Notes:
All images captured on Nikon D70 and sigma 14mm rectilinear, ISO 200 NEF Format
01 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, custom white balance with expodisc.
02 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, Auto white balance without expodisc.
03 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to Incandescent WB without expodisc.
04 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to Flourescent WB without expodisc.
05 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to Cloudy WBwithout expodisc.
06 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to High Color Rendering Flourescent WB without expodisc.
07 RAW Capture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to Direct Sunlight WB without expodisc.
08 RAW CApture converted to JPG, no enhancements, AWB converted to Flash white blance WB without expodisc.
Conclusions:
This product isnt for everyone. Go thru a hundred photos and count how many photos need white balance correction. Most of the Cameras today have pretty good auto white balance features already and only fail in mixed lighting conditions (incandescent/flourescent/flash/sunlight etc.)
Snap on an expodisc and click on custom white balance to give you the optimal white balance for mixed lighting conditions.The ExpoDisc is small and easy to carry around, but a little on the high side. Prices vary on depending on filter size. It will save you time and effort on color correction of your critical images.
From: esowder@expodisc.com
Subject: Re: white balance and expodisc test
Date: April 14, 2005 2:07:05 PM GMT+08:00
Hi Anton,
Are you satisfied?
We think of the ExpoDisc as a convenient, easy to use professional white balance tool everybody should have. If somebody spent the cash for a DSLR, then they shouldn't flinch at spending a little more to help their investment produce better pictures.
Most digital cameras' AWB feature does quite well in sunlight, as most of today's digital cameras are optimized for white light. It's when the color temperature of the light moves away from ideal conditions that the digital cameras begin to have trouble determining what's white and what's not, which is where ExpoDisc and the custom white balance feature come into play.
It appears that you tested it in sunlight, cloudy, fluorescent, flash and tungsten light. Did you try open shade? I've had personal experience with the wildly blue images the D70 produces on AWB in the open shade. I would contend that you will get better color using ExpoDisc and a custom white balance under any light other than sunlight and flash.
Try taking a picture of the same subject in the same lighting with the camera set to AWB. Take the picture zoomed in, then zoomed out. Depending on the colors present in the picture, you will most likely get two different colored images.
I recently helped a studio photographer with a colorcast problem. He was experiencing a slight warm cast, which changed to a cyan cast when zoomed in. The reason? Well he was inadvertently shooting with AWB. But when he would zoom in, the image would contain much more of a warm colored wood wall in the background that the camera tried to neutralize by adding blue.
Go figure.
Anyway, just wanted to add a little more for you to consider about the variables affecting the accuracy and results you get with AWB.
Thanks for checking us out and for all the time and effort you put into your testing and review!
Best Regards,
Erik
Erik Sowder
Vice President
ExpoDisc, Inc.
(800) 446-5086
Some Definitions of WHITE BALANCE on the Web:
An electronic process used in camcorders and video cameras to calibrate the picture for accurate color display in different lighting conditions. (ie, sunlight vs. indoor incandescent) White balancing should be performed prior to any recording, typically by pointing the camera at a white object for reference.
http://www.ardenwoodsnd-dvd.com/glossary/glossary_w.html
In digital camera terms an adjustment to ensure that colours are captured accurately (without any colour cast) whatever lighting used
www.xd-picturecard.co.uk/Advicepages/glossary.htm
Setting the white point on a digital camera based on the lighting conditions that photographs will be shot under.
www.valleycamera.com/index.asp
How the colour white is reproduced. On a monitor the white point is the combination of all three red, green and blue phosphors at full intensity, as measured by its colour temperature in degrees K. It is used as a reference point in calibration.
amol.org.au/capture/course/glossary.html
When a camera has been calibrated to correctly display white, then the camera is white balanced. Once it is calibrated for white, other colors should display properly.
www.dvspot.com/features/glossary.shtml
A function on the camera to compensate for different colors of light being emitted by different light sources.
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/glossary/default.mspx
