| ★★★★★ | EASY TO FOLD - MAKES YOUR PHOTOS GREAT! WATCH VIDEO! | | Verified Purchase | | Rather then tell you in words how great this White Balance tool is I made a video review showing the item, case, and how to fold it up. It is awesome and makes your photos and videos so much better when working in less than optimal lighting situations. Please like the review if you found it helpful. | | | | ★★★★★ | Cheap, durable, accurate, compact. Can't get any better than that. | | Verified Purchase | For less than $10, every photographer should have one of these. The edge feels like a thin neoprene or lycra. The internal spring seems very strong and durable. The calibrated surface seems to be waterproof and is easily cleanable. The storage pouch is the perfect size. It's even got a loop on one end, so that you can hang it on something, so you don't need to hold it out in front of the camera. Well worth it.
I took a quick set of sample shots in a poorly lit (several cheap CFL lights), messy room, showing Before and After setting custom white balance, using this product. | | | | ★★★★★ | ... level" Lastolite gray card in school which is a great product but I ended up purchasing this one | | Verified Purchase | I have used the "Pro level" Lastolite gray card in school which is a great product but I ended up purchasing this one. I figured for a quarter of the price of Lastolite product, what the heck I'll buy one less beer next week if it was trash. Well, it's not, it doesn't look as fancy as the Lastolite gray card but construction seems solid enough and I also compared the color of the two and found that they are both definitely the same 18% gray that you are looking for to get that white balance honed in. I should add that the carrying case for the Lightdow is made of pretty cheap thin nylon like material and the Lastolite has a more rugged canvas case.
...and since I'm so happy with the Lightdow, I am having that beer as I write this review. | | | | ★★★★★ | Accurate neutral gray | | Verified Purchase | First, functionality. It’s a gray card, so I expect it to give me 18% neutral gray upon reflectance. And it did ever so easily. I included a couple of test pictures with Bambi. The first picture is indoor, with LED ceiling light on the soft toy. The second picture is when the white balance of the picture is corrected with the gray card. Not bad, isn’t it? I shoot all my pictures in RAW format, and if you happen to use a Mac like I do, you can just load the photos into the Photos app on Mac, go to Edit, then Adjust, and the White Balance menu. Make sure that you select Temperature/Tint in the dropdown box, then click on the little dropper-like icon right beside the dropdown box, and then click on the gray card. It corrects the white balance using the gray card as a reference for neutral gray. Then you can simply copy and paste adjustments and correct the other pictures taken under the same lighting. Simple enough.
The Lightdow graycard arrived in a round black polyester bag (about 4 inch in diameter), with a small hoop at the top of the bag for easy attachment to camera bag or backpack by a clip or a caribena. Though the graycard bag material does not convey any feeling of luxury (not that I care anyway), the zipper works very smoothly without any glitch I would typically expect of a poorly constructed bag.
The gray card in itself measures about 12 inch by 12 inch when fully extended from its collapsed state in the bag. It is essentially a very soft, velvet like fabric wrapped around some rather flexible plastic scaffold (along the edges of the gray card). So to collapse it back into the bag, you just hold on to the opposite edges of the gray card, twist in opposite directions. Fairly easy, no surprises.
Overall, I feel this is a better choice than the credit card sized gray cards, simply because it allows me to take a picture of the gray card without having to stick my lens right onto the smaller gray cards. | | | | ★★★★★ | Works great and is small enough to travel with | | Verified Purchase | This was one of the best purchases I've made as an amateur photographer. If you do not yet understand white balance, please do your research. I've reduced my editing time so much and I actually notice the difference in the color correctness of my photos now.
Pros:
As far as the product goes, it twists up into a small 6x6 circle and comes with a zipper bag to store it at that size. Twisting it up like this on a regular basis does cause wrinkles in the card, however, I these wrinkles don't seem to affect its ability to white balance. The 12x12 size is great for travel shoots that require a lot of movement.
Cons:
Please note that 12x12 is not very large, so I find myself having to get very close to the card when using a prime lens in order to fill the whole viewfinder. I will likely buy a larger card for more professional (still) shoots. | | | | ★★★★★ | Nifty Product - Read on for how to get it to fold correctly! | | Verified Purchase | This a clever little product that meets my need perfectly. I used mine to perform custom white balancing in the field on my Nikon D600. It came in a small zip bag and pops open when you take it out. I mean Pop! It weighs like a feather and it's cloth over wire frame construction means it's very easy to set up against a tree or whatever in the field, set white balance, then pack it away. So it's both compact and under 4 oz., great for your gear bag in the field. The wire frame makes it less likely than a piece of gray card to blow away. The cloth means it's possibly cleanable as well. Just what I wanted for the field! Light, cheap, reliable, practical. My D600 read the grey face but not the white face.
Here's how to fold it back up so it'll fit back into the pouch: Note that it is roughly rectangular with 4 corners. With both hands pinch two catty corners or opposite corners on the diagonal, doesn't matter which two as long as they're catty corner. Bring the 2 corners together so it's pinched together in the middle. You now have 2 corners together and it looks like a sort of butterfly shape. Holding the pinched corners with one hand, turn that hand inward towards you so the back of that hand faces away and the 2 "butterfly wings" face at you. Using your other hand bring the bottom wing up and into the middle so you can now pinch that lobe as well with the hand that has the middles pinched. Now holding all that with one hand, bring the other lobe over and down on top and, keeping it pinched bring it all together in the smallest size and slip it back into the pouch whilst keeping it all pinched together. A lot to write down for you, but do this once and it's a cinch forever! | | | | ★★★★★ | ACCURATE & CHEAP | | Verified Purchase | PROS & CONS
I would give 4 stars, but for this price it has to be 5!
