How often do you use Custom WB on your Canon DSLR?

[kiwi2]

I notice on my D30, there is a tendency during overcast days for the images to appear a little cold by leaning towards a very slight bluish tinge when I use Auto White Balance. However, selecting the "sunlight" or "cloudy" mode actually makes it worse... the image now appears much warmer with a strong yellowish tone.

Anyone with this experience on their D30? How's it like on the D60 and 10D? I did try Custom WB but the results can be quite unpredictable.

[Wai]

i will just use RAW and then go home to adjust the WB

[tomcat]

10D seemed to have better AWB than D60 under similar lighting situations but it too can be tricked quite easily. To play safe, use RAW format as it is easier to correct than jpg especially in third party raw conversion programs like C1 LE. To be kiasu-safe, do a CWB with a Expo-Disk. Unfortunately, the manufacturers have recently increased the price for this product.

[HelmetBox]

hehe, I have with me my white bounce card, so when there are times when AWB is a problem, I snap the white card then use it as custom.

I can't tell nuts bout the difference anyway but since I have the feature I just use it

Don't me

[kiwi2]

So u all also have such problems. Sometimes the colours produced by the D30 makes me feel like I'm using a Provia 100F film... on overcast days, it leans towards the cold side which I don't really like. For me, I will often do post processing on Photoshop as I find none of the white balance corrects the colour well. I suppose this is inherent in DSLR right?

[RCheah]

Originally Posted by kiwi2 So u all also have such problems. Sometimes the colours produced by the D30 makes me feel like I'm using a Provia 100F film... on overcast days, it leans towards the cold side which I don't really like. For me, I will often do post processing on Photoshop as I find none of the white balance corrects the colour well. I suppose this is inherent in DSLR right?

For D30, safest and easiest is to shoot RAW if possible. the RAW files are only 3+MB in size, very manageable and fast to develop into jpg. You not only get to adjust the colour temp, but also the exposure compensation as well. Very useful feature.

The AWB can be quite unpredictable in tricky lighting conditions. Only indoors with flash would I use AWB. The custom WB is useful, but can be quite tedious to take out white card, snap, choose the pic, switch to CWB, etc. Unless you store pre-taken Pics of whitecard under different colour temp situations.

[kiwi2]

Hi Raymond,

I do shoot RAW most of the time but even then, it won't help if I correct the WB later on the computer bcos even during the shooting, none of the preset WB (eg Sunny or Cloudy) help to corect the slight colour cast.

In fact, I rarely use the other WB except AWB. On cloudy or sunny days, the respective WB only makes it worse... usually a very strong yellow colour cast is applied to the image instead of just neutralising the bluish tone.

What I'll do is to use PS to correct the colours manually. Not sure if any of you have this sort of workflow.

Yah, I find using custom WB can be cumbersome...

[Wai]

Originally Posted by kiwi2 Hi Raymond, I do shoot RAW most of the time but even then, it won't help if I correct the WB later on the computer bcos even during the shooting, none of the preset WB (eg Sunny or Cloudy) help to corect the slight colour cast. In fact, I rarely use the other WB except AWB. On cloudy or sunny days, the respective WB only makes it worse... usually a very strong yellow colour cast is applied to the image instead of just neutralising the bluish tone. What I'll do is to use PS to correct the colours manually. Not sure if any of you have this sort of workflow. Yah, I find using custom WB can be cumbersome...

With 10D, u can find tune the white balance by adjusting the colour temperature

if you dun have 10D, u can still use breeze browser or capture one to adjust the white balance by the colour temperature, and the file should be in RAW format

[kiwi2]

Originally Posted by Wai With 10D, u can find tune the white balance by adjusting the colour temperature if you dun have 10D, u can still use breeze browser or capture one to adjust the white balance by the colour temperature, and the file should be in RAW format

Thanks Wai. Wahhh, I didn't know that! Variable colour temp ah? More reasons I should have upgraded to a 10D earlier? 2nd hand prices for D30 are just too low for me to let go of my well-maintained DSLR.

[RCheah]

Originally Posted by kiwi2 Hi Raymond, I do shoot RAW most of the time but even then, it won't help if I correct the WB later on the computer bcos even during the shooting, none of the preset WB (eg Sunny or Cloudy) help to corect the slight colour cast. In fact, I rarely use the other WB except AWB. On cloudy or sunny days, the respective WB only makes it worse... usually a very strong yellow colour cast is applied to the image instead of just neutralising the bluish tone. What I'll do is to use PS to correct the colours manually. Not sure if any of you have this sort of workflow. Yah, I find using custom WB can be cumbersome...

With RAW files, no in-camera WB or sharpening is applied. Everything is done out of camera. CaptureOne is a real good software for ths purpose. It allows you to fine-tune the WB (I think from 2000K to 12000K temp), so that you need not use preset WB settings. You can also use the dropper to select a white point in your pic. This is better than adjusting jpegs from the camera.

What this means is that at the point of taking the photos, you need not worry about WB. And even for exposure, you have supposedly up to 2.5 stops +/- to play with in CaptureOne.