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New Kodak digital gray card kit coming out in September?

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Pat Yuen

New member
I was ready to order the WhiBal when I did a little more seaching and found what appears to be a new Kodak digital gray card kit coming out in September.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579907970/ref=nosim/104-5726299-4815160?n=283155
http://www.larkbooks.com/search/SearchBookDisplaylarge.asp?BookKey=1672960

There is absolutely no info other than the very tempting price of $10.17. I have read that Michael has measured the color accuracy of the existing Kodak gray card. I would be interested in reading about his finding of this new product if and when he gets around to testing it.
 
M

Michael Tapes

OPF Administrator/Moderator
The current runs of Kodak Gray card measure badly for the Gray side, and the white side is not in the ballpark. If you think to send me a mail when this new one comes out I will buy it and see how it stacks up. I would not expect too much at that price, but one can never know until they are measure over time. They might get it close on the first proeduction run and then not care. I have seen that before, but no way to know how these will be.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Pat,

Given that Whi bal is waterproof, you can wipe make up off it and can be cleaned with very fine sand paper, the investment is obvious.

I have several cards but I dont use them very often.

Asher
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Where to get WhiBal?

Hi Asher,

I know from another post that you are not (commercially) associated with WhiBal but do you know if there are any shops in Europe selling them? I could not find on their web site any dealer information. Aww, what the heck! I guess I'll just go ahead and order it directly from the web site in the end.

Cheers,

Cem
 
M

Michael Tapes

OPF Administrator/Moderator
We have a distributer in Denmark, and one in Hong Kong. We ship all over the world on a daily basis from our e-store, so do not be afraid to order directly from us, or email me for the contact info for our Denmark distributer.
 
D

Dierk Haasis

pro member
Yes, Michael is very reliable and good with customer support cum shipping to Europe!

I have ordered several products from, two of which had to be shipped [WhiBal and UPstrap]. The delivery was prompt, much better than what I experience with Amazon US lately.
 
R

Ralph Eisenberg

Member
WhiBal is an excellent, reliable and durable product and that can be ordered directly through RawWorkflow. I'm a very satisfied European user.
 
Andrew Rodney

Andrew Rodney

New member
Great, a NEW product from Kodak they can discontinue in a year. I'm not buying, they have a history you know. There are plenty of excellent products already on the market that will have more staying power.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
For the first time, Andrew, I realized that the dog is looking at the apple monitor not listening to his masters voice, or maybe it's itunes!

Asher
 
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Pawel Woj

New member
Here is my problem with greycards not particular to whibal. Making everything neutral in the scene is not always the best. I white balance to how i see fit and if that communicates a certain mood setting the white balance to neutral will eliminate that feel for the image. While grey cards are benefitial in a studio environment when using daylight balanced strobes this changes quickly when you start working with gels , colored lighting , sunsets , sunrise setting the white balance via grey card will work against you. I think many would agree with this assesment
 
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Doug Kerr

Guest
Hi, Pat,

Pat Yuen said:
I was ready to order the WhiBal when I did a little more seaching and found what appears to be a new Kodak digital gray card kit coming out in September.
Click to expand...

From the Amazon.com listing you cite (and the Lark Books page), it appears that this is a book (from Lark Books), not a new gray card. Perhaps it is a book that tells how to use a gray card. Maybe it comes with a gray card.

Do you have information beyond that? Where did the September date come from?

*****************

Oh, sorry, I just noticed the date on your original post. But what do we know by now?.

Thanks.
 
M

Michael Mouravi

New member
Pawel Woj said:
Here is my problem with greycards not particular to whibal. Making everything neutral in the scene is not always the best. I white balance to how i see fit and if that communicates a certain mood setting the white balance to neutral will eliminate that feel for the image. While grey cards are benefitial in a studio environment when using daylight balanced strobes this changes quickly when you start working with gels , colored lighting , sunsets , sunrise setting the white balance via grey card will work against you. I think many would agree with this assesment
Click to expand...

True, however, WhiBal (or another gray card) is great for setting the "correct" white balance and then you can improvise from there. Just as with exposure, where "correct" isn't always what you'd want, but is still the best place to start.
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
Pawel Woj said:
Here is my problem with greycards not particular to whibal. Making everything neutral in the scene is not always the best. I white balance to how i see fit and if that communicates a certain mood setting the white balance to neutral will eliminate that feel for the image. While grey cards are benefitial in a studio environment when using daylight balanced strobes this changes quickly when you start working with gels , colored lighting , sunsets , sunrise setting the white balance via grey card will work against you. I think many would agree with this assesment
Click to expand...

As a general remark, Gray/Grey cards are for exposure (even when following the 'gray world' paradigm), White 'cards/objects' are for white-balancing.

While gray cards could be used for supplying an approx. (~neutral) gray reference, there is no manufacturer supporterd claim as to its neutrality(!), besides the WhiBal. I personally like the White target from Babelcolor.com for its dual (WB+exposure) purposes, especially in (but not limited to) a studio environment.

Bart
 
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