Newbie question on white balance...

[Raymondb]

Hi everyone. I am a newbie on DSLR, have a question regarding the white balance:

Do you have to adjust the white balance setting before shooting indoor with the built-in flash of your DSLR, or do you just leave the white balance at auto mode (AWB), and produce correct colors?

The reason I ask is that my newly acquired Sony A700 will produce greenish picture if I were to shoot indoor under white "energy saving" lights, with the built-in flash and with auto white balance.

Still yet to find an appropriate white balance setting for this kind of environment.

Thanks.

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by Raymondb Do you have to adjust the white balance setting before shooting indoor with the built-in flash of your DSLR, or do you just leave the white balance at auto mode (AWB), and produce correct colors?

Both is fine and both is a possible way. If you shoot RAW you'll have all possibilities to adjust the WB later in post-processing and you can safely shoot in AWB.

Originally Posted by Raymondb The reason I ask is that my newly acquired Sony A700 will produce greenish picture if I were to shoot indoor under white "energy saving" lights, with the built-in flash and with auto white balance.

Well observed - it's something about the bulbs and no WB setting can help here. Due to the 50Hz base frequency of electric power the lamps don't emit a constant white light. The phases in AC cause this greenish cast within the 50Hz cycles. Our eye is too slow to notice but the shutter of the cam 'cut's into these cycles so that you catch the 'green moments' of the light. Either you try to use slower shutter speed or you need to change the bulbs. There are special bulbs available for 'constant light'.

Check the forum on Newbies section and General Talk, the topic is not limited or related only to Sony / Konica / Minolta.

[TME]

I would really just shoot and then adjust later... you could do a custom WB but I don't really like it either cos the colours are not very pleasing... one way to overcome the problem is to simply use an external flash and use that to light up the whole pic... you get true colours instead of relying on the built-in flash...

[two200]

Originally Posted by Octarine Well observed - it's something about the bulbs and no WB setting can help here. Due to the 50Hz base frequency of electric power the lamps don't emit a constant white light. The phases in AC cause this greenish cast within the 50Hz cycles. Our eye is too slow to notice but the shutter of the cam 'cut's into these cycles so that you catch the 'green moments' of the light. Either you try to use slower shutter speed or you need to change the bulbs. There are special bulbs available for 'constant light'.

Can this be rectified by custom WB? Becos if you custom at the wrong phase then the white balance may be wrong.... right?

[TME]

Originally Posted by two200 Can this be rectified by custom WB? Becos if you custom at the wrong phase then the white balance may be wrong.... right?

Custom white balance uses flash. So it really doesn't matter.

[sulhan]

Hi There,

If the subject is going to be lit mainly by the in-built flash, then the white balance would probabaly be best set to Auto or Flash WB. Note only the regions that are mainly getting the flash illumination will be correctly exposed. However the regions e.g the background or far items may get differrent color balance due to the ambient source e.g flouro or incand lamps + mixed lighting.

One thing to note about flouro energy saving lights...you may need to tweak the +/- as there are a range of energy saving lights with varying color temperature.

[elmzarcega]

shoot RAW and you will have all the freedom to correct/change your white balance...

[Raymondb]

Thanks everyone for the valuable advises and inputs. They are really appreciated.

TME, do you mean shooting with external flash for indoor with these kind of lighting condition will kind of solve the white balance issue, even if I just set the WB to auto? If thats the case, will definitely save up for one. :-)

Very new to DSLR, didn't expect there are so many to take care of regarding the WB things. Apparently, it seems to me that a DSLR is not that suitable for shooting candid shots indoor at night, especially if the lightings are difference between rooms.

Well, I really have a long way to go!

Thanks again for all the inputs.

[TME]

Originally Posted by Raymondb TME, do you mean shooting with external flash for indoor with these kind of lighting condition will kind of solve the white balance issue, even if I just set the WB to auto? If thats the case, will definitely save up for one. :-)

Yes, but read Sulhan's caveat - it will solve the WB only for the parts of the photo lit by the flash.