Customer Reviews

Digital Image Flow DGK Color Tools Premium White Balance Card Set with Premium Lanyard (Set of Three Cards)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This card has three cards, white, black, and gray, so you can use it for RAW or for JPEG (see more below). The user's guide is helpful, but not super technical. The price is unbeatable for what you get. Shipping is fast. I used this card to shoot a friend's wedding and the results were fantastic! Basically this is a cheap and easy way to get perfect colors in your digital pix.

Before I got this white balance card, I got a whIbaL card, which was a lot more expensive. I was disappointed because it has only one card, and the user's guide on CD-Rom they show in the picture either is out of stock or never existed because they wouldn't send me one when I asked. My colors have been super accurate with the DIgital Grey Kard - I don't think it's worth spending more than twice as much to get the wHibAl card.

I shoot RAW files mostly, and in Photoshop or Photoshop Lightroom I use 1-click white balance in the RAW converter. During a photo shoot I simply shoot an image of the gray card under the same lighting conditions as my subject. Then in post-production (using Lightroom) I open the image of the Digital Grey Kard in the RAW converter. I use a 5 pixel white balance dropper to get a good sample of the color of the gray card. Then I select all of the images that were shot under those same lighting conditions, and click the 'sync' button, making sure I sync the white balance only. That's all I have to do to get perfect color. Fast, accurate, easy.

When shooting JPEG, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom will still allow me to do some white balance correction, essentially using the same steps as outlined above. But with JPEG, the image quality is degraded somewhat by the process, so RAW is a better way to go.

There is another way to get great white balance for JPEG using this card. The Digital Grey Kard is also perfect for setting in-camera white balance, which actually is the best way for JPEG photographers to get perfect colors without having to use Photoshop or Lightroom.

I use the white card and the black card sometimes to set levels in Photoshop. To set the white and black point in the Photoshop "levels' control, I shoot an image of all three cards, and open the image in Photoshop. I go to image->adjust_.levels an use the highlight dropper tool on the white card and the shadow dropper tool on the black card, finally I use the midtone dropper tool on the gray card. This technique is great for setting up a JPEG for maximum dynamic range - which allows you to take advantage of the full capabilities of the output printer or display device.

Get this white balance card - it's great for the money.

Before I used this product I used white paper as recommended by Canon for my 30D. I put lines on the paper for focus and set white balance as custom. The paper was difficult to use and keep with me. Since buying the gray digital card, I have found it to be more accurate than white paper and easier to use. The digital gray card produces perfect custom white balance and works every time. It has a focus spot to get the correct image for setting up in-camera custom white balance. One time I used both the gray card and the white card (on the lanyard) and found the gray card produced the correct white balance over the white card. Now I never take a shot without setting the custom white balance to the gray card. I do this in-camera so I don't have to make adjustments in post processing. The gray card also gives the correct light reflection for digital camera exposure. Most books say the gray card should reflect at 18%, but that is not correct for digital. See article on the internet by Thom Hogan [....] who says digital camera makers set exposure meters to near 12% gray reflectance, 18% is based on printing standards. This gray card is closer to 12% and is very accurate.
I like the lanyard. When I'm outdoors I keep it on my neck so I can periodically reset the custom white balance as I shoot. Inside under lights, I use it one time and I'm set for the shoot. I highly recommend this card for serious photography, and it is inexpensive as photo equipment goes.

As a retired negative wedding photographer, I want spot-on results. But with the digital age I had trouble getting exposure/white balance correct. Yes, the processor could correct for my "slight" errors. I did not appreciate how important white balance was, nor that it can change as easy as exposure. After a couple of tests w/this card. I was amazed at the skin tones I got. I used a drug store type quality (Costco) for convenience & speed and got great exposures! Just think what a higher quality firm (i.e. Dale Labs) can do with my files!
Photo correction programs: Just use the "eye-dropper" tool; get color corrections- presto!
Short comings: The cards could be larger! The instructions could be more detailed- The makers of this product could benefit from comments here!

I got this because I wanted a good quality gray card that wasn't made of paper and would last a while. I don't really need the white or black cards, or the deluxe lanyard (it really is nice quality though), and i basically just threw the card in my bag and left the rest at home. Kind of pricey for a piece of plastic, but if you are in the field shooting in JPG mode and need to do a custom white balance, it's worth it to me, even if it fixes just one shot. The card works great. I've used it several times already and it is a simple but effective way to adjust white balance in strange lighting situations.

