I was a beta tester for this product I had almost forgot about it

i still have one here the idea was to have a complete set for color calibration 

indeed the grey part was supposed to do white balance however the card was tiny to use with my GH5 so I abandoned it. It never matched my whibal because is too dark it is an exposure card neutral yes but not what you would use for white balance 

It is this product

 

https://colorconfidence.com/products/calibrite-colorchecker-gray-balance

 

 

which I use on land for exposure based on middle grey

 

this instead is the white balance card

 

https://colorconfidence.com/products/calibrite-colorchecker-white-balance

 

the difference is that one is 40-50% and the other is 70%
 

nice to see the original product is having results but I prefer the whibal

cheaper and more robust

 

I like the whibal G7 as well and it's well-sized for diving. Certainly cheaper than the Keldan, which also works perfectly well.

Edited April 28, 20241 yr by Jim Laurel

7 hours ago, Jim Laurel said:

I like the whibal G7 as well and it's well-sized for diving. Certainly cheaper than the Keldan, which also works perfectly well.

Not sure the current price of the whibal but thr keldan is £190

i tried to use the color checker for photos in raw and I didn’t like the outcomes

my keldan slate has been in my drawer since. Have not sold it as it is a free sample and it would be a lack of respect 

the main reason not to use it was that Panasonic white balance rectangle was too big with sony you can even configure the area and this would work

yet no plans to use it just memorabilia

On 4/27/2024 at 4:30 PM, Jim Laurel said:

 

 

Thanks 1fspeed! Appreciate the kind words. I'm trying to do exactly what you mention, which is to light a scene, so that it doesn't look lit. You can tell from the shadows being cast by the fish and shark fins, for example, but I try not to make it too obvious. I think the background looks more or less the way it looks to your eye when you're actually down there.

In response to your question, yes, I do the white balance with the filtered lights on. My normal practice is to have the lights on at about 2/3 power. The Keldan grey card is on a retract attached to a d-ring. I just pull it out, take the WB at arm's length. I usually have the lights behind the lens, and aimed straight or toed a little outward to reduce backscatter. So the light hitting the card is always a mix of ambient and the cyan lights. The ambient component is higher at shallower depths, and lower at greater depths where there's less ambient light. At shallower depths, I turn the lights up as bright as possible. When deeper, maybe to 2/3 power. Seems to work very well. I know that Keldan suggests taking the white balance with the cyan lights off, and that works pretty well also. In a recent email, though, Daniel Keller told me that when testing the new 8XR Ambient, he was actually setting the white balance with the lights at full power. The 8XR Ambient is an 18,000 lumen light, so that's a heck of a lot of power. He seemed to imply that he was using them unfiltered, so that light would be the equivalent of a Keldan AF6B. I normally use an AF12B on my 4X lights, or the cyan modules in the Luna 8s, which are also equivalent to color temperature of a daylight light head with the AF12B filter.

I'd also say that it's really critical to capture white balance in a way that is completely repeatable. Alot of people I talk to say that they grab white balance from their buddy's tank, or a patch of sand, etc. It can work, but results will vary based on how close you are to the target, the color if it, etc. I find having a small grey card that I can hand-hold to the

 

same distance every time works well.
 

 

I'll have to give white balance with the lights on a try.  I'm using a pair of Kraken 15k lights with their cyan filter.

 

I do the same thing - small grey card on a retractor.  

 

Looking forward to shooting some video but as a new CCR diver I need to a bit more time in the water before bringing the camera. Today is a dive day, but it's 33°F, winds gusting to 35mph and raining...  Trying to convince myself it'll be calm and quiet below 15 feet (Northern Minnesota quarry)😂

On 4/27/2024 at 10:48 AM, Interceptor121 said:

You can try the cine1 or cine2 picture profiles or the rec709 with pro color they are pretty good

Thanks, wasn't sure it would be worth while in 8bit - I'll have to give them a try.

19 minutes ago, 1fspeed said:

Thanks, wasn't sure it would be worth while in 8bit - I'll have to give them a try.

There are many videos that show how this can be used on the A6XXX series that had 8 bit all along

The point is avoiding clipping at channel and luminance level