Expodisc

[Emma0911]

Does anyone have experience with an expodisc? Do you like and how does it work?

 

[fjrabon]

Love them

Essentially you stick it on the end of your camera, put your camera on manual focus, aim it at your light source, snap a shot, go to your camera's custom white balance set, set it, done, your white balance is good to go.

 

[480sparky43 42]

I use mine quite a bit, but it tends to be a tad warm for me even though I got the Neutral version. So I just adjust my Custom WB a bit towards the blue.

Here's how it works (go to 1:15):

 

[tirediron]

Excellent tool!

 

[tirediron]

Moved to the Equipment Forum.

 

[LusineKhamtrashyan]

I am merely amazed by clarity and features of it.Really amazing...

 

[kathyt]

The neutral expodisc is awesome and the best tutorials on this are here. These videos are super quick, like 2 minutes each.
ExpoImaging - Zach and Jody Gray ExpoDisc Tutorial Videos

 

[bratkinson]

One of the advantages of using an Expodisk over a grey card is that, as shown in Jack & Jody video referenced above, it captures exactly the light hitting the subject, regardless of 'mix' of light sources.

I recently had a small party to shoot at a restaurant on a cloudy/bright afternoon. One entire wall of the small banquet room was windows. Directly opposite the windows was a combination of brick wall, dark wall paper, and windows into a very dimly lit area. Hanging incandescent lights lit the room. Needless to say, the 'mix' of lighting varied significantly at each location the subjects were in.

Remembering that Expodisk is used to take a 'picture' of where the camera will be from where the subject will be/was, I took 4 shots across the room with Expodisk, with my back nearly to the wall. Then, I was free to take the photos. As I had switched to RAW + JPG (just in case) shooting, I set my WB for each photo as needed in Lightroom. Fortunately, it was a small-enough shoot that I had no trouble 'figuring out' which Expodisk exposure to use for the WB as I had written down the sequence I shot them in...eg, #1 towards the windows, #2 towards the wall, etc. Setting the WB in post greatly simplified my shooting time and gave great results!

As with any WB tool, one must be observant of all the lighting in a scene, and how it varies from one location to another. In my situation, having sunlight on one side and incandescent on the other, a "one shot for WB" technique just would not work. Fortunately, they were all in one room. At a wedding I was at (as a guest), the ceremony was in one room, the foyer was a gathering place, and the reception held in two adjoining rooms. Of course, each of these had different lighting! Fortunately, the professional photographers there had taken the WB shots beforehand and the results were outstanding!

 

[480sparky43 42]

............you can only set white balance for the one light source that you point the camera towards. However, in some situations two or more different lights may be lighting your subject.....

If you thought that, you're not using it correctly. It will measure ALL light sources that strike it.