PROS
* white balance & exposure are great. I tested it with a bigger name brand that cost 5x more, and the color/white balance was BETTER with this. It was a smidge darker on the exposure than the expensive one, but I generally shoot a tiny bit dark to save those highlights so it was PERFECT.
* Easy to fold (this is also the con, you'll see why)
* Good non reflective surface.
* Price
CONS
* It's pretty dang wrinkled when unfolded. This causes issue because you have light reflecting slightly bright & slightly dark all over the surface... To solve this I just left it out unfolded for a few days... I probably won't fold it again, because I like the white balance better than my expensive one... If this wasn't so cheap I'd remove a star for the wrinkles (but if your don't need to fold it, it's not a problem). | | | | ★★★★★ | Nice for the price. I wanted a card I could fold. | | Verified Purchase | | I wanted something that could fold and place in my camera bag easily. This card does the job. Nothing fancy and the white marks in the center are painted not stitched as you might get with a higher priced card. One side is grey with the white markings and other is plain white. It's compact and inexpensive. Just one warning the "frame" is a bit thick to stiffen the card for use so it can be a bit awkward to fold. I have friends who for some reason just have a problem folding these type of things. It just takes a bit of practice but if you're one of those that can't do what I like to call the figure 8 fold then you might be better off with something like a Passport Color Checker that has a grey card area and just closes up into a plastic case. While it's more expensive as it has lots of color checker areas and comes with color correcting software you might be better off with it if you're not able to fold these type of cards. | | | | ★★★★★ | Good Deal - Just Buy it! | | Verified Purchase | | I have the Photovision Target. Although it is really good I am not sure if it can justify the price in comparison to this White Balance Card. I tested the white balance against the Photovision Target and it is very close basically a non issue. To me this is a no brainer purchase it is so cheap and cost effective it would be a sin not to carry this with you at all times. Prior to Mirrorless Cameras I would probably still opt for the Photovision Target if all I had was a DSLR. But with the WYSIWYG in mirrorless cameras it is not needed because you can see exactly how your photo will look prior to taking the photo. So essentially all you need is this for the white balance and you are all set. Don't even think about it just buy it! | | | | ★★★★★ | Nice gray panel, folds easily, works well. | | Verified Purchase | Most of the time modern cameras can give you an accurate color rendition under normal shooting conditions. The problems start when your camera is fooled by unusual lighting, perhaps in areas of deep shadow, or worse, strange multi color sources that you might experience at weddings or over the holiday seasons. This is where the lightdow shines. Photographing this panel (positioned near your subject) your camera knows exactly what 18% gray should look like under those light sources and adjusts color renditions accordingly.
This is a good little panel. It has a nice target on the gray side to aid in focusing and it folds easily and stores inside a decent zippered pouch supplied by lightdow. Priced at only seven bucks, this is a handy little gadget to have in your bag. With a bit of practice you can learn to set in camera CUSTOM white balances and take your important photos to a different level. | | | | See more reviews |
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| Question: | Do you use this to set custom white balance in camera or during processing? I know it can be used for both. Just seeing what's more common with this. | | Answer: | So if I am reading everyone correctly, here, then this is how to use this thing; for jpeg shots, you set your white balance with this thing then you go shoot. So, if you change lighting then you need to redo your white balance before moving on. If you shoot raw, then you take a shot of this thing, then set white balance in LR or PS against that shot, and then use that for all other shots in the same lighting. If your lighting changes, then you have to take another test shot to set your WB with in LR/PS.
Am I understanding that correctly?
| | | | Question: | I ordered this card a month ago, and it folded down to a smaller size. This no longer looks to be the case. Is this now a different card? | | Answer: | It can be folded into a smaller size like a 80/110 cm reflector, we just do not fold & pack it any more. | | | | Question: | What is the difference between this one and a similar one with white/gray/black? And another one with multiple color squares that looks like makeup? | | Answer: | Hi,
This one and the similar one with black/white/grey are used to adjust white balance on your camera. The other color square cards are used for color calibration. | | | | Question: | Is the "white" side appropiate for white balance? | | Answer: | I use the grey side for white balance and it worked perfectly. | | | | Question: | Does this really fold? How small is it after folding? | | Answer: | This product does actually fold and go in a little small carry case that has a zipper on it you could actually fit in your pocket | | | | Question: | Has anyone tried using this for underwater (scuba) photography? | | Answer: | I have notused it underwater, but I can tell you it isn't made out of paper, so if I needed to use it underwater, I would try it. My best suggestion is the Gary Fong Color Reference Kit Color Control Disk. It's all plastic and works very well in all conditions. | | | | Question: | do you need a light meter in addition to this tool or will it do both exposure and balance? | | Answer: | Yes because how I use this is you take one photo with the model holding the card and then you use a tool in light room to colorbalence that image and then apply those settings to the rest of the photos for proper kelvin temperature. Metering is for proper exposure so you should use a light meter for that which your camera has built in
| | | | Question: | What is the shipment dimentions ? | | Answer: | Hi,
It is folded into a small bag, with diameter=12cm/4.7inch. | | | | Question: | Does it come with a landyard? | | Answer: | No lanyard. But does have a small storage pouch. | | | | Question: | What is better about having this versus a regular small card? | | Answer: | It’s bigger then the small card, but fold up to be small when done.
The bigger size works well for me | | | | See more questions |
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