ExpoImaging ExpoDisc ▶︎ Getting Perfect White Balance the Easy Way

If you have an on Camera flash how do you use the expodisc

maybe the expodisc for portrait will warm , and the neutral for landcape, is it the neutral one that you have?

Did not like how you explained the use of the product.

I have one. Tricky for video use

Where can I find the color card that you're using?

very confusing is any way just getting a model

Great, thorough and clear. Thanks so much!

lots of poeple say not so good. Auto WB

What do YOU say about it? are you using it more now that you learned how to use it? is it worth the $

Great video. Thank you. How would you go about using this outdoors? Pointing it towards the sun would surely fry the sensor. Any suggestions?

Hello there! Just ran across your video and was quite surprised to see how many people in the comments used this wrong! 😊 I've used the ExpoDisk 2.0 for years and (maybe it's cause I read the information that came with it) thankfully I have been using it correctly the entire time! Glad this video is out there so people who maybe have had difficulty using it can see the proper use cases and how to get the best results! Thanks PhotoJoseph!

Useless and for lazy people"

If you're taking portraits it would seem like the ExpoDisc is useless because you're using strobe lighting. How can that do a white balance during the time of a flash burst? Unless you use the flash photo in post production.

You know... when you set the playback speed on PhotoJoseph's videos to 75%, it sound perfectly normal. Try it, you'll see!

I own an Expodisc2 and use it occasionally, especially if I don't see some neutral gray (kinda) in the picture I'm taking. If I do then I adjust the white balance in Lightroom, or Elements of Photoshop, and it's good enough for me and my family. I have used the Expodisc and found it to be very good. My question is BEFORE is it necessary to use the Expodisc and get the exposure right down the middle before using it? Is there much of a difference if you just use the camera to get the right exposure before, or use the Expodisc to get the right exposure first?

I carry a ream of paper on my car, always great white balance, why the disk when a simple sheet of paper does the job, been doing it sice 2010.

White text over yellow? Dude, really?

I have one and use it when shooting people. Do not use it for landscapes, wildlife, sports, etc. Does help with weddings and face shots or glamor shots where you want to be right. Remember, if the light source changes (late evening with the sun setting) you have to reset for the new light.

First off I thank you for your help in the past. Joseph I have use No filters for over 20 years & trained by Janice Wendt. I brought Nik Filters 4. I could get it to my Mac M1 to work in Photoshop. There is no tech support for Nik’s now since they were brought I need help to get my Nik’s to work inside of my Nik filters 4.
I have a 12” Mac 2012 laptop with Nik’s filters 3 on it. Inorder to do my retouching I have import my file into my Nik’s filter 3 on my 12” 2012 Mac laptop computer to use Nik’s
If you have a contact number go Nik’s 4 customer service. This would be great or a email for a intelligent customer service person at Nik’s or what ever the French owners are called now . This would be great. I was going to Nik 5. I would do this irritate myself

How would this work when shooting outdoors and not in a static spot?

It's 'incorrectly'.

Unnecessarily long talk

Thanks!

Actually, you are talking so much the interest in learning becomes irritating. Why not just set up and show step by step while talking and then show us. This expo disc is something that has always caused a huge issue with me because its more difficult than it needs to be

your talking is great but we can't actually see you do the work, talking and doing is different, we need to see the process not afterwards

Expodisk does exactly what I can do with one change in WB setting in clear sky daylight, except I gotta pay $50 and fiddle with some dangly thing in front of my lens first??? No thanks.

There’s a sucker born every minute.

Fantastic video - thank you! One thing that I’m still not 100% on that I’m hoping you can answer here: I shoot video in a studio location - it’s always the same in terms of the subject, the lights and the camera positions. However there are a total of four angles that I shoot so the cameras are getting a slightly different image each in terms of white balance. I’ve used a color checker in the past and it’s pretty OK but especially with my background lights being purple and cyan it’s still not as good as I think it could be.

