Dan Martin

...the WhiBal!


Site: http://www.whibal.com/products/whibal/index.html

After reading tons of glowing reviews on this gizmo, I had to get one. I ordered last Wednesday and it arrived today, which is excellent considering it had to cross the border.

Basically it's a pocket gray card used to ensure perfect white balance. Of course I had to test it as soon as I got it, so I just took it out of the envelope, threw it on my table with all my other mail and crap, and took a shot.

Here's the image straight out of the camera using auto white balance:


Here's the image after using the white balance tool in Adobe Camera Raw and clicking on the WhiBal:


No other adjustments of any kind were made to either shot. This is simply the result of a proper white balance. I'm shocked at how easy it was to use, and I know it's going to save me a ton of time in post processing. Best $39 I've ever spent on this hobby.

If you want to see how it works, there's a good video on the WhiBal website that explains it thoroughly.

Two thumbs up for the WhiBal!

Street Spirit

And who the heck plays Yahtzee, anyway?!?!













J/K....I can see the difference in balance between the two pics for sure!! Great find!! Might just have to order me one up in the near future!

And don't think I didn't catch your original double-post of this thread, Mister Mega-Mod!

Dan Martin

Now all you need is a 5D and you'll be good to go.

Street Spirit

Post Hanukkah/Christmas present, perhaps??!
(Flowers in final smiley are representative of the Canon 5D. Thank you)

rise

can we see some more pics please ?

the envelope looks a little too bright or something...

Dan Martin

I didn't adjust exposure, this was just a white balance test. Here's another test for you to consider:

(click the images for un-resized 6.3mp versions)

Before:


After:



Color samples from above shots:


Look how much more neutral the RGB values are on the right white sample. They're within 2 whereas the original sample is within 75. That's a huge improvement!

Handruin

Two questions:

1.) Are any of the other packages they offer worth the money in your opinion? For $39 I've also been considering that nice gizmo. I just learned about it 2 days ago and now to see your examples, helps to confim my need for one.

2.) Do you prefer Adobe's Camera Raw over Canon's DPP (assuming you have a Canon because of the 17-40mm on the table)?

3.) ok I know I said two, but which camera body are you using?

Dan Martin

The Pocket WhiBal is all you need. They also sell various clips and attachment accessories, none of which I need. I'm just keeping it in my bag or pocket.

Although it's not directly related to the WhiBal, another great tool to have is a monitor calibrator. It's hard to judge white balance if your monitor isn't displaying the right color pallet. I have the PANTONE Colorvision Spyder Pro 2 and it has completely transformed the way I view and print my photos. It's so nice to have a print that actually matches what you see on the screen. Seems like a simple request, but print samples and screen proofs are often miles apart.

I use ACR, never liked DPP. Phase One's Capture One is also very good if you're looking for an alternative to ACR. It usually out-resolves ACR for fine details.


It's a Rebel (300D) with the hacked firmware. I've been very happy with it, but I've been socking money away to grab the 30D when it's available.

Sarlacc

Dan.......you spent $39 bucks on a mini white balance card?

They have those for the feature film world...cause we shoot grey cards and stuff...and they are pocket size and WAAAAAY cheaper then that.

Billiam

I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while but I just can't bring myself to spend the money on it. I usually end up choosing the color balance by eye anyway when I convery my raw files. I suppose it may still be a time saver at getting me close to "reality" and then making the aesthetic adjustments from there.

In the product's defense, it's made out of a material like Corian that is the exact same color entirely through the whole card. You don't have to worry if it gets scractched or scraped.

Dan Martin

Exactly.

This is going to live in my bag so I wanted something that isn't going to get damaged. I've also heard that you can get a similar grey material at home depot, but these cards have been measured to ensure that they're actually the color they're supposed to be. The guys at WhiBal throw out quite a few cards even within the same sheet of material because they don't meet the tight specs.

I'm sure you could do it for less, but really, $39 isn't a ton of money and you know it'll work.

wstevens

They used to sell these at McMaster Carr (www.mcmaster.com) for $5.99. At least it was a similar product.

Dan Martin

I seached for "white card", "grey card", "white balance", "color calibration", and gave up. I don't think they sell it now.

Even if they did, I'd still have a hard time trusting photography equipment that came from a store that sells drill bits and circuit breakers.

wstevens

Doesn't look like they have it anymore. They used to have a lot more laboratory equipment, including photo stuff.

McMaster is great - buy it one day, it always arrives the next.

Billiam

Not to mention a catalog that you can use as a bludgeoning weapon.

wipe0ut

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&sku=300868

this one is cheap $4.95

Dan Martin

Nice find. I'm sure that would work pretty well.

Now that I've had a couple days to play with the WhiBal, I find myself getting a lot of use out of the white and black point cards to give an even more accurate white balance. I use the light grey card to get in ballpark, then fine tune it with the black and white selectors. Sometimes it works better just to start with the white card.

Either way, it's nice to have 4 options for your white balancing needs.

Billiam

Dan, did you use the WhiBal when processing any of the Algonquin pics you posted? You have really nice white snow in most of them so I was just curious if that was a result of using the WhiBal, deliberate over exposing, or a combination of both.

Dan Martin

No I hadn't received it yet, but I really wish I had it.

As you know, snow is very tricky to expose and balance correctly. I shot nearly everything 1 stop over which turned out to be just about right. Most shots needed only a little adjustment of exposure in post processing.

