Grey card for controlling exposure and white balance of a digital camera

1. A target for setting the exposure and white balance of a photographic digital camera, the target comprising a target surface that has a reflectance of 18% for all wavelengths of visible light, and the target surface being provided with a target feature upon which the camera is able to focus while the target surface entirely fills a viewfinder of the camera.

2. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target feature comprises one or more areas of the target surface that have a difference reflectance to the remainder of the target surface.

3. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the boundaries between the target feature and the remainder of the target surface are sharp so as to facilitate focusing.

4. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target feature has a significantly smaller area than the remainder of the target surface so that the reflectance properties of the target surface are not altered significantly by the present of the target feature.

5. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target feature comprises one or more lines on the target surface.

6. A target as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the lines on the target surface extend in more than one direction.

7. A target as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the target feature includes two or more straight lines that are orientated at an angle to one another.

8. A target as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the target feature includes a closed line.

9. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target feature is white or black in colour.

10. A target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target comprises a sheet of flexible material that is held in tension at its periphery, and at least one side of which forms the target surface.

11. The target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target is adapted to simultaneously set the exposure and the white balance.

12. A method of photographing a subject, which method comprises the steps of:

(a) positioning a target close to the subject, the target comprising a target surface that has a reflectance of 18% for all wavelengths of visible light, and the target surface being provided with a target feature upon which the camera is able to focus;

(b) causing the camera to focus on the target feature of the target surface, and simultaneously setting the exposure and white balance of the camera;

(c) removing the target from the field-of-view of the camera whilst maintaining the focus, exposure, and white balance settings of the camera; and

(d) taking a photograph of the subject using said focus, exposure, and white balance settings of the camera.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein, the photographic digital camera includes an image sensor, means for focusing the camera, and means for automatically setting both the exposure and the white balance before a photograph is taken.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the camera is provided with an automatic mode in which the exposure setting is set automatically according to the intensity of light detected by a light meter within the camera, and the white balance is set automatically according to the relative intensities of different wavelengths of visible light that are detected by the camera.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the camera assumes that the scene being photographed has a reflectance of 18% across the entire visible light spectrum.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the photographic digital camera includes means for automatically focusing on the feature of the target surface.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein in the automatic mode, the focus, exposure and white balance of the camera are set simultaneously when the photographer partially depresses a shutter-release button of the camera, and the camera takes a photograph when the shutter-release button is depressed fully.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the photographer causes the camera to automatically focus on the feature of the target surface, and simultaneously set the exposure and/or white balance, by partially depressing the shutter-release button of the camera, the photographer then removes the target from the field-of-view of the camera whilst maintaining the shutter-release button in its partially depressed state, and hence maintaining the focus, exposure, and white balance settings of the camera, and the photographer then takes a photograph of the subject using said focus, exposure, and white balance settings of the camera by fully depressing the shutter-release button.

19. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the target is positioned directly in front of a subject, and as close as possible to the front surface of the subject, so that the focus set using the target is suitable for taking a photograph of the subject.

20. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the camera does not have a spot meter for setting the exposure of the camera, and the target surface is sufficiently large that when the camera is positioned ready to take a photograph of the subject, the target can be positioned in front of the subject so that the target surface entirely fills the viewfinder of the camera without any need to move the camera, and the camera is able to focus on the target feature.

21. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the camera does have a spot meter, and the target surface is sufficiently large that when the camera is positioned ready to take a photograph of the subject, the target can be positioned in front of the subject so that the target surface entirely fills the area covered by the spot meter without any need to move the camera, and the camera is able to focus on the target feature.