I was referring to the colorimeter and not camera white balance. The i1D3 did not measure as expected when pointed directly at the sun. I had some bubble wrap close at hand and used that to attenuate the brightness of the sun. The i1D3 then gave me 5000 K although the 6500 K test was off the daylight locus. Maybe not a great idea. ST. ________________________________ From: Ben Goren <ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "argyllcms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <argyllcms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, 29 July 2012 12:14 AM Subject: [argyllcms] Re: Some ambient measurements with the i1D3 On Jul 27, 2012, at 11:48 PM, Stephen T <stwebvanuatu@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I put four layers of clear bubble wrap over the diffuser to get sensible readings. > I would be quite wary of the color cast the plastic might be imparting. Much better -- much, much better -- would be a styrofoam coffee cup. Polystyrene has as flat a spectrum as you're going to encounter in the real world, and the thickness of most cups is such that they transmit just about much light as a gray card reflects. Indeed, if you have any expensive photographic white balance targets, I'd suggest putting them all away and using a styrofoam cup instead. It's more neutral, plus it lets you either simultaneously sample the light of different parts of the scene (put it in the middle of the scene, and the curved sides give you a nice gradient from each source to the next) or of the average of the entire scene (put the cup over the lens). Another excellent cheap alternative is Tyvek. It also has a flat spectrum, but Tyvek is 98% reflective, whereas polystyrene is about 80% reflective. The coffee cup is great for general-purpose photography because that's about the reflectivity you want for in-scene white balance, because it's curved, because it's cheap, and because you can find one anywhere. The Tyvek is good for copy work or other instances where you want a flat white balance sample. It's also cheap; you can get a whole pack of Tyvek envelopes at your local office supply store for just a few dollars. Canon sells large format printer banner roll media made of Tyvek; the front is coated with their Heavyweight Matte coating, but the back is pure uncoated Tyvek (but only the front is printable). If you've got a ColorChecker Passport, cut out a piece of Tyvek and place it over the white balance target on the inside back cover. Cheers, b&