I shoot everything in RAW so white balance can be easily corrected during conversion. Actually, the camera did an excellent job guessing the white balance, but I still used the white balance eye dropper on the brightest white spot in the photo. Usually that worked, but if it didn't, the Curves tool brought everything in line.

The WhiBal would have saved me a ton of time in post processing. A single click would get the white balance right on the money. I won't leave home without it now.

Handruin

I finally placed my order for one of these this morning. I was surprised to see a confirmation that it actually shipped today also. I can't wait to get it and take it for a spin.

Dan Martin

The delivery of mine was very fast. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Handruin

Mine came fast too. Thanks for posting examples Dan, now I own this great gizmo! It was worth the $39 indeed.

Auto White Balance from camera:


After using WhiBal Card:

Dan Martin

Cool!

Glad you like it!

Shiffy

pretty sweet gizmo!

ALPHSTER

Read this tread, did a little research and did a test with an old 8X10 gray card,
Photoshop CS and my recently purchased D70s (replaces N90s and Coolpix 950) then I ordered the Whibal Friday!

Good stuff, nice find Dan.

Sarlacc

You're really tempting me to spend the $40 bucks i was criticizing earlier.

Mizouse

wait so when you take a picture you're gonna have to have this somewhere inside the picture? do you just crop it out?

ALPHSTER

Yes, you take a picture with it in the frame either before or after you take photos. Then you continue to take photos like you always do. It' a reference tool so you can fix or fine tune the white balance later in your editing program.

If lighting conditions change you have to re-reference with the Whibal.

It will save time in the editing department!

Dan Martin

All you have to do is take a shot with the whibal close to your subject or at least in the same light, then take another shot without the whibal. When you convert from RAW, do the shot with the whibal first, then on your following conversions, you can just use the same white balance as the whibal shot.

Take a couple minutes and watch the "using whibal" vid: http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_Tu...Bal/index.html

BadBadNeil

I think Kodak is coming out with something this month too for like $14 that is a 168 neutral grey card package. I saw it on BH a little while back and was going to get it but it was preorder only at the time. Either way I am going to get one they are really needed for indoors work, I like how compact this one one is though.

Sarlacc

Wait..so you shoot the whibal and then use the same settings???

I'll check the video later.

Why don't you just put the whibal in front of the lens and White Balance the camera to it???
Thats what I thought you were supposed to do.

Billiam

*COUGH* Shoot RAW *COUGH*

Seriously though, my understanding is that if you shoot jpeg, then you indeed white balance the camera to the whibal.

Sarlacc

RAW has no whitebalance?

Serisouly, after my London trip...I'm kinda wishing I had gone RAW...

I will start...just means 1gb wont hold as much and now I have to put nikons software on my computer to even make use of it sigh

Sarlacc

Actually...i think Iphoto supports RAW now...nevermind

Billiam

Since RAW is quite literally is the raw data from the sensor, the only thing that's actually captured is the relative color relationships between the pixels.

Pixel A is X amount greener than pixel B
Pixel B is Y amount redder than pixel C
and so forth...

Nothing in a RAW capture defines the starting, middle, and ending points (black, neutral gray, & white).

Handruin

I didn't want to convert to RAW when I first started, but I eventually did and now it's the norm. I understand how you feel about the size it consumes, but if you're on long trips and need more space, consider something like this:

Smartdisk FotoChute 20GB Digital Image Storage Device.

I haven't bought one yet, but I plan to buy one (or one like it) for my trip to Arizona in the spring. I have 2x 2GB CF, but I don't think it will be enough. That'll give me about 1000 pictures, which may seem like a lot, but I tend to take a ton to hopefully increase me "keep" percentage.

ALPHSTER

Dan, so you have to take a shot with the Whibal in between every shot?

In the video he says it doesn’t matter if you take the reference shot before, in between or after as long as you get one with the Whibal near the subject or in the same light. His friend the wedding photographer took his shot with the Whibal in the middle of his shoot for the day and everything worked out.

The reason I’m asking is what if you take multiple shot of the same subject?

BadBadNeil

I believe what you do is when you white balance you save the setting in your computer so you reference it when shooting in similar lighting conditions. You can save multiple white balances as well...

Dan Martin

You just have to shoot the whibal whenever the lighting changes. If you were shooting portraits in a studio with controlled lighting, you could shoot only one whibal shot for the whole day and you'd be good. Other conditions are more susceptible to white balance change so you'd need to shoot the whibal more frequently.

A little practice will tell you how often you need to shoot, but you certainly don't need to take one for every shot.

Dan Martin

You don't save them for use at a later date, it's impossible to know what your white balance will be down the road. You just need the white balance info for the batch of photos you shot in that location.

If you're using Photoshop, this is how the workflow goes:
1) shoot a whibal shot
2) take as many pictures as you'd like while the lighting is the same
3) load photoshop
4) go to file browser
5) load the whibal shot and take a white balance reading from the card
6) click the little right arrow to the right of the camera settings drop menu
7) select "save settings"
8) close the ACR window for the whibal shot
9) highlight all the pics from step 2 in the file browser
10) right click and select "Apply Camera Raw settings"
11) select the file you saved in step 7
12) enjoy!

Sounds more complicated than it is. It seriously only takes 20 seconds to white balance all your shots with the method above.