I got an ExpoDisc with my B&H gift card and the early opinion is WOW. This thing makes getting proper white balance a breeze. I can see that it will not be perfect for all situations, but it definitely removes color casts. I think we are so used to seeing things with a slightly warm cast that when something is truly neutral it looks "cool". Here are some sample pics... before on top of after... last one shoes a slight bonus,... this thing makes a great sensor dust map. Because the Expodisc captures a frame of uniform color, you can see every sensor booger and piece of dust, which reminds me... my camera is filthy (see the last frame)... The usage procedure is simple... take a photo facing your dominant light source with the Expodisc on the front of your lens. Then pick custom white balance from the menu and set the camera to custom white balance and you are done. Simple as that. If you are interested in ordering, visit B&H Photo and search for ExpoDisc. It is available in numerous sizes; I ordered the 77mm one. Order the size that matches your largest filter size; you can hold it over the front of smaller lenses with no problem. It is well constructed and comes with instructional CD and lanyard so you can keep it around your neck. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
I have been thinking of getting one of these too. When I took photos of my Christmas decorations I set my white balance to 2550k color temperture. Every auto setting was simply too warm and orange. It seems like this would make it much easier to get the right color with house lighting.
i am very impressed with this tool. i've been eyeballing it for awhile now and can see how it will be useful for many situations. it adds a few minor steps to picture taking workflow but i think it will be worth it.
Wow, neat little photo gadget. If you get any snow, I'd be interested on how it works with it. Got any fluorescent ligthing you can test with this? Added it to my Amazon shopping list. I'd use B&H but being a New Yorker, I get hit with sales tax.
it is an amazing tool. it works with incident light, meaning you aim it at the light source to take the reading, not the subject. i am more impressed with this each time i play with it. i tried it under the sunlight earlier today for a pic of my house and the results were negligible but tungsten and other types of lights are greatly effected.
ok, i've had one since mid summer, it is every bit as good under tungsten and other lights as tim's photo's show, i too see no use outside, as a result i completely forgot to pack it for mousefest, at that time most of my photo's since i got the 5d in august had been outside, or under stage lighting at rhythm and roots, where i feel the stage lighting adds to the photo i am going to try to remember it for mousefest 08, i'd like to give it a whack at the beauty and the beast lighting, i'm rarely satisfied with that color cast and am always fiddling around to find something i like, then having to write a ps action and batch apply to those i got the basic one, there is also a portrait specific model, i got it in 77mm as that's the largest lens size i commonly use
Expodisc... another test this time it's three pics... one with auto, one at fluorescent, one with expodisc. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
Dredging up an old topic. Do any of these kind of disks allow you to shoot toward the subject instead of having to go to the subject and shoot back at the light source? For example, I was recently at the Dayton Air Force Museum. Lousy dark level lighting, and a whole lot of mixed different types of lights with overheads, spots and in some cases colored spots. Getting consistent colors in processing them in Aperture across different angle shots of the same plane is driving me nuts. Erich
