cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

You can't adjust properly unless you know what the correct temperature is. That's where the Expodisk is a big help.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I can't recall using mine outside either!

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I'll happily buy it from you for $10, if shipping is included!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You owe it to yourself to try the colorchecker passport -

Workflow is easier and faster with a CCP.

1. Place target in same light as subject
2. Shoot it
3. Continue your shooting until the light changes, repeat 1 and 2 for a second reading.
4. Open Lightroom, use dropper to adjust white balance on a gray tile, export to Xrite ColorChecker to create camera profile - use batch sync to apply profile to all images.

With an Expodisc:

1. Take the disk out, place it on the lens
2. Set camera to create custom white balance
3. Create the custom white balance.
4. Take disk off the lens, continue shooting.

The main difference here is that you have to stop and fiddle with the camera to make a CWB, which I found disruptive to my workflow. Here are the negatives:

1. You are at a wedding with 3-5 or more different lighting scenarios - you'd have to stop and reset for each light - and if you are moving about, that might mean that you have to reset the WB multiple times as you move about. With the CCP you only need to do it once for each lighting condition. You can jump around from one situation to another without having to reset it.

2. You have mixed lighting, as is often the case when doing real estate or architectural subjects, or even outdoor landscapes when you have open shade and direct sunlight in the scene. CCP has a "dual illuminant" mode that corrects for both. This is just not possible with a disk.

3. You shoot with lenses larger than the Expodisc, or a lens that does not accept a filter at all - like a 14mm or 14-24mm Nikkor, or large lenses like 100-300 F4, 200mm F2, and prime telephotos and the popular super zooms. So you are basically limited to lenses that are 82mm or smaller on the filter thread.

4. As I mentioned earlier - you can't easily use the Expodisc across camera bodies.

The CCP works with all cameras and all lenses. And the white balance that the Expodisc addresses is only part of getting correct color.

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

I can see how helpful the Colorchecker would be for a RAW workflow. I'll be starting a thread about when and why I sometimes use RAW+JPEG--does the Colorchecker work well with a JPEG? I've never done much pp with JPEGs, other than cropping.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Looking at your instruction, it does look like a lot of work. In practice it is absolutely NOT! It takes me less than 30 seconds, start to finish. I use the color checker as well for things like studio work and portraits. No where near as fast, but also a good way to do things. For indoor sports action, the ExpoDisk is just plain the fastest, at least for me. Best of luck!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

My biggest issue was trying to use an Expodisc in a venue with multiple lighting conditions and where I was moving between them. What a PITA! It was so much less disruptive with the CCP. Each approach takes about the same amount of time - about 30 secs or less - whether you move the subject's position, take out the Disc and set a white balance in the camera, or you simply shoot the target which of course you have to take out and place in the same light as the subject - I think that's a wash. But when you have to set a CWB each time you move to a location that has different lighting than the previous, that's where it becomes time consuming. Also, I often shoot events with two cameras, and each one has a slightly different color rendition, as do the lenses that I use. Rather than "bake in" a white balance, since I am accustomed to shooting raw anyway, creating and attaching in batch mode the correct color profile is pretty fast and easy. And there is zero chance that I would shoot with the wrong white balance by mistake. This was not the case when shooting with a custom white balance. This is one of the reasons why I prefer the CCP to the Expodisc - it is foolproof. Perfect for fools like myself.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You can get some benefit in a jpeg workflow, but I think you will lose the batch capability that is a big time save when you shoot raw. In addition to the link to Jeff Lazell's video that I posted earlier in this thread you may want to take a look at the user manual.

http://www.xrite.com/-/media/XRite/Files/Manuals_and_UserGuides/C/O/ColorCheckerPassport_User_Manual_EN.pdf

For the record, I have not shot jpeg since 2006 - I found it takes too long.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Kind of on the same subject.
If I apply the CCPassport corrections to my raw files, I wonder if a program like InstantJpegFromRaw would then use that for the adjustments?

...... Probably a wash or even slower.
In ACR I can specify a size anyway.
Fuggeditaboudit...

fstoprookie Loc: Central Valley of California

I have one - Use it indoors for Basketball games. Gym lighting is so damn poor this helps my photography a lot -I paid a lot more than 49 bucks for mine 8 or 9 years ago. Never doubted it was a good tool to use. It is just part of my photographic work flow.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

NOTHING is foolproof, and I can personally prove that! (ROFL) I should point out that I (almost) only shoot raw as well and I do think that both methods have their pluses and minuses. As an old fool myself, ain't never gonna convince me to quit using ExpoDisk for indoor sports. I has helped speed up my pp time and, sometimes, lets me get away with no WB adjustments. And, yes, this whole WB thing is a genuine PITA I could do without. If only the auto systems would work a bit better or people wouldn't use 10 different temp lamps in their venues. Best of luck!

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

That covers about 75% of what I use mine for as well! I always considered them a gimmick, until I actually bought and used one a couple of years ago. I think they work pretty well. Best of luck.

jcboy3

I use the ExpoDisc frequently. It is especially useful when moving between lighting conditions, because you simply shoot the light. What I don't do is custom WB. I just take a shot, much quicker, and use that shot to correct WB in post. But I shoot RAW, so I don't need to get the WB close in camera. Instead, I set the camera to the approximate WB (e.g. tungsten), shoot ExpoDisc images as needed, and adjust WB in post from those images.

forjava Loc: Half Moon Bay, CA

Was reading today and a prominent author described Nikon's PRE, which lets you use a gray card. He spoke of the Expodisk (class of device) and the gray card as if equivalent.

White balance is a path to better images, esp. colors, on the camera back (LCD); I value the camera's feedback.

So many ways to set WB!! Anyway, in the case of Expodisk (sp??) we're talking about direct measurement with a neutral target, set up with the (Nikon) Preset Manual menu. Likewise with a neutral card like that of Whibal.

I have the Whibal card and the Expodisk and already have a representative shot set up and done with Auto WB.
Tomorrow, I'll take three more shots and compare:
-camera Auto WB option
-camera Flash WB option (I have strobes in the studio setup)
-Preset Manual ("custom" WB) with Expodisk
-Preset Manual with Whibal

Then I'll know the answer and move on to see what Adobe does with each, with and without Auto Tone in Lr.

David Busch seems to think Auto WB is good enough almost always and that using a card is complicated, which it is.
Not hard; just many steps, not every one intuitive.
He has a better explanation of how to do custom WB on a Nikon D810 than does Nikon and than does Sparks, having read all three this week.

I hope to find, from my tests tomorrow, that the Expodisc is not better than the neutral gray card.
Why? I don't want to constantly dismount my camera from the tripod, which I must do with Expodisc to get the tool into my subjects' studio lighting. Off-tripod work is probably easier.

I've learned a lot about color casts, starting from abject zero. One thing I learned is that WB anchored in white, black, and gray from a neutral target necessarily gives you correct colors.

I'm still not good enough to have WB intuition, like many commenters here seem to have.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

No, because the camera profile is applied to the metadata - IJFR reads the embedded jpeg preview.