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Thread: White Balance When shooting RAW??

  1. #11
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    Re: White Balance When shooting RAW??



    Quote Originally Posted by neuroanatomist


    ...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.
    We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.

  2. #12
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    Re: White Balance When shooting RAW??



    You can correct white balance in post very easily. However, you can't fix exposure errors as easily (if you're too far out of range, you'll lose information either because you're down in the noisy land or up in the clipping land). Therefore, I'd suggest that you consider ALWAYS shooting at a neutral WB (say 5600K 0tint) and always correct the WB to ambient/desired in post. Why? To prevent exposure errors on a per-color basis.


    What happens when you shoot in incandescent light? The red channel gets a lot more information than if you had the same scene under daylight, and 3200K decreases the red channel for you. One of the side effects is the preview JPEG that's embedded in your RAW file (the image you see when you review the shot) is now corrected to 3200K. As a result, the histogram you see is corrected to 3200K, and the strong red channel is now masked. If you have highlight alert turned on, you might not see clipped reds as a result. Had you shot at 5600K, you might see the clipped reds, and might decide to apply some -EC in those conditions, improving the quality of your capture.


    The same would apply under cloudy skies (strong blue) or icky fluorescents (strong green).
    We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.

  3. #13

    Re: White Balance When shooting RAW??



    Thanks peety, that makes a lot of sense, to be honest, auto does seem to serve me well, (with a bit of post processing, usually warming up abit now i think about it), but I will have a play and see what happens.


    Cheers everyone, some good tips

  4. #14
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    Re: White Balance When shooting RAW??



    And the skin tones come from the red channel, so when you blow it out, the skin gets jacked up. Makes sense. Thanks.
    Words get in the way of what I meant to say.

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