White Balance When shooting RAW??

[Jeff Lucia]

Guilty on both counts -- I made the original comment, and I'm also guilty of leaving my 5D in auto WB mode indoors with low light. To stop the camera from varying the white balance all over the place from shot to shot, I recently started setting one white balance value and leaving it alone (now all I have to do is start remembering to set it again when I move outside!)


Shooting in raw, I don't think the camera applies a white balance value to the image, but it does record the white balance as data, whether you set it manually or it was in Auto mode. Then, when you convert the image on your computer, your raw converter typically applies whatever value the raw file tells it to. You can change all of your images from one location to one value pretty quickly using various raw converters, or even in Photoshop.


The reason I suggested doing that for the wedding shoot was that it would keep the images consistent instead of having the white balance varying (slightly or, in my case, usually a lot) as it often does when it's left in Auto mode. Using the Daylight setting has worked well for me with Canon speedlights, at least as a starting point.


As HGNitehawk pointed out, it's often worthwhile to adjust the balance in post-processing in raw, where your adjustments are non-destructive.


By the way, I've had a lot of good results using an XRite Color Checker Passport -- it has regular neutral gray, but also several variations that you can click your white balance dropper on to warm or cool the image in increments. It also lets you create a custom color profile for your individual camera body (not just by model) and load it into your raw converter.

[neuroanatomist]

Shooting in raw, I don't think the camera applies a white balance value to the image, but it does record the white balance as data, whether you set it manually or it was in Auto mode. Then, when you convert the image on your computer, your raw converter typically applies whatever value the raw file tells it to.You can change all of your images from one location to one value pretty quickly using various raw converters, or even in Photoshop.

You're correct that if you shoot in RAW, you can change the WB in post \-processing without penalty. But if you aren't using DPP for post-processing, you might be losing some data if you shoot with a Canon flash. The flash passes color temparature information to the camera, which I think is stored separately in the RAW file from the WB, but used by DPP when selecting Auto or Flash WB. On a shot where flash was used, when I set Flash WB in DxO, it's a fixed 6000 K, but Flash WB in DPP is not a fixed color temperature, it varies by shot based on the supplemental data in the RAW file, which other programs ignore (along with things like AF point, etc.).

[Jeff Lucia]

John, I think I remember hearing in some class I took that the Flash WB in the camera is for studio strobes, while speedlights are balanced for daylight. I don

[peety3]

...But if you aren't using DPP for post-processing, you might be losing some data if you shoot with a Canon flash. The flash passes color temparature information to the camera, which I think is stored separately in the RAW file from the WB, but used by DPP when selecting Auto or Flash WB. On a shot where flash was used, when I set Flash WB in DxO, it's a fixed 6000 K, but Flash WB in DPP is not a fixed color temperature, it varies by shot based on the supplemental data in the RAW file, which other programs ignore (along with things like AF point, etc.).
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For the sake of (obvious) clarity, this applies if you're using a single flash on-camera. If you're using any remote flashes of any kind, you lose the avenue for this reporting AND should probably be correcting all of your flashes to a common point.