your settings). Use a subject type that's less reflective for more consistent results.