Setting a custom white balance using a Pringles lid

There are several methods to set the white balance on your digital pictures:

  1. Set the camera to "auto white balance" and let the camera guess.
  2. Set the camera to a preset white balance (e.g., "daylight," "tungsten," etc.). Consult your camera's manual to find out how to use a preset white balance.
  3. Set the camera to a custom white balance from a fixed white reference (e.g., a white card) before you take your picture. Consult your camera's manual to find out how to set the color balance from a white reference.
  4. Shoot a white card and adjust the white balance with dcraw (for RAW images). Consult your camera's manual to find out if your camera supports taking pictures in RAW mode.

Almost anything is better than method 1, since many digital cameras do not guess the white balance very well. Method 2 generally works reasonably well as long as you are not in mixed lighting conditions (such as an overhead light bulb and an open window).

Methods 3 and 4 are guaranteed to give good results. Of course, if it is inconvenient or impossible to use a white card (shooting in a church or at a parade, for example), then you are out of luck unless you have something like the ExpoDisc. The ExpoDisc is a filter you put over your lens when taking a custom white balance reading; there is no need to use a white card when using the ExpoDisc. The bad news is that prices start at $80, so only serious photographers will consider buying one.

Given the high price, people have been looking for cheaper alternatives. For example, I have seen some discussion forum threads where people have discovered that a Pringles can lid or a coffee filter work almost as well as the ExpoDisc. You use them the same as the ExpoDisc: cover the lens with the Pringles lid, point the camera toward the subject, and take a custom white balance.

In this DPReview.com discussion thread, the author shows his results from comparing auto white balance, the ExpoDisc, a coffee filter, and a Pringles lid. The ExpoDisc provides better colors, but the Pringles lid is a very close second!

  • sample picture using the camera's auto white balance
  • sample picture using a custom white balance from a Pringles lid
  • sample picture using the camera's preset white balance of "tungsten."

Based on his results, I decided to do my own test, so I invested $2 on a can of Pringles and shot some pictures of our sitting room, which is illuminated by frosted incandescent bulbs. (On the chair are—from left to right—an 18% gray card, a piece of white cardstock, and a piece of white paper.)

The color in the auto white balance picture is clearly wrong. If you look at the cardstock and the door in the other two pictures, you should notice that there is a slight red cast in the "tungsten" white balance picture. The Pringles lid picture has a slight blue cast, but it still has the closest color match.