18% grey card: I have a d3000. Just bought a grey card and was wondering how to use it .. Do you put it on preset, snap pic then leave it on preset or turn it to the white balance for...

cameracrazy Loc: Brewton, Al

I have a d3000. Just bought a grey card and was wondering how to use it .. Do you put it on preset, snap pic then leave it on preset or turn it to the white balance for the enviroment that you will be taking the pic

Goldwinger Loc: Boynton Beach Florida

cameracrazy wrote:

I have a d3000. Just bought a grey card and was wondering how to use it .. Do you put it on preset, snap pic then leave it on preset or turn it to the white balance for the enviroment that you will be taking the pic

try to youtube it , there are hundreds if not tens of videos on how and when to use the gray card

cameracrazy Loc: Brewton, Al

thanks will see if i can figure it out

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Your camera meter is set to meter an 'average' scene which has a mixture of brightness and darkness which equates to 18% grey. If your scene is not average, the meter can be fooled and give you under or over exposure. In such a scenario, you simply put the grey card in the same light as on the subject and meter the card. Then adjust your aperture and shutter speed to match the reading. You will have to be in manual mode to do that and for the settings not to change. Or in auto mode that can lock that meter reading. Shoot and check your image or histogram that the bright and dark areas are within the graph. If not, adjust your settings to suit or edit in a photoeditor later.

cameracrazy Loc: Brewton, Al

Thanks for your reply. I will have to see if I can get it worked out.

portcragin Loc: Kirkland, WA

The human eye can discern approximately 1000 shades between white light and total black. If you add them all together you get 18% gray. This is many shades more then film, in the good old days, could register. The 18% gray card was used to find middle gray. It is a known reference and could be applied to find middle gray. Today it is helpful when using programs such as Photoshop you can, using the levels command, pick black, white, and middle gray when adjusting for color cast. It is a useful tool when applied.
Hope this helps.

Good shooting

cameracrazy Loc: Brewton, Al

thanks for the info will just have to find time towork on this.

ziggykor Loc: East Texas

If you turn the card over instructions for use are usually included.

rmbanas Loc: Michigan

Set up the card in the light you want, unless your card has a "target" set for manual focus. Set your camera to white balance, with the card filling the entire frame snap a shot.
It will not take a photo, so you will not see anything on your LCD, it should just blink "good or No good".
If you move into a different light condition you need to reset the white balance.

william48 Loc: New Philadelphia,Ohio

rmbanas wrote:

Set up the card in the light you want, unless your card has a "target" set for manual focus. Set your camera to white balance, with the card filling the entire frame snap a shot.
It will not take a photo, so you will not see anything on your LCD, it should just blink "good or No good".
If you move into a different light condition you need to reset the white balance.

Are these instructions for a Nikon or Canon?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

william48 wrote:

rmbanas wrote:

Set up the card in the light you want, unless your card has a "target" set for manual focus. Set your camera to white balance, with the card filling the entire frame snap a shot.
It will not take a photo, so you will not see anything on your LCD, it should just blink "good or No good".
If you move into a different light condition you need to reset the white balance.

Are these instructions for a Nikon or Canon?

Evidently it's for the Nikon D3000. The D200, 300, 7000 & 700 work in a slightly different way.

cameracrazy Loc: Brewton, Al

thanks i am trying to figure it out. I am more of a show me in person. Not real good at figuring thhings out. It takes me a while but I will get it one day. Thanks for the help.

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

I should have made clear that there are 2 uses of the grey card. One is to set the correct exposure settings on the camera for a particular scene that have tricky lighting. This has been the traditional use of the grey card in the film days. My post above is for this use.
The other use in this digital age now is to get the white balance correct when you are photoediting. I am not particularly familiar with using it this way but there are lots of youtube videos on it.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

And if you're 1/3 f-stop picky, here's an interesting article on 18% vs 12% gray.

http://www.bythom.com/graycards.htm

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

OddJobber wrote:

And if you're 1/3 f-stop picky, here's an interesting article on 18% vs 12% gray.

http://www.bythom.com/graycards.htm

Thank you oddjobber. That is illuminating. It's interesting as a photographic knowledge item and something to argue about over the beers on a Sunday afternoon in a pub. But as you've said, one needs to be picky to lose any sleep over it. I leave it to my camera's meter to do it's job and correct any discrepancies in photoshop as I have to do other editing to it. And most times I'm shooting RAW for HDR work, so 1/3 stop doesn't matter at all.