I bought this set with risk (expensive & don't know if it work ok or not). Turn out I am SO HAPPY with this purchase.

I did the card test:
Took a picture of this set - Put this unbalanced picture to Photoshop to white balance it - Measure the balanced picture with Photshop sampler tool and find all RGB are equal; R=G=B. That's mean it neutral 100%.

I did the camera picture test:
Took serveral pictures with different light sets - white balance the pictures with this GreyKard tool. Result color in pix look very much match the real physical subject.

So 5 stars for this GreyKard.

Some notes, may be you like to read:
This little GreyKard may not too great for doing Pre-Blancing for camera internally because it is so small in size. This GreyKard set is great for Post-Blancing using camera software or Photoshop. This is what I like for convenient GreyKard for Post Processing, reason: Post Processing allow me 2 choices (2 sets of image) to pick, First is the original pix; Second is the my white balance touched pix. Sometime the my white balance touched pictures turn the color look so real that make the people in my pictures look like "Living dead in front of a warm burning fire place" so I throw out the white balanced pictures and keep the original AWB pix.
That is so good this GreyKard set. If some subjects originally look ugly, it will make it true ugly as original.

The three credit card size pieces of plastic work as advertised - they allow instant color correction in PhotoShop. They must be angled correctly or the glare from the flash appears white on both the gray and black cards.
They are not large enough for me to use to set custom White Balance in my camera, but they are small enough to easily fit in my shirt pocket without any problems.
This product will probably become standard in my portrait photography workflow, but I was a little disappointed when I opened the package - three credit card size pieces of plastic. My guess, and I may well be wrong, is that the packaging costs more than the product.

I had no idea how much post processing time this could save. My method is this; I have my models hold the balance cards where all three can be seen in the first shot of each lighting situation. I now worry much less about the white balance settings in my camera. Once the images are dropped into Photoshop I just click the selected eye droppers on the specific cards and my balance is set. Very easy to use.

I like the idea of a grey card that travels in any of my carrying options; Pelican case, shoulder bag, knapsack or around the neck using the lanyard.

I shoot with a Canon 7D, and I use these cards at the start of a shoot by taking an exposure of the white card or grey card so that the card is reflecting the same light as my subject. In order to get the optimal result, I switch the auto focus off, and try to fill the frame with the card, so that the resultant exposure is mostly the white or grey card only, while still reflecting the light I'll be shooting in.

Next, I use the menu tab to go to the second camera settings tab (second red tab from the left), and use the scroll wheel to drop down to the fourth choice, which is "Custom WB". Select this choice, and using the shot you just took of the white or grey card, select the option "use WB data from this image for Custom WB". You'll get the custom white balance icon as you hit the "set" button. Once you've done this, select the white balance option and select the custom WB icon. Now, your shots will use the white balance based on the white card you've shot using the same reflected light that you intend to use for your shots. Repeat the process as the light changes. I generally take a quick few test exposures, and see how the custom white balance effect compares to the Auto WB or the other WB settings (such as sunlight, cloudy, etc) and almost always find the custom white balance to be more accurate.

By carrying the cards around my neck on the lanyard, I look like a photo-geek but I have the color cards handy, to re-set the custom balance as the light changes.

You can also do the method of shooting the cards at the beginning of a sequence, and using the exposure of the cards in Photo Shop to use the eyedropper tool to set white balance. However, I prefer to make changes as the light changes for truer white balance. Having the cards on the lanyard means that this option is always at hand.

Nice product, cards can be used, abused and cleaned, and being on the lanyard, they're always handy to tweak your white balance as the light changes throughout your shoot. I find this to be more accurate than shooting a mess of pictures throughout the day in a variety of lighting conditions, and trying to force-fit all the white balance at the end of the day with the eyedropper tool in PS. I may be wrong in this, but so far I prefer to use the cards in this manner.

The compact Digital Grey Kard Premium is a nice, solid product. The flat toned white, black and grey plastic card stock should last for years, and it comes with a jazzy red lanyard with a snap disconnect. Product works nicely for neutralizing color casts in a scene (IF you remember to put it in the scene. D'oh!)

I do wish the instructions were better or they posted a better YouTube video, for those of us without formal Photoshop training. Yes, you can find a few bits of data here and there on the internet, but it is a real fight figuring out how to use the cards with RAW files and curves. It is a breeze with jpegs, of course. Four stars--good product, mediocre instructions.

Easy to use - every camera bag should have one - white balance issues are a thing of the past if used properly