Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

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Archive 2004 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

jmcfadden
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p.4 #1 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Tom

this is the genesis of the Hickspodisc legend

J

great work

Jan 17, 2004 at 02:27 AM

Sectarian
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p.4 #2 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Home Depot didn't have the filter refills, but I bought a respirator mask. After bringing it home I can confirm that the white is exactly the same brightness and tonality as the kodak white card. Respirator mask material should be 100% accurate for generating white balance. Congratulations, the Hickspodisc is born. Good work.

M

Jan 17, 2004 at 03:56 AM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #3 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Try Sherwin Williams Paint stores.

Jan 17, 2004 at 04:01 AM

christo™
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p.4 #4 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Tom, try to not drink the whole pot of coffee every time you "waste one" on your lens...

Jan 17, 2004 at 07:29 AM

Littlebike
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p.4 #5 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Has anybody scanned an actual 18% card and a filter then compared them in photoshop? Seems to me it would be the best way to find out for sure, or at least, resonable certainty.

Jan 17, 2004 at 01:39 PM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #6 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

christo™ wrote:
Tom, try to not drink the whole pot of coffee every time you "waste one" on your lens...

Christo, The shake in the first ones not from the coffe, I'm just so excited about bring everyone the info. ahahahhaha

Jan 17, 2004 at 01:48 PM

fat bloke
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p.4 #7 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

interesting
the respirator white balance also reduces camera shake (joke)

nice piece of lateral thinking macro guru

Jan 17, 2004 at 01:49 PM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #8 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/66016

I've have gotten 8 e-mails and 5 PM's on my technique used to take these photos as far as WB is concerned. So here it is.

First, use the steps they say in your book on how to set WB , but when you take the pic put the filters or filter right up to the lens not letting any light get in from the sides. Put the lens in manual focus and take the pic, If i'm taking a pic of say the frog as I did in the link I put the lens against the glass right in front of the intended subject and took the pic. Now I know that most everyone here is smarter then I so this next statement my not mean much, but I learned the hard way. IF YOU INTEND TO USE THE FLASH ,THEN YOU NEED TO USE THE FLASH WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR PIC FOR WHITE BALANCE , if you don't then your next shot with the flash will have a very blue cast. sorry i don't have a example of this , I was deleting as I went.

Edited by THicks on Jan 17, 2004 at 08:15 AM GMT

Jan 17, 2004 at 02:09 PM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #9 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Littlebike wrote:
Has anybody scanned an actual 18% card and a filter then compared them in photoshop? Seems to me it would be the best way to find out for sure, or at least, resonable certainty.

Look here, I think Mickey did some test of some kind.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/64826

Jan 17, 2004 at 02:14 PM

Mark Booth
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p.4 #10 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Tom,

Please forgive me... I can't seem to find the explanation of the method you used to assemble your Hickspodisk. I understand you used a 77mm UV filter to start with but how did you attach the coffee filter material (or respirator filter) to the UV filter? I see mention of another piece of glass. Did you glue the extra piece of glass to the UV filter with the coffee or respirator filter material sandwiched between? If so, what kind of glue did you use and did you simply glue around the edges?

My apologies if you've already explained this. I've scanned all of the other threads I can find but I don't see it.

Thanks!

Mark

Jan 17, 2004 at 02:23 PM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #11 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Mark Booth wrote:
Tom,

Please forgive me... I can't seem to find the explanation of the method you used to assemble your Hickspodisk. I understand you used a 77mm UV filter to start with but how did you attach the coffee filter material (or respirator filter) to the UV filter? I see mention of another piece of glass. Did you glue the extra piece of glass to the UV filter with the coffee or respirator filter material sandwiched between? If so, what kind of glue did you use and did you simply glue around the edges?

My apologies if you've already explained this. I've scanned all of the other threads I can find but I don't see it.

Thanks!

Mark

I'm sorry Mark, on the UV filter I unscrewed the little ring that holds the glass in I then cut the coffee filters to fit on topof the glass then I screwed the ring back on to hold it all together. And did the same for the respirator filter, however it was a little tight, The Respirator filter is just about 77mm a little larger ,and it will fit right on the lens , just push it on then take the pic.

Jan 17, 2004 at 02:42 PM

dparish
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p.4 #12 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

My favorite cooking show is Good Eats. Partly because the host (Alton Brown) finds ways to make better cooking tools for less. For instance he loves terra cotta pots from Home Depot. This is wonderful. It just proves that creativity and a hardware store can solve any problem.

