Those little plastic white balance cards...

[Stuart Richardson]

That Capture Integration sells and others seem to use...is there any particular thing to look for when trying to make one yourself? I would just buy one from them, but since I am in Iceland it would take forever to get here, and probably would not be worth the shipping, tax and custom issues. I would just like to go to a home improvement store and buy a bit of acrylic or plastic if I can find one...it needs to be the correct shade though, right? Is there any way to determine? Is there a particular name or type that one should buy?

 

[Jack]

The most critical thing is it needs to be truly neutral -- and under a known light-source. Nice thing about plastic is you can sand it to roughen it up and reduce its reflective characteristics.

 

[Homey]

It has to be grey or know as 50% grey. It also works with pure white too.

Good luck.

 

[Stuart Richardson]

ok, thanks guys. I will see if someone has something like that here.

 

[stephengilbert]

Stuart,

I think the two answers above refer to two different tools. It sounds like you want a transluscent plastic sheet or filter that you shoot through to set WB. That is what CI sells, and, I believe, is what Jack is talking about. (A more expensive, similar, item is the ExpoDisk.) The next post refers to a card like the WhiBal card, which you include in a sample image and then later use to set WB in post.

I've seen people claim that the plastic snap-on lids that come with some canned food products can be used to shoot through. I don't know anyone who has done so, but you may find someone here. Given the relatively small size and weight of the CI item, I doubt it would cost much to ship. I don't know if CI will ship internationally, but I'd think you can find it somewhere.

Steve

P.S. I found this test, which compares a plastic lid to an ExpoDisk, and finds the lid wanting: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=6622477

 

[etrigan63]

An alternative to that is the BRNO baLens cap. This is a lens cap with a white balance tool built-in. Here is what it looks like:

And you can read my review here. They work very well.