Lightdow 12 x 12 Inch (30 x 30 cm) White Balance 18% Gray Reference Reflector Grey Card with Carry Bag [Folded Version]

I simply needed a reference card that's easy to store and take with me that didn't take up any room. This is like any reflector that has the metal frame that folds small and comes with a storage pouch. The frame itself seems well made and feels very durable. I have other similar size reflectors and it doesn't snap open like this one does. The color seems accurate and helps immensely when post editing for good color accuracy. I mainly use the gray side but the white side can be used at any time. Yes, there are some wrinkles on it but doesn't seem to affect the overall image quality. Glad I bought this based on other reviews. I've had more fancy full color cards but always found them cumbersome and had to be careful when traveling with it in its case but this makes portability worth every penny.

This a clever little product that meets my need perfectly. I used mine to perform custom white balancing in the field on my Nikon D600. It came in a small zip bag and pops open when you take it out. I mean Pop! It weighs like a feather and it's cloth over wire frame construction means it's very easy to set up against a tree or whatever in the field, set white balance, then pack it away. So it's both compact and under 4 oz., great for your gear bag in the field. The wire frame makes it less likely than a piece of gray card to blow away. The cloth means it's possibly cleanable as well. Just what I wanted for the field! Light, cheap, reliable, practical. My D600 read the grey face but not the white face. Here's how to fold it back up so it'll fit back into the pouch: Note that it is roughly rectangular with 4 corners. With both hands pinch two catty corners or opposite corners on the diagonal, doesn't matter which two as long as they're catty corner. Bring the 2 corners together so it's pinched together in the middle. You now have 2 corners together and it looks like a sort of butterfly shape. Holding the pinched corners with one hand, turn that hand inward towards you so the back of that hand faces away and the 2 "butterfly wings" face at you. Using your other hand bring the bottom wing up and into the middle so you can now pinch that lobe as well with the hand that has the middles pinched. Now holding all that with one hand, bring the other lobe over and down on top and, keeping it pinched bring it all together in the smallest size and slip it back into the pouch whilst keeping it all pinched together. A lot to write down for you, but do this once and it's a cinch forever!

Works as advertised! Nice, simple, decent carry case! Tom

This grey card is valuable to me because it is large enough to center in on when recording video. It is not super accurate, but it gets me close, and I can tweak settings from there to dial in white balance. The fact that it easily folds up when I’m on the go makes this very portable large target a good value buy for me and deserves a place in my bag for times when the passport style higher end color checker I use is too small or fiddly to use

First, functionality. It’s a gray card, so I expect it to give me 18% neutral gray upon reflectance. And it did ever so easily. I included a couple of test pictures with Bambi. The first picture is indoor, with LED ceiling light on the soft toy. The second picture is when the white balance of the picture is corrected with the gray card. Not bad, isn’t it? I shoot all my pictures in RAW format, and if you happen to use a Mac like I do, you can just load the photos into the Photos app on Mac, go to Edit, then Adjust, and the White Balance menu. Make sure that you select Temperature/Tint in the dropdown box, then click on the little dropper-like icon right beside the dropdown box, and then click on the gray card. It corrects the white balance using the gray card as a reference for neutral gray. Then you can simply copy and paste adjustments and correct the other pictures taken under the same lighting. Simple enough. The Lightdow graycard arrived in a round black polyester bag (about 4 inch in diameter), with a small hoop at the top of the bag for easy attachment to camera bag or backpack by a clip or a caribena. Though the graycard bag material does not convey any feeling of luxury (not that I care anyway), the zipper works very smoothly without any glitch I would typically expect of a poorly constructed bag. The gray card in itself measures about 12 inch by 12 inch when fully extended from its collapsed state in the bag. It is essentially a very soft, velvet like fabric wrapped around some rather flexible plastic scaffold (along the edges of the gray card). So to collapse it back into the bag, you just hold on to the opposite edges of the gray card, twist in opposite directions. Fairly easy, no surprises. Overall, I feel this is a better choice than the credit card sized gray cards, simply because it allows me to take a picture of the gray card without having to stick my lens right onto the smaller gray cards.

Really nice, compact foldable reference surfaces with gray on one side and white on the other. When folded up, it fits nicely in the carry-bag that it comes in. Unzip, pop it open and instant white balance surface for more accurate colors. Very handy. I will say, in the middle of a shoot on location, it is easy to misplace things. Someone on the crew left this at a shoot. We went back to look for it, but it probably blew away and someone that does not know film/photography is wondering what the heck it is. Luckily, these reflectors are a great value and if I'm going to lose any gear, this one was not expensive to replace. I immediately ordered an identical replacement since I liked it and did not have to shop other options.

Exactly as expected and does the job perfectly. Great price and solid product.

Works great

I'm not sure why I didn't have one of these. It should be in every camera bag. Stop relying on your camera's metering and WB reading and use one of these for more accurate results. And for this price, is kind of a no-brainer really. Gave it 4 out of 5 stars only because it popped out of it's pouch and made me leap off of the sofa, and it's a bit annoying to fold back up. Other than that, great purchase. I'm ordering a second one for a friend.

Useful for beginner photographers

Get what I expected.

I love the size and portability of this gray card. It’s thin, lightweight, and folds up easily, making it the perfect tool to always keep in your camera backpack without adding bulk. It’s an excellent, simple product that helps get the white balance right every time. Highly recommended!

Good product