Pixiq

Automatic white balance is something photographers think they’ve under control in their cameras, until they discover there are more colors in their photos than they saw. Suddenly, white is not as pure as it should be. At least not as pure as ExpoDisc shows.

Believe me, I had no idea I was going to write this article. I contacted ExpoImaging because I wanted to test another product from them, but when was offered the chance to try the ExpoDisc I said yes. I didn’t know I was about to have a revelation.

For a long time I've been using RAW so I tend to not think much about color temperature, as I can fix it when back home at the computer. And I even did/do change colour temperature with JPEG and, really, never felt it was so bad as some people say. I tend do to use AWB and adjust if I feel I nede to, using wither a grey card, or any of the other ways to get a meidum gray on the filed.  But well, I am also all for experimentation so I said yes, I want to test the ExpoDisc. Iam glad I did.

ExpoDisc is a tool to measure white balance. This said, if you’re happy with your results with AWB (Auto White Balance) and shoot mainly under normal light conditions, you can forget this piece of equipment and live happy the rest of your life. But if you’re dwelling into the creative fields of photography, shoot under various light conditions and are not always happy with the various WB settings from your camera and even your efforts to find out, by testing, the best Kelvin grades to get things right for your eye… then ExpoDisc can be a blessing inside your bag.

I’ve been using gray cards for most of my life. Kodak gray cards, which you can buy in packs with different sized cards, are the tool to use when you want to get perfect light. A gray card is placed in front of the camera lightmeter, reflecting the light that falls on the subject, you measure the light from it – remember the card has an 18% reflectance, like the middle gray or Zone V on Ansel Adams Zone System – and the card gives you the right light for the colors to fall in the right place.

What happens then is that the card, placed where your subject is, makes your camera’s reflective light meter work as an incident light meter. It measures the light falling on the subject. It works perfectly and that is the reason why gray cards – which, by the way, usually have a white surface on the back – have resisted even to the passage to the digital age. They work.

Well, I must say... they mostly do. Because if the card is at an angle to the camera and gets light from different directions reflecting from the surface you might not get the best results. And besides that, gray cards tend to get damaged with long use, especially, in my case, the smaller version (4x5 inches) that you carry in your backpack. I know this because I’ve had to buy different packs all these years. They’re great for studio work and to stay at home.

Now, I am not sure the ExpoDisc will last me a lifetime travelling around inside my bag, but it surely is stronger. It looks like a filter, but one that you can not see through. My first impression was that it looked like a dome for an incident light meter, and in fact that’s what it does. You place it over the lens – it has a snap-on mount – and it comes in different sizes, but a good advice is to buy the size that fits your larger lens and then just use it with the smaller diameter lenses, simply holding it in front.

The ExpoDisc transforms the camera’s reflective light meter into an incident light meter as the gray card does, but it does it better because as the light reaching the lens is uniform, the measures you take are more reliable. One thing to remember is that you have to point the camera in the direction of the light falling on the subject.

On use the ExpoDisc Professional Digital White Balance Filter (patent pending) shows that it becomes easy to set an accurate custom white balance. Consistently producing excellent results in natural, artificial, and studio lighting, the versatile ExpoDisc even excels in difficult mixed lighting environments… as I’ve tried these last weeks.

From interiores to dense forest and coastal areas, I've taken the Expodisc everywhere now. In fact, after doing the initial test shots and being convinced, I’ve started using the ExpoDisc for my photography work, and I keep switching between AWB and the calibrated white balance amazed at the results I get in different situations. And the pure whites I can get easily with this tool.

I’ve even been playing with the ExpoDisc at sunset, a time that you’re not supposed to use it, if you want the warm tones to show, but even then I discovered how easy it is to use for creative work. So, yes, my gray card is staying home these days and I’ve a new piece of equipment: the ExpoImaging Expodisc. And the whites are as white as white can be. Then all the other colors fall in place.

Is this the final solution? No, I guess not. It does what ExpoImaging states but different people will have different needs and there are other options in the market. Or at least in some markets. In Portugal, for example, ExpoDisc is relatively easy to find while other solutions are absent. So it all depends of geography too. For me it's a step above a gray card. But your mileage may vary.