Help!!! Preset White Balance

[Henessy]

Hi, I have problems setting manual white balance via white balance cap in my light tent with 4 hot lights bought from IKEA. Despite many attempts, there is always a yellowish cast in the photos. I have tried to shoot some jade, but ended up shooting it under natural sunlight with no light tent.

There was no problem setting the white balance by the white balance cap under natural sunlight. May I know what could be the problem?

Thanks

[catchlights]

how you use the white balance cap? you suppose to have the camera place inside the light tent to do the custom WB, so the camera is receiving the same light as the product you want to shoot.

else try put a gray card in the tent and do a custom WB.

[chanjyj]

henessy, if I am not wrong, is using a D2Hs.

Could be the IR problem.

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by catchlights how you use the white balance cap? you suppose to have the camera place inside the light tent to do the custom WB, so the camera is receiving the same light as the product you want to shoot. else try put a gray card in the tent and do a custom WB.

I cap the white balance cap over the lens. The camera is receiveing the same light as the product.

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by chanjyj henessy, if I am not wrong, is using a D2Hs. Could be the IR problem.

Ya, I am using a D2hs. Mind elaborating more on the IR. How come when I have no problem setting white balance in other conditions?

[chanjyj]

Originally Posted by Henessy I cap the white balance cap over the lens. The camera is receiveing the same light as the product.

Not exactly true. You have to read up more on this area.

[chanjyj]

Originally Posted by Henessy Ya, I am using a D2hs. Mind elaborating more on the IR. How come when I have no problem setting white balance in other conditions?

D2H is known to be over sensitive to near IR. Hotlights may produce alot of near IR, just like flash.

Go google it. It will explain better.

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by chanjyj Not exactly true. You have to read up more on this area.

Actually I did place my camera quite close the the light source.

[calebk]

Originally Posted by chanjyj Not exactly true. You have to read up more on this area.

Care to elaborate what you mean by "not exactly true"? I am probably as lost as Henessy...

[chanjyj]

Originally Posted by calebk Care to elaborate what you mean by "not exactly true"? I am probably as lost as Henessy...

http://www.bythom.com/d2h.htm

"But there's a wrinkle in the ointment: things that emit near IR appear to bamboozle the camera in a couple of ways. I first noticed this when I was trying to photograph some of my mom's paintings for her. The center area in one of her paintings just wouldn't get the color right, and it had a bit of strange noise in it (the rest of the painting was color accurate, as expected)."

[Henessy]

Does it mean that my D2hs cannot set white balance correctly under those conditions? How can that be?

[geraldkhoo]

What kind of white balance cap are you using... because different types do not give the same results...

[calebk]

Originally Posted by Henessy Does it mean that my D2hs cannot set white balance correctly under those conditions? How can that be?

According to my understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong here), this IR thing only affects you when shooting AWB, and the sensor on top of the pentaprism is involved in the WB process.

If setting custom WB using the cap, then I'm not sure how this plays out...although I could suggest using colour temperature balance to set your WB instead. Are you using strictly tungsten lights?

[catchlights]

not all tungsten lights are rated same as 3200k, some are warmer and some cooler, and these bulbs will have varies of WB as they age.

There are some bulbs specific design for photography, and there are not cheap.

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by calebk According to my understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong here), this IR thing only affects you when shooting AWB, and the sensor on top of the pentaprism is involved in the WB process. If setting custom WB using the cap, then I'm not sure how this plays out...although I could suggest using colour temperature balance to set your WB instead. Are you using strictly tungsten lights?

I tried using the kelvin temperature to set, but none is near to the exact colour. I am using those normal energy saving bulbs from IKEA

[catchlights]

energy saving bulbs does not classified as tungsten lights, it belong to Compact fluorescent lamp.

[chanjyj]

Originally Posted by Henessy I tried using the kelvin temperature to set, but none is near to the exact colour. I am using those normal energy saving bulbs from IKEA

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by chanjyj

Yup, I really did try the whole range of kelvin scale, none came close to it. There is always a strong blueish or orange cast, even though I set the white balance manually

[Henessy]

Originally Posted by geraldkhoo What kind of white balance cap are you using... because different types do not give the same results...

I am using mennon cap. Actually it has no problem setting white balance in most scene, except for under mixed articial lighting

[geraldkhoo]

Originally Posted by Henessy I am using mennon cap. Actually it has no problem setting white balance in most scene, except for under mixed articial lighting

I had a mennon cap and tested it against the expodisc, and the mennon cap performed very poorly against the expodisc. could you try setting your preset with a greycard instead?

also, there is a limitation in terms of range when you use the Kelvin scale to set your white balance. if it is out of the range, you would not be able to set it and that is where i find the expodisc / greycard useful.

you mentioned that you got a bluish cast. what was the value in Kelvin that you set in your white balance when you got this bluish cast?