Perfect White Balance?
 

Hi there folks - what do you think of this gadget? Has anyone heard of it before?

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomene...ns-cap?src=DPS

Brilliant idea Andy thanks for the link, shame its so expensive though otherwise I would get one straight away its a great idea. I would think the high cost is more than likely is in the lens cap itself as they are not cheap to replace.

You have spoilt me now I can see I will be playing with bits of plastic to try to come up with something similar:D.

Stop it!....Behave yourself christine, and leave the tupperware alone!:D :p

You know full well Jacky and I are ebay surfers......So naturally, our far eastern friends have a cheaper alternative;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/67mm-White-Bal...1%7C240%3A1318


We've bought small items before from this seller. Factoring in about 2 weeks for delivery, but prices are good (available in all sorts of sizes)

Not sure if they still do them, but a few years ago a company called Omni (same folks who do the flash diffusers) were selling them here in the UK. Not sure if this helps, if people don't want to buy from abroad?

Ten minutes later and I have cut the bottom of a white milk bottle and placed it over the front of the lens, took a photo and made it into a custom white balance. It works.:D

Interesting Joe and Christine - but look at the difference of white area in both devices, Does anyone know if you need a large white area or will a small one do as in the lens cap?

Yes, I take your point Andy.
Looking through some more, the common consensous seems to be they recommend setting the white balance in 'tele-mode'.....I can see they maybe might have more use for WB readings for tele lenses, where the WB sensor on the prism might not be as accurate?
Your find has a more substantial invercone design, like the ones used on flash/light meters.

Will there be a whole host of WPF members now drilling out a hole in their lens caps for the tupperware to be stuck over?.......on your marks....... get set....... lol

I think if you use a lens cap with a small hole then it would have to be domed for maximum light. The flat one will work just as good because it covers the whole front lens element.

I would be tempted to save the money and make one at home - like Christine. Just make sure a few tests are done get the proper setting. All that has to be done is - to make sure the white is as pure a white as possible - like bond paper white.

Alternatively shoot in RAW and correct as necessary?

I think Expodisc were one of the first to supply a white balance aid.

http://www.expodisc.com/

Yes, but tiresome when you have 100 great images all with slightly different white balances. A white balance aid would help keep things consistent.

I don't often have a 100 great images! :D

always better to try get the WB right or near as can at capture. Correcting later can really screw up things like noise and exposure which is even more tricky to fix.
You have 2000 images to sift through after a game, you'll not want to get bogged down spending an age working out whether an image might look good once you spent 30 minutes Pshop work on it!.......maybe after all the playing you might just make the following weekend game?!

I have never read anywhere that if you shoot in RAW that altering the white balance will affect the picture quality. Anyway, if I shot a match then I would look at the photos more for content than absolutely accurate white balance. On a typical grey overcast day the setting cloudy will not be a million miles out! The exact colour balance will shift as the full 90 minutes progresses anyway, possibly from moment to moment, there is no way that you could keep checking the W/B. The goal would happen at the wrong moment and you would miss it! Surely the use of the expo disc or similar is for the considered shot in tricky lighting condition, say mixed natural/artificial lighting like an interior lit by tungsten or strip lighting and daylight. That could be very useful to give a correct reading but for maximum quality you would still shoot in RAW and maybe change the W/B off the correct setting to give the atmosphere you want. Don't get me wrong, I agree that in general terms it is better to get things right in camera but the expo disc is only a guide and starting point and not necessarily a good idea for fast moving action, in shade one second bright sunshine the next!

You're making big assumptions that we're outside, and that we're shooting a 90minute match (football?)!:confused:
so,
Manually set your white balance to sunny conditions. Take a picture under household bulb light. 'correct' that white balance.
Now take the same picture with a correct WB setting in camera at the time of shooting....
so tell me you're getting exactly the same quality in both shots, and you didn't need to crank up the exposure slider in P'shop whilst correcting your first shot?

come off it Mike...lol.......this is a wind up just for the sake of it, isn't it?! ;):D

S'funny, I thought your post was just a wind up too! :D Quite a few assumptions were made by you too which is why I LOL too when I read your post. :)