[shuttertalk]

Hey I just saw this - great concept if it works...

Unlike a gray card, the White Balance Cap takes no extra room in your gear bag. Just replace your existing lens cap with this one and you'll always be able to white balance with no additional equipment.

Simply flip your camera into custom White Balance mode, snap a photo with your White Balance Lens Cap on, and your camera creates a perfect profile of the actual lighting in front of you.

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/w...2-15-email

Anyone heard of / tried one of these before?

[EnglishBob]

I fail to see how it can work...as very little actual light is involved in the calculation. Everything else is held in front of the lens, with LIGHT falling on it.

Although I guess it is just an evolved pringle can lid.

[ADK_Jim]

It works on the light passing through the translucent center. There are other products that work on the same principle which is not unlike the way an incident meter works. Some others of this type: the Color Right <http://tinyurl.com/a4bd82>, the SpectraSnap <http://phoxle.com/SpectraSnapWBFilters.html>, ExpoDisk <http://tinyurl.com/7eah9n>. There are more out there. Here's an article that compares several of this type <http://www.ppmag.com/web-exclusives/2008/11/product-comparison-white-balan-1.html>

ADK Jim

[Kombisaurus]

Haven't video cameras been doing this for years? Certainly my old panasonic VHS-C camera (from the last millenium) has a lens cap like that.
I never quite understood why it seems popular with video cameras but not with still cameras though... after all, white balance is white balance. It makes sense and it's not like lens caps really need to be any colour in particular.

I'd also like to see maybe some colour-coded rings or markings on a lens cap to indicate it's size. It is fairly easy to confuse the Canon 77mm and 72mm caps or the 72mm and 67mm ones and accidently pick up the wrong size. If they had little coloured markers then it wouldn't happen. They could do the same thing with filters too.

[shuttertalk]

Thanks for the links, Jim - very helpful. Funny that in the comparison article, one of the units looks like a cupcake liner...

[ADK_Jim]

The one that looks like a cupcake liner is actually a coffee filter for a Melitta coffee maker. If you check out the test comparison photos it preforms surprisingly well and can be had in the local supermarket by the box full. The Melitta coffee filter produced the best overall results from what I could see on the comparison. I suspect that other coffee filter brands would work as well.

ADK Jim

[EnglishBob]

The one that looks like a cupcake liner is actually a coffee filter for a Melitta coffee maker. If you check out the test comparison photos it preforms surprisingly well and can be had in the local supermarket by the box full. The Melitta coffee filter produced the best overall results from what I could see on the comparison. I suspect that other coffee filter brands would work as well.

ADK Jim

Yes, but what does the coffee taste like?

[ADK_Jim]

Yes, but what does the coffee taste like?

I have no idea. I never drink coffee.

ADK Jim

[shuttertalk]

The one that looks like a cupcake liner is actually a coffee filter for a Melitta coffee maker. If you check out the test comparison photos it preforms surprisingly well and can be had in the local supermarket by the box full. The Melitta coffee filter produced the best overall results from what I could see on the comparison. I suspect that other coffee filter brands would work as well.

ADK Jim

Haha, I love it! Great idea...

[Wedding Shooter]

I use the Expo disk - works great.

[Don Schaeffer]

It was noted in Pop photo some time ago. Really looks neat but it's pretty pricey for a lens cap.