Bush wants us to go to the moon and mars. I think if we start a thread on it here we can figure out how to do it using just what we find in Aisle 5 at Home Depot

I tried the coffee filter and loved it. I'm off to get these filters next. You guys ROCK!!!

-Dave

Jan 17, 2004 at 04:45 PM

proimage1
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p.4 #13 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

christo™ wrote:
Tom, try to not drink the whole pot of coffee every time you "waste one" on your lens...

( I've got a whole bag of mr cofffee filters in my bag already -- now I have to get these too

Hope some non photographer doesn't peek in there

Tom

Jan 17, 2004 at 05:55 PM

Sunny Sra
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p.4 #14 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

ju just saved me $130 !! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Jan 17, 2004 at 11:14 PM

schifferphotog
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p.4 #15 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

QUESTION: Does the natural properties of the uv filter effect the white balance when using the Hickspodisc? ........Great tip.... just wondering if that was factored in the equation.

Jan 18, 2004 at 12:03 AM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #16 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

schifferphotog wrote:
QUESTION: Does the natural properties of the uv filter effect the white balance when using the Hickspodisc? ........Great tip.... just wondering if that was factored in the equation.

don , it doesn't seem to have any effect, The glass is there just to give it some support.

Jan 18, 2004 at 12:08 AM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #17 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

This is the new improved L series Hickspo Disc. with the PRISMATIC front element to collect and direct the light where needed.

Jan 18, 2004 at 01:29 AM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #18 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Jan 18, 2004 at 01:30 AM

twwilliams
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p.4 #19 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

So what's the prismatic material on the front? And does it make any difference?

Thanks, BTW, for the Hickspo disc. I'm going to hit the hardware store in the next couple of days and get a respirator. I've been getting by with the Pringles lid on my D30 so far.

Jan 18, 2004 at 01:36 AM

Jack Flesher
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p.4 #20 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Great find Tom!

For all you measurebators that are leery of these types of things, I just spent a few minutes digging around in my garage and low and behold, found my paint respirator pre-filters

So being leery myself, I got out my trusty Sekonic 558 combo meter and metered an overhead light from 3 feet with the dome on the meter -- 1/15th @ f4.3 ISO 100. I then switched to spot and metered through the respirator at 3 feet -- 1/15th @ f4.5. This makes my pre-filters within 1/3 stop of neutral gray in transmission -- way close enough for WB. So the question remains as to how neutral in color are they really? I don't have a color meter, but as soon as the sun is up tomorrow, I will compare the filter to the gray card, though I suspect it is very close to a true neutral.

You Da Man, Tom!

Jack

Jan 18, 2004 at 02:24 AM

DavidP
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p.4 #21 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

They don't NEED to be close in "18% transmissibility". That's what exposure compensation is for.

The simplest way to see if it's neutral (color-wise) is to set-up some tungsten lights (or something constant), and create a custom WB by shooting into the lights. Then take a picture of a gray card using that custom WB, and check the results.

Jan 18, 2004 at 02:43 AM

Jack Flesher
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p.4 #22 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Uhhh -- that's exactly what I'm going to David, only I'm going to do it under sunlight (neutral since I live at near sea-level in a middle lattitude) instead of tungsten which is not. I could set up my studio strobes, but frankly that is more effort than I want to put into this

PS: the very reason I think the 18% transmission is important is specifically so I do NOT have to dial in any EV to make it "gray" -- I am a lazy photographer and don't like to have to "think" about the tools I use

Cheers,

Jack

Jan 18, 2004 at 02:47 AM

Tom Hicks
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p.4 #23 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Do I tell him? man I can't give away all my secrets.

Jan 18, 2004 at 02:47 AM

DavidP
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p.4 #24 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

If it's going to work, it should work for sunlight AND tungsten.

If you can't make it work for both, then I guess you'd better choose which one you shoot more often.

Or have two HickspoDiscs.

Jan 18, 2004 at 02:52 AM

Jack Flesher
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p.4 #25 · Yet another alternative to ExpoDisc

Well I have my cameras dialed in (calibrated) currently for neutral sunlight hence I can compare the settings needed to "correct" the test shots in PS and generate an approximation of the CC imparted by the Hickspotamponultradisk

Cheers,

Jack

Jan 18, 2004 at 03:03 AM


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