BRNO baLens White Balance Lens Cap

I met Jim Lee at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City last October. Jim was demonstrating his invention, the BRNO baLens Lens Cap. This clever gadget combines a custom white balance tool with a lens cap. The practical offshoot of this combo is that you have one less bit of kit to have to haul around in your camera bag. White balance refers to the color of the light being used to illuminate the subject. Even though the light may look white to our eyes, it may have a color cast to it ranging across the entire visible spectrum (and a little bit beyond depending on the camera used). The color of the light is referred to as the color temperature and is expressed as a numeric value in degrees Kelvin. In the world of film, this is handled by the chemistry of the film used - daylight film for general use, tungsten film for studio lights, IR/UV film for special purposes. In the digital world, a special sensor in the camera tries to determine the color of the light being used. Modern DSLRs have vastly improved Auto White Balance (AWB) sensors but they are not perfect and can be fooled by mixed lighting environments. Modern DSLRs also provide several preset white balance settings as well as a method to input color temperatures (in degrees Kelvin) directly or to take a custom measurement before shooting. However, if one is shooting in RAW mode (and you should be), RAW conversion software will allow to make white balance corrections easily afterwards. The only time this does not work is if the target has no white/gray/black on them for the software to get a reading. In this case, one must take a custom white balance reading by using a white/gray card and taking a test shot. So now we have two schools of thought on this matter: * Shoot AWB and fix in post. * Shoot with custom white balance and get it right in the camera (mostly). On the surface, the "Fix it in post" school of thought seems to be the logical choice except in those cases where there is no white/gray/black to take a reading off of. Or is it?

Above you see three photos. Actually, there are two photos, the middle photo is a copy of the left one. Shot Specs: * Nikon D300 * CV Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II lens * 1/13s * f/2.8 * ISO 1600 * Recorded as lossless compressed NEFs * Illumination provided by two (2) Ikea Kvart reading lamps w/R-25 warm fluorescent bulbs Post Processing * Mac Pro 2.8 GHz w/12GB RAM used for post processing. * Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 * Nvidia 8800GT + Dell WFP3007 30" Display * Calibrated using Spyder3Studio * Processed with Apple Aperture 2.1.2 64-bit * Default Sharpening/NR The photo on the left was shot using the D300's AWB sensor. The center photo is the same shot with WB adjusted in Aperture 2. The photo on the right was shot with a custom white balance calculated by pointing the camera with baLENS cap mounted on the lens directly at the light source and taking a reading. The image below shows you what the camera saw when it took the reading.

The following table summarizes the final white balance temperatures calculated by each method:

Method	Temperature	Tint
Auto White Balance	3099K	8
Post WB Adjust	2954K	27
baLens Custom WB	3024K	20

* As you can see from the data, the D300's AWB sensor leaned towards the cooler temps with tint slightly favoring magenta. * Adjusting the image in post using Aperture's WB selector tool yields temps about 150K warmer with tint more heavily leaning towards magenta - cooling the image overall. * The baLens shot is only 75K warmer that the AWB shot, but it too, favored a heavier magenta tint cooling the overall image but not as much as Aperture did. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The terms "cooler" and "warmer" can be a little confusing with regards to color temperature. "Cool" light tends to have more blue in it and thus has a higher color temperature - blue being physically hotter. "Warm" light leans towards the red end of the spectrum and has a lower color temperature - red-hot is cooler than blue-hot.] So which method is best? That is entirely up to you and what you are trying to accomplish. Based on my little unscientific test above, the baLens will deliver a result that falls between the reading given by the camera's AWB sensor and the RAW converter's WB algorithms. Factors that can affect this result include: clouds, lens used, RAW converter used, and camera's AWB sensor. YMMV. I found the output from the baLens to most closely resemble the scene I shot. I personally favor the cooler lighting of the Post AWB shot, but in this case the baLens shot was most accurate. For event photographers, that means dozens, if not hundreds of hours saved in front of the computer. From a convenience standpoint, the BRNO baLens is brilliant. Snap it on instead of your regular lens cap and you never have to worry about bringing the white balance tool or the gray card again. The baLens ships with two inserts: the standard one used here and a warmer one if you prefer to shoot that way. The BRNO baLens is available at the usual suspects (B&H, Adorama, etc...) and prices range from $44.95 - $64.95. Sizes range from 52-77mm. If you wish to purchase one or more, please support this site by clicking on the B&H link to the right and order from there.

