Inexpensive White Balance Cards?
 

Hi,

I'm looking for some suggestions on what to use for white balance cards. I'm not interested in spending $65 for WarmCards.

I have a Canon GL2. The other night, I setup in my dining room to take some shots of my wifes scrap booking cards. I used the halogen work light from my garage to get the illumination I needed, and I grabbed a piece of paper from my printer to white balance with.

Problem is, the shots all came out pinkish. I'm assuming this has something to do with the paper. I think it may have a slight bluish tint to it.

Where can I get a cheap "true" white card to white balance with?

Thanks!

I got a set of 3 cards from Amazon (through one of their "used" department) for something like $10 (or a little bit more). It's a Kodak set that includes 2 large cards and a small one you can easily carry on your bag. The card is white on one side and 18% grey on the other side. So everybody is happy (white vs grey balancing).

Dany

Thanks. Actually, I found something I already have: a sheet of Matte Heavyweight Photo paper by Epson. I did a bunch of test shots around the house last night in various rooms with different lighting, white balancing in each room. The colors turned out great!

The most inexpensive white balance card is a regular white piece of paper. In fact, some of the PR people in this county are so camera savvy, that the first thing they do after they walk up to the mic podium is hold up the piece of paper they have their speech written on, in front of their face, so all of the camera-persons can adjust.

It's almost like a weird, unspoken ritual.

How simple is that?