BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I use Kelvin and what I do is estimate the temperature using a cheat sheet taken from a Nikon manual's White Balance pages. Then I take an image of something red*, if the LCD color matches the object then the balance is good; some fine tuning may be needed.

A gym might be a bit of work as difference fluorescents have different Kelvins - Nikon lists 5 different types with values ranging from 2700 up to 5000.

*Read a long time ago that red and purple are the hardest colors for a digital to reproduce, figured that if I had the Kelvin correct then the camera should give a reasonably good red reproduction. I use red rather than purple as red is much easier to find in the environment, or carry a red card. So far, my method has worked well for me, a JPG shooter.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Here is an android app. It costs $.99

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cassiopeia.camera&hl=en_US

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

Is it better to use a grey card or white card for custom white balance. I took photos of teeth before I retired from dentistry and from different experts heard different things. Thanks

User ID

Most cameras simplify setting a Custom White Balance.
You merely aim the camera at a white or neutral target
and then just press a button. The camera's custom WB
is then automatically set for proper WB. This is better
than a color temp meter cuz it sets not only the Kelvin
temp [aka the amber/blue balance] buy also the green/
magenta balance. That balance is stored for all future
use, as your "Custom WB", until you change it by using
the same procedure in a different environment.

twowindsbear

Consider posting some photos that illustrate the problems you're having with the gymnasiums' lighting that you hope to resolve by being able to, as you say, 'read the Kelvin (for lack of a better understanding) scale of the available light source.' There are 5 pages of WAGs offering suggestions that may or may not resolve your problem.

Raybo Loc: George Town, Grand Cayman

Anecdote from an idiot...

About 6 months ago, just for fun, I bought a Yongnuo 50mm/2.0. Stupid cheap. Experimental. Took it out of the box and put it on the camera... Don't remember which camera Canon T6 or 6DII. Had an ugly blue tint to it. Really bad.

I had bought one of these a bit before that.

https://www.amazon.com/Hand-held-Photography-Consistent-Accurate-Diameter/dp/B005MWKKPG

Took a shot with it, applied it as a custom white balance, and I was quite surprised that it corrected the nasty blue tint pretty well.

Now here's where the idiot comes in...turns out, there was a small piece of translucent protective film on the camera side of the lens that i hadn't looked closely enough to notice...or maybe I looked at it without my glasses...or maybe I didn't even look at it at all...!!!

In the end, pulled it off and the lens actually isn't all that bad.

But moral of the story is this cheap little toy corrected the WB. You just put it in front of the lense, point the camera in the direction of what you're shooting and then set a custom white balance using that shot.

I usually just use either auto, daylight or cloudy if it's "obvious" what is appropriate, but if I'm in a situation where things are really funky, I'll pull this out and set a custom balance.

YMMV....

All the best

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Just get a white balance reference. B&H and Adorama have dozens of options.

The ultimate is the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. It works with post-processing software to create a profile that provides very accurate color.

I use and like the PhotoVision One Shot Digital Calibration Target, the ExpoDisc, and the Delta-1 18% Gray Card. Each is useful under different circumstances.

Unfortunately, the lights in most school gyms are not very color-accurate. Mercury vapor, sodium vapor, fluorescent, and LED are all “discontinuous spectrum” light sources. They do not produce all colors, as do incandescents and the sun.

You’re not likely to achieve perfect color balance, but a custom (manual or preset) white balance usually can yield more pleasing color than Auto White Balance or “dial-a-Kelvin” settings.

Most of these tools can be used to set exposure as well.