White Balance Card

[dfikar]

I’ve had a ColorChecker Passport for many years now. It states on the Passport that “For maximum performance, ColorChecker Passport should be replaced within 2 years from initial use.”

I don’t do color critical studio work, but when I do shoot people in difficult light I do like to use the Passport to get the white balance right. By difficult light I mean shooting in a hockey arena or in indoor mixed light. I do treat the Passport with care and only expose it to light when taking the initial shot and then closing it so as not to let light “bleach” the colors. It still seems to work just fine, but then again I don’t have a new Passport to compare it to.

Any thoughts or experience with using older Passports?

I do realize the statement says “For maximum performance”, and “should be replaced” and not “discard after 2 years.”

My Passport is at least 10 years old, probably more like 12 or 13. It still seems to perform the same as it did years ago as far as I can tell. It is important to note that I just recently dragged it out and used it after not touching it at all for the last 8-10 years. It was stored in a drawer in my temp-controlled house so it has had little exposure to light, temperature extremes, etc. which probably has helped keep it well preserved. My feeling is that even if there has been some degradation it is so slight that I can't tell a difference in my work so I am not going to replace it anytime soon.

 

[PhilcTx]

Offered without comment other than his comments regarding using white paper and how to check for "whiteness" using a video editor's vector scope is interesting: