ALPHSTER

Cool.

ALPHSTER

I'm in, received it today!

guia x

Bringing this thread back from the dead. lol...

I just stumbled into this thread searching for topics regarding monitor calibration. I remember reading it before but I didn't have a DSLR back then so never really looked into. Well, now I'm on the verge of buying but it seems like they have a new one now. Could someone with the old one give me an opinion as to how this new one compares to the old one? It's probably hard to come to a solid conclusion without having both. Does anyone have both? I guess what I'm saying is if you had a choice, which one would you prefer. The single card or the three card. I'm kinda undecided. I think I have a chance to get either one because when I added it to the cart, they have other products that they suggest and the older three card one is one of them. I figured I should to get someone's opinion from here first before jumping the gun.

Dan Martin

Since I wrote that little review, I have to admit I haven't been using the whibal much. It's great when I'm shooting something where color accuracy is critical, but for everyday shooting, it's just not that practical. If you shoot raw, you can adjust the white balance to taste in post. Don't get me wrong, it works great, but I just don't use it on my casual shooting days.

I've been hearing great things about the Expodisc (http://www.expodisc.com/index.php) but I have yet to try one. They're considerably more expensive than the whibal, but they're much better for setting a custom in-camera white balance. I saw one at the toronto photography show on the weekend and it looked pretty slick.

guia x

Thanks for the update. I can see why someone with your experience would not need it for everyday shooting. I think it would drastically help me out during pp since I still have to master getting the colors right in photoshop. It would save me so much time. That said, do you have any opinion as to which one you might prefer if you were buying one now? The one card or three card?

As for that Expodisc, it seems pretty good but it seems like so much work and quite expensive if you have different size lens. It would seem like you end up spending more time setting it up. I'll have to watch the demo video and maybe it might be easier that I think. Thanks for the heads up. I'm considering it as well.

Dan Martin

There's really no difference between the one card or three card solutions, other than the one card takes up less space in the bag. Either will work fine.

The Expodisc video looks more confusing than it really is. They show how you can use it as an incident light meter, which you're unlikely going to do unless you're shooting in a studio. More likely, you'll just use it to set a custom white balance.

All you do is hold the Expodisc over the front of your lens, aim at the subject and take a shot. Then you go into the menu and create a custom white balance from that shot. Now every shot you take from that point on will have the correct balance for those lighting conditions.

With a Whibal, you shoot a shot of your whibal in the same light as your subject, then take your real shot. Later, in the raw conversion, you click the white balance tool on the grey card (in your whibal shot) and apply those settings to your real shot. It's a little trickier than the Expodisc.

It's not necessary to buy an expodisc for every lens you own, just get one that will cover your biggest lens. You can just hold it in front of any of your smaller lenses. Still, it is quite expensive compared to the whibal. I'd like to give one a try before I could see if it's worth the money.

Dan Martin

Guia X, I wrote a neat little action to set the white balance accurately, even without the use of a Whibal or Expodisc.

As you might know, you can use the grey eyedropper in the curves tool and click on a grey section of your photo to set the white balance. The only problem with that technique is it's up to you to decide which part of the picture is grey. If you choose a grey that's too cold, then the white balance will be too warm. If you choose a grey that's too warm, then the white balance will be too cold. It's totally arbitrary. To fix the problem, I recorded a little action that makes that selection process much easier and more accurate.

Here's how it works:
- first, it creates a layer filled with 128/128/128 grey (I'm not sure if another grey would be better, but this one seems fine) and sets the blending mode of the grey layer to Difference
- then it creates a threshold adjustment layer set to 5 (seems to be adequate for most shots, but may need to be increased for some)
- finally it creates a curves layer for you to select a patch of black pixels (which are actually middle grey)

Once you have the white balance set, you can delete the "Find Middle Grey" group, leaving just the original image and the curves layer.

I'm sure there are a few optimizations that could be made to this action, so feel free to play with it if you'd like. I've had better results with this technique than I have with my Whibal. In fact, I can use this technique on shots that have the Whibal in the scene and quite often it won't even select the Whibal as being middle grey. This is mostly due to the fact that the Whibal is slightly reflective, which means it can reflect incorrect light values.

If you or anyone else would like a copy of the action, send me an email at danmartin6031 at gmail.com

guia x

Thanks Dan. I'll shoot you an email and give it a try. Never used actions before so you might need to help me out. Also, I'm waiting for my company to get a monitor calibrator and if they don't get it, I will have to get one myself. I would like to calibrate my monitor so I know I'm adjusting to the correct colors I want. I read you have a Spyder2. How is that? Is there a big difference between the regular one and the pro? Are there other ones I should consider first or is the Spyder the best?

Dan Martin

Action sent.
Here's a link on how you can load it into photoshop: http://www.atncentral.com/Pages/FAQ.htm

It's a really good idea to get a monitor calibrator. If you've ever had trouble matching your prints to the screen, then you know you've got color management issues.

The Spyder 2 works great for basic needs. I have the Spyder 2 Plus and it has served me well. I'm likely going to upgrade to an Xrite system that will let me create custom printer profiles, so if you're interested in a used Spyder 2 Plus, I'll give you a good price.

guia x

I received them Dan. Thank you. I'll give it a try the moment I have some free time to process some of my recent pictures.

So will the Spyder 2 be enough to get the colors right when I display my pictures on the screen and when I print or do I need something else to calibrate my printer? I think my company is getting something to calibrate both but if they don't end up getting it, I'll have to get my own. I don't want to spend too much but I want to get the correct colors I want when I edit my pictures and when I print them out. PM me how much you are selling the Spyder and I might get it from you if my company doesn't dish out for the software.

Dan Martin

Most printers come with reasonably good profiles from the factory if you use the factory inks and papers. The main trick is to just calibrate your monitor. Most people have their monitors set too cool so when they print, their printed images seem to have a yellow or orange cast. Really, the printed image is correct, it's just the monitor that was wrong.

The Spyder 2 does provide a good calibration and it's easy to use. The easy to use part is key for beginners because color management can be a tricky concept to grasp.

CCColtsicehockey

where can I get this anymore. I can only find the one that comes with the grey card and not all 4 colors.

guia x

It's still the same but it's just put into one card instead of having 3 that you have to flip open everytime. They have a sticker for the white and black over the grey card instead of having a separate card for them.

CCColtsicehockey

darn I actually wanted the 3 seperate ones.

jupitersolo

I purchased one of these last night, it's already in the mail.

When I to the camera store today (purchased a polarizer filter) I was talking to the guy about it. And we started talking about the Expodisc, he said he read somewhere that a Pringles pop-top lid will do the same thing as the Expodisc. But since this Pringles have made their lids clear.

saiko_cl_duck

well, they no longer make the G5, so I ordered the G6. I'll see how it works

Wisc Badger

nice... i have a huge one that I get from my work for free... they are nice though

Wisc Badger

nice... i have a huge one that I get from my work for free... these are nice though... compact