General White cards or 18% grey cards for white balance?

I'm not going to explain it here, but you need to understand the "Zone System" of photography to understand exposure.

I wouldn't include shutter speed to get exposure. Shutter speed should be set to "180 degrees" or twice the frame rate, 1/50 for 24P and 1/60 for 30P.

Aperture is then set to set depth of field. Light your scene for a lower Iso and less noise.

More common is videography is a color chart:

ColorChecker.gif

This is used to standardize color from scene to scene and shot to shot. You record an image of it before you start shooting to calibrate it later in Post.

I don't have much time this morning, I hope I've provided some answers.
 
JoeJITSU said:
I know how to set white balance...Now how do I set exposure? Is there a way to set both? Or you can only do one?
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Set WB after setting exposure. Save your setting if you're using a user defined setting, camera will lost the setting and revert to original setting once camera powers down.

You can set both separately.
 
JoeJITSU said:
Huh? Ok when I set white balance I set it with a white card and go to "custom". So My question is...people say the grey cards are for exposure. Someone please explain to this newb.
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Here's the deal: your camera's metering wants to make everything 18% grey. So if the subject is white (like a flower, or a building, or clothing), exposing to the camera's meter is probably going to underexpose the image. If it's black, the image will be overexposed. Set the grey card in front of the camera (centered, to fill most of the frame), under the same lighting you'll have for your subject, and set the exposure.
 
read online about the zone system. 18% grey is middle grey. You should know what this looks like. I believe the Canons have a spot meter while in movie mode, find an area in your image close to 18% "middle" grey or just use the card and hold the shutter button down halfway. Look on the meter at the bottom of the display and see if you are "over" or "under" exposing the 18% grey. Adjust accordingly.

If you're using a nuetral picture style, you want to underexpose your image by 1 stop. Read about the zone system and you'll understand stops. Try the wiki. Underexposing by a stop is a good rule for digital video since the highlights tend to clip so easily. Adjust the image in post.
 
GENIUS! You guys just got me off the noob base (1rst base). Sweet. Thank you guys. Im approaching 2nd base (Amateur league)
 
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