How to Fix WB In-Camera With a Grey Card

How to Fix WB In-Camera With a Grey Card

The exact way of setting the white balance in camera with a grey card might differ from below, depending on the manufacturers.

Check your camera manual or search on Google about custom white balance and specify your camera’s model.

• Place the grey card in the scene;
• Set the camera to manual focus;
• Frame the shot so that the grey card fills the whole frame. Don’t worry about the sharpness of the image. It will work fine even if it’s out of focus;
• Check exposure and adjust if you need to;
• Press the WB button while turning the main dial until you select PRE.
• Release the button. Press and hold it again until the letters PRE start flashing.
• Take the photo of the grey card before PRE stops flashing.
• That´s all! The camera has just created a WB preset based on the photo you just took.

In other camera models, you might need to take a photo of the grey card and then select it in the Custom White Balance as the reference image.

Exposure Measurement

White Balance Calibration

Here's how it works:

1. Exposure Measurement: By metering the light falling on the gray card, photographers can determine the correct exposure settings for their camera. This is especially useful in situations where the light may be uneven or challenging to measure accurately.

2. White Balance Calibration: Gray cards are neutral in color, and this neutrality helps in setting the correct white balance for a photograph. Photographers can use the gray card as a reference point for adjusting the color temperature of the image, ensuring that whites appear truly white without any color casts.

To use a gray card, you typically take a test shot with the card in the scene under the same lighting conditions as your subject. Then, during post-processing, you can use the values from the gray card to adjust exposure and white balance for the entire set of photos taken under similar lighting conditions.