C300: To White card or to Gray card

[New_Zealand]

I've seen videos on this subject one saying use gray card and the other saying use white card. I have done both and was wondering what you guys prefer using to WB with?

 

[Doug Jensen]

It doesn't make any difference as long as the card is color neutral and you don't overexpose it. So use whichever one is most convenient to you.

 

[drummondb]

Yeah, a white card becomes a gray card as you lower your exposure.

 

[Alexander.M]

Just curious - should one always white balance using gray card or white card? I rarely see people doing this on set for narrative work.

 

[drummondb]

Well, I imagine on set everyone already knows the color temp of the lights they just set up, so they know what preset to use.

 

[mikemilton]

Just my preference, but I like to use a chip chart and to use gray to set skintones in the waveform. The advantage of a full chip chart if that many of them (and some third party plugins, or even Davinci Resolve) will automatically correct ALL colours. All you need to do is show the program where the chips are and the colours are automatically calibrated.

 

[Doug Jensen]

WarmCards have been a consistent and fool-proof way of getting better skin tones for almost 20 years. If I'm not shooting LOG, I always use WarmCards on indoor setups. It's just as fast and easy as a white card and provides more consistency from setup to setup, even with different crews and/or locations.
https://www.vortexmediastore.com/pages/warmcards-white-balance-system

 

[mizzar]

I've seen videos on this subject one saying use gray card and the other saying use white card. I have done both and was wondering what you guys prefer using to WB with?

In my experience a gray card is better because it can be used as a more helpful exposure tool (for example when shooting in CLog2, an 18% gray card should be at 39.5% luminance).

For setting custom white balance, it doesn’t matter really except that a white card may get dirty faster, which could change its color easier than a gray card.

 

[Joshua_G]

Just my preference, but I like to use a chip chart and to use gray to set skintones in the waveform. The advantage of a full chip chart if that many of them (and some third party plugins, or even Davinci Resolve) will automatically correct ALL colours. All you need to do is show the program where the chips are and the colours are automatically calibrated.

1. What do you mean by 'full chip chart'? Do you mean color chart? If yes, which one?

2. How do you automatically correct, or calibrate, all colors in Davinci Resolve once noting, or marking, the location of the 'chip chart', or color chart?