White balance lens cap

Horden Hillbilly

Horden Hillbilly

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David
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Hi , I'm just wondering if anyone has used these & has an opinion on them. I'm hoping to see a nice hoar frost or light snowfall this winter, I live near a dene & it would be nice to take some photos of the white trees. After reading on the net & seeing youtube clips, I see that having a blue shade to snow scenes can be a problem. For what I use my camera for, I don't really want to shoot in raw & have to edit my photos. These may be suitable for my needs to set a custom white balance.

Just a little about me, I've got a Canon 1000d, kit lens, 55-250 & 50mm 1.8 lenses & as a light user, have no desire to upgrade.

I do realise that a grey card would probably be the best option, but those caps look a cheap & easy solution to a light user like I am.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Hi, These lens caps can work reasonably well as can the coffee filter idea. What you must realize though is you can only get a reasonably accurate reading with them if the light falling on the filter/cap is the same as that falling on the subject/scene that you want to photograph.

They will not work accurately if for instance you are standing in the shade and want to take a shot of a subject/scene in the sun. In that instance you will get a white balance for the shaded light which will be totally wrong.

To get an accurate reading with them they need to be used as you would when obtaining an incident light reading, ie pointing towards the light that is falling on your subject/scene and facing the spot where your camera will be.

A grey card is a much better option as you can also take a sample shot with the grey card in the frame and thus use this with for an accurate white balance should you decide to do some PP.

This may not be very well explained but I hope it all makes sense to you.
 
Thanks everyone. G.K.Jnr, I follow what you're saying. In that case, it may be better not to take a white balance where you're taking the photo from, but if you can, take the white balance from where your subject is, then take your photo.
 
Horden Hillbilly said:
Thanks everyone. G.K.Jnr, I follow what you're saying. In that case, it may be better not to take a white balance where you're taking the photo from, but if you can, take the white balance from where your subject is, then take your photo.
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Hi, That's exactly what I said.
 
I have one.It is to blue. I get a better result from a grey card or white a4 piece of paper.
 
All these solutions will work if you use them correctly, but shooting raw and adjusting the white balance in post processing - if necessary - is still the easiest and most flexible approach. I know you said you don't want to edit, but Canons come with DPP, so why not use raw for the snow scenes if you're not sure of the WB? You can adjust it and convert to JPEG very easily, and you don't have to use raw for anything else if you'd rather not.
 
Thanks Kestral & Martyn.

I've had a look at DPP & some you tube clips on how to use it & tips for snow scene white balance settings & I think that I understand it a lot more now.

Your suggestion sounds ok to me Martyn, I've been happy with the way my photos look straight out of the camera, I've maybe gave some of them a little crop, straightened landscapes, etc, & that's about all the editing that I do. I've took some RAW photos of white kitchen items, ie cooker, fridge, & had a bit play with them in DPP & I'm happy with the results of my editing & I now see that I've got more chance of correcting photos which are took in RAW. I think I will keep on shooting in jpeg, but I'll take any "white" photos in RAW.

Now, all I'm waiting for is a nice hoar frost or a dusting of snow.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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