Nikon Releases D700 Ahead of Schedule

Ending many months of speculation, Nikon has announced the existence of the long rumored D700, an FX sensor DSLR in a compact body. Aimed squarely at the Canon 5D, the D700 has several features that surpass the current Canon 5D:

Features

12.1 megapixel FX (full-frame) CMOS sensor with high signal-to-noise ratio, wide dynamic range, and built-in self-cleaning sensor unit that minimizes dust.

ISO 200 – 6400: extendable up to 25600 (equivalent) and down to ISO 100 (equivalent).

5fps continuous shooting (8fps with optional MB-D10 battery pack with lithium-ion battery EN-EL4a or 8 AA batteries).

EXPEED image processing engine with 14-bit A/D conversion and 16-bit image processing for superb detail and tonal gradation.

Advanced Scene Recognition System combines the camera’s metering and AF sensors for precise exposures and sharply defined images.

Multi-CAM3500FX 51-point AF system. Individually selectable or configurable in 9-point, 21-point and 51-point coverage settings.

Picture Controls streamline in-camera image processing by enabling the pre-set customization of image parameters such as sharpening, contrast, brightness, hue and saturation in various color modes.

920,000 dot 3-inch VGA LCD monitor with wide, 170-degree viewing angle.

Live View with Autofocus enables composition of images by use of the LCD monitor. Two modes are supported: Handheld or Tripod.

DX Crop Mode can be automatically enabled when a DX format lens is attached.

Quick response: approx. 40 ms shutter-lag.

Active D-Lighting enables superior high-contrast images by automatically applying tone compensation at the moment of capture.

HDMI video output interface enables connection to high-definition video systems.

Intuitive ergonomics with optimized button placement for fast and comfortable handling.

Durable Magnesium alloy body: moisture and dust resistant.

Wireless LAN and Ethernet support via optional Wireless Transmitter WT-4.

Specifications

Effective pixels	12.1 million
Image sensor	CMOS sensor, 36.0 x 23.9 mm; total pixels: 12.87 million; Nikon FX format
Image size (pixels)	FX format (36 x 24): 4,256 x 2,832 [L], 3,184 x 2,120 [M], 2,128 x 1,416 [S] DX format (24 x 16): 2,784 x 1,848 [L], 2,080 x 1,384 [M], 1,392 x 920 [S]
Sensitivity	ISO 200 to 6400 in steps of 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV; can be set to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, or 1 (ISO 100 equivalent) EV below ISO 200, or to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1 (ISO 12800 equivalent), or 2 (ISO 25600 equivalent) EV over ISO 6400
Storage media	CompactFlash (Type I, compliant with UDMA)
Monitor	3-in., approx. 920,000-dot (VGA), 170-degree wide-viewing-angle, 100% frame coverage, low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with brightness adjustment
Exposure metering	3D Color Matrix Metering II, Center-Weighted and Spot Metering
Exposure modes	Programmed Auto (P) with flexible program, Shutter-Priority Auto (S), Aperture-Priority Auto (A), Manual (M)
Interface	Hi-Speed USB
Power sources	One Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e, Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 (optional) with one Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL4a/4/3e, or eight R6/AA-size alkaline (LR6), Ni-MH (HR6), lithium (FR6) batteries, or nickel-manganese (ZR6) batteries
Dimensions (W x H x D)	Approx. 147 x 123 x 77 mm (5.8 x 4.8 x 3.0 in.)
Weight	Approx. 995 g (2.19 lb.) without battery, memory card, body cap or LCD monitor cover