WhiBal G7 White Balance Studio Kit

After some research over the internet, I decided to go with WhiBal on Jan. 2010. It worked so well off my first session (a big indoor swim competition in our area) I felt it is one of the magic only professionals can produce. Our top swimmers happened to be white, Asian and black side by side. The accurate reproduction of skin tones plus other photographic attributes in a beautiful swimming pool as the backdrop produced the stunning photograph I will cherish for my whole life.Words of caution other than you have to set your white balance right at the first place: (1) As time passes, the mixed lighting changes too. You need to re-calibrate your custom white balance. (2) Different spots may need re-calibration too because the mixed lighting is not uniform. (3) Watch out for the lab you use. I actually got the real stunning print from professional lab (I use Bayphoto and ordered no color correction). I compared the print with the real swimming gears, the colors are identical! Before that, I got some prints from 1 hour photo to see the result. I was very disappointed that the automation equalized the skin tone among different races yielding a pleasing, well sun-tanned photograph. (4) there are situations even WhiBal card can not rescue.

Let me first state that I use the X-Rite Color Checker Passport in my photography. It's a great tool. It has a gray card of it's own, and it works great. What I like about the Whibal gray card here is the bullseye in the center is a great focal point, and the reflective black and white patches let you know if it is angled wrong. To make it more convenient, I cut it and used adhesive on the back to attach it to my X-Rite passport's gray card area. I use it for every single photo shoot I have, so it's worth the price. 4 stars because it's kind of high in price, but not terribly so.

I now have two of these: the wallet sized one and this one. I'm happy with both. I like that I can white balance my camera with this sized one. My camera white balances on the full frame, not on a spot (wish it would do a spot). Here's my workflow (even as a tourist out and about):1) White balance my camera using this card held close enough to my lens to fill the frame. This is to get the image close.2) Shoot my shot with this card in the middle, verifying that there's no glare.3) Shoot my shot.4) Upon returning home, open my WhiBal shot and white balance Adobe Camera Raw on the WhiBal (you can use ACR for a .jpg too!)5) Open my real shot and do a "Use Previous Conversion."Bam. White balanced.

The product was not as advertised.I only received one gray card instead of the black, white and gray card kit that was advertised which makes this an incredibly expensive item.

Before I switched over to Einstein flash units one of these was a MUST to get colors anywhere close to correct. Cheaper flash units vary K values dramatically across their power ranges and It drove me nuts for the longest time while I was learning the basics.

I bought this item specifically through Amazon as there were additional photos of items that were pictured with the card. When I received the white balance card, I did not see the card case or stand that was pictured on the photos. I returned the item to Amazon and received a second one a week later. This one did not have the extra items included either. A call to the company revealed what they had changed. Now the white balance card has a clip that is put on the card to use as a stand and a thin plastic clear cover as the storage case. I was disappointed. The stand that was pictured is better, in my opinion, than the clip they now supply with the card as it looked to be more stable and the card case looks much better than the flimsy plastic that now is included. I returned the second one to Amazon. For the price I think this card is a bit high, considering.

Best money expense for your photo gears. No photographer should be with out one. It is a must to get the colors correct. The company web shows great videos on how to use it.

Has saved my bacon on several shoots now. It's a staple in my bag and will never shoot again without setting my white balance from this card.