Now I’m wondering if in the case of using the Expodisc I’d have to point each of the cameras to where they are shooting from correct? So one would be straight ahead, one is an overhead shot, one is on the right at an angle and the last one left at an angle.

Hope the makes sense 😅
Thanks for the help!

Love the video!!! Keep up the great work!

Is it okay to point the expodic with your camera at the direct sun? So, can you get your white balance and exposure?

I have it but it has not been completely clear to me where I have to sign up to do it well, for example if I'm going to record at a restaurant where I sign up? Or imagine that I'm going to take pictures in a gym, I thought I had to point to the subject but I see that I don't... could you tell me some tips thank you very much

So really the disc only good for controlled studio lighting rather than outdoors or in a mixed lighting environment. I'll stick to AWB or my grey card

I had read in the instructions sometime back that before taking an incident light reading from the light source, you should use the Expo disc and point it at the subject to get/select the best exposure and then go to the subject and use it the way you talk about. There is a subtle difference when one does that. But there is a difference. Is it something that can be corrected in post-processing especially when shooting in RAW? Yes, definitely, and sometimes one doesn't have the time to jump back from source to subject. Just something I had read on the Expo Disc site. A very good tutorial on the Expo Disc. An excellent tool for when your picture does not have 18% grey area or even white and is all in color.

Very engaging speaker. One of the best I've seen. Thanks for the info.

I don’t understand. If you are pointing your camera at the light source then how do you take a picture of your subject. The light on your subject is going to be a bit different. So you set the white balance in kelvins and then use that kelvin for the WB on your subject?

I am sure your a very nice man, but you talk to fast and kind of mumble throughout the video. For us old people you must slow down.

The Expodisc is meant as an incident light meter, not a reflective one. It doesn't matter if you're in the shade or even under the same light source as that landscape waaaaaaaaaaaay over yonder. The light on a landscape in the distance will not be the same amount of light falling on the environment immediately around you where you're standing, and it's not hitting the landscape at the same angles as it's hitting you and your immediate environs so the same amount of light isn't hitting every visible part of the landscape the same way. It may seem that way but it's not. There's a reason you don't use an incident light meter (in incident mode anyhow) to meter this scenario. It's not possible to get an accurate incident reading of the exact amount of light falling on that landscape if you're not actually there, which is why it's better to base that reading off of reflective metering and adjust accordingly. Ask yourself why no landscape photographer ever uses incident metering for distant landscapes.

My expo disc looks different. Mine looks the same on both sides! What is the deal with that. Mine doesn't have a diffused side.

I've used the ExpoDisc 2.0 for about twelve years. I use it every time I shoot.

Great video, I recently learned how to you the Expo Disc.

Here’s what still confuses me, if I’m photographing a landscape l can’t usually get all the way to what I want to photograph.
Of course l can go a few meters forward and look back at the camera’s position with the Expo attached but, many times there are parts of the scene between the camera and subject that are being hit by different intensities of light that aren’t picked up by the Expo because it’s not far enough away from the camera position. How can l determine how much of a difference this will make?

do you have to adjust exposure setting after taking one with the expodisk?

laughs in canon settings menu

Thank you for this. It was a big leap forward realizing that temperature of light does not equal temperature of the light on subject, bouncing into the lens.

If I’m understanding this correctly you stand where the subject will be and take the balance shot pointing toward where I’d be standing to take the photo??? Please let me know if I’m correct or not… ❤ also have had this thing for a decade and I’m just now pulling it out and trying to figure it out exactly as you did. That made me chuckle 😂

Just saw this and was interested in how you would present the expodisc, nicely done. I started using the expodisc about 3 yrs ago when the photos I was taking with multi-speedlights were bad. So I learned about WB, and that camera auto wb is not always great. I carry the expodisc with me and always use it. The only time I do not use it is when it's a concept photo, the type of photo I take and make what ever I want with, sometime taking the picture without looking at the viewfinder, just pointing the lens at what I see (sort of Are Bure Boke style photography), so color is not a priority!

This is not working work flash, only working without flash