Do you really need all 4 WhiBal cards?

[fastcarve]

I just watched the videos and I'm considering purchasing WhiBal.

What I'm really curious about is how often people really need all 4 cards. I shoot RAW only, at least for anything I care about. I use the histogram to check exposure based on my actual subject and don't see a need for a black card and white card. Am I missing something on the purpose/value here?

From a convenience perspective, it looks like it would be nice to have only the light gray WhiBal card available without having the three less important cards always attached.

I'm more interested in convenience than cost. Is it easy to disassemble the WhiBal and only carry around one card? Is the light gray available for sale by itself? Am I really missing the need/value of the other cards for RAW-only shooting?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[MichaelT]

The reason for the 4 cards is so that you always have a Black and White point reference in your reference shots. Sometimes it comes in handy and there it is provided. There is nothing that stops you from dissasembling the WhiBal and just using 1 card.

We are consider new card offerings for a few months down the road.

[sprexumn]

I had the same thought. After watching all the excellent videos, still I can't say I really see any real need for the white and black cards. They weren't used in any of the examples and I don't see how they would be used.

The one use I can think of for them would be to hold the white one in the brightest light of the scene and make sure it doesn't wash out the highlights on the histogram. And similar for holding the black in the deepest shadow of the scene. That might help theoretically, but in the real world the object in the brightest light probably isn't white and the object in the shadows probably isn't black so the card readings wouldn't really be as useful as just metering off the objects themselves.

The practical utility of the grey card for white balancing is totally clear.

I tend to be a minimalist, and so I just can't stomach the thought of carrying around four times as much as what I need. I'm sure that carrying extra batteries or memory cards or filters would be more useful to me than the white and black cards.

So I highly encourage development of a single grey card. The only question is whether it needs protection and if so how to protect it. The one real advantage of the white and black cards is they protect the grey cards when not in use.

Anyway, I want to say that this site is the most honest commercial site I have ever seen. Many other companies would keep remeasuring their products until they found samples that measured significantly better than the competition. The fact that MT posted results where his cards measure about the same as everyone else is a true sign that he can be trusted. MT seems like a straight talker, even mentioning his quality control problems and the steps that he is taking to address them. That kind of dedication to truth and transparency is exactly what makes me want to buy from him.

[MichaelT]

Thanks for the kind words and the feedback.

Regarding the 4 cards....

I also mostly use the light gray, but under different exposures, and or lighting that might reflect off of one card differently than the other, I find have the 3 lighter cards useful. Also based on not wanting to have seperate JPEG and RAW versions.

The Black sticker often provides the perfect blackpoint setting to be done. it is either perfect or wrong, soa quick click is easy and fast in CO or PS.

We are constantly refining our products and processes and will continue to do this based on our own use, findings and the feedback from our quite large user base.

Thanks again.

[Aussie_Blue]

Anyway, I want to say that this site is the most honest commercial site I have ever seen. Many other companies would keep remeasuring their products until they found samples that measured significantly better than the competition. The fact that MT posted results where his cards measure about the same as everyone else is a true sign that he can be trusted. MT seems like a straight talker, even mentioning his quality control problems and the steps that he is taking to address them. That kind of dedication to truth and transparency is exactly what makes me want to buy from him.

That is the attraction of this product, Michael makes no extravagant claims that can be easily be disproved, in fact he openly brings up issues himself. The key benefit of the Whibal system is that it equals everything else (or is slightly better) but it is simple and easy to use and being in a convenient format it is always available. A real winning combination.