white balance card?

[Gilligan]

If you really want to get involved in using various color cards to calibrate your white balance on land as well as a white card for underwater check out Warm Cards.

I have used manual white balance on land with a white card and have obtained better quality photos coupled with using manual settings.

 

[drbill]

Well, since no one has mentioned a dive slate as a tool for white balancing...

I shoot video and don't do any manual white balancing. Why? Because I believe that I should present what is actually seen when a diver is underwater, or what can be seen with a dive light. Therefore I film as is.

A number of divers have objected that it "isn't real." Actually it gives a much more realistic idea of what to expect as a diver if you don't have an extra few tens of thousands of $$$ to carry a huge bank of lights!

Besides, I'm color blind anyway.

 

[bennedc]

My husband and I take digital stills. To set our white balance, we got a countertop sample made out of formica at Lowes or Home Depot. It already has a hole in it, so you can attach it to what ever you want. It's smaller than a slate and very thin, but big enough to zoom in on if you wish to fill the whole frame. Best yet, they are free samples. So far, the one we have has lasted for a while as there is enough resin on it to keep it waterpoof. If it every gets broken or falls apart, we'll just pick up another one. You can also get them in black, too. Photoshop works really well with these to set white and black. Try the formica countertop samples!

 

[Gilligan]

My husband and I take digital stills. To set our white balance, we got a countertop sample made out of formica at Lowes or Home Depot. It already has a hole in it, so you can attach it to what ever you want. It's smaller than a slate and very thin, but big enough to zoom in on if you wish to fill the whole frame. Best yet, they are free samples. So far, the one we have has lasted for a while as there is enough resin on it to keep it waterpoof. If it every gets broken or falls apart, we'll just pick up another one. You can also get them in black, too. Photoshop works really well with these to set white and black. Try the formica countertop samples!

Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[all4scuba05]

cool, so many options...thanks

 

[JamesD]

I shoot video and don't do any manual white balancing. Why? Because I believe that I should present what is actually seen when a diver is underwater, or what can be seen with a dive light. Therefore I film as is.

Curious, do you use a filter? Just asking because way back when, I did take video with no white balance, no filter, no nothing, and I got about 30 minutes worth of video from Cozumel, that was blue on blue with added blue bits.

That was NOT what I was seeing, I do white balance mainly because IMHO the human eye is WAY more sensative to light changes than my video camera.

 

[friscuba]

Talk your dive buddy into wearing a white wetsuit and BCD. I use a cheap white shop towel, wads up small enough that I can put it and other stuff in my pocket and I don't have anything hanging off of me. It's large enough I can just hang it at arms length and it still fills the frame.... don't know if that really helps any, but it works for me.

 

[bigbluedodge]

i have a source for the balance sheets but will have to get it when i get back from aruba(i.m. me if you want, just so i don't forget). we are going to use our slate to see how that works on tomorows two tank.

 

[kapula]

I have a piece of old broken sun chair that was white. Someone told me that he uses a cap of pringles since it's not bright white. Basically anything white and water resistant will do. If you don't wanna invest on a slate cut a piece of a white bucket, make a hole and attach it to your bcd with a rubberband. That's how I balance my wb anyway