Does this exist?

I was thinking that while it's great to do manual WB settings by shooting a gray card, why couldn't somebody enter the color temperature into the camera directly? Many pros use color meters so it would make sense to allow pros to do that.

I know with the cameras that I have used that you couldn't do it, but what about Canon or Nikon cameras? I know you can "develop" the raw images through Photoshop with the temperature guide, but I think that cameras should be able to do so too.

Just a thought

Loren

All Canons do it

New Nikons do it

So yes, it does exist. :) I've thought about getting a light temp meter, but it's so much easier to just set the WB manually then it is to take yet another meter reading...

Hi Loren,

I do this all the time when in the studio. I just set the wb manually to what the strobes data sheet says they are. It's probably well within 100K. If you don't knwo this number, call the manufacturer. For me, this was the best solution to consistent color in photo's.


Mike

I think doing a white balance with a gray card would still be more accurate. Plus, if you actually shoot a gray card, then you have the option of using the gray card image to do a more accurate white balance when you do your RAW conversion.

One more thing, Canons use an image to white balance off of when using custom WB. This means you can shoot several different pictures in several different lighting situations, store them on a 16 or 32 meg card, and load them up before you go into the venue, or if you can't use a grey card for whatever reason.

Plus light temps change with power, my ABs get warmer the lower the power settings, for example.

The problem with the gray card is it needs to be done every session/setup. Maybe not an issue for some. I've also noticed not all gray cards are the same gray. The one I use(d) has gray, white, and black. I would then create a custom curves and batch apply it to the rest of the similar shots.

Setting the WB manually is plug and play. I'm using AB's and I'm not finding a big difference over the light ouput range. It is there, don't get me wrong. It aslo helps that I tend to keep them in the mid range and up. I can't find a reason to run them at the low end too often.

However, I find this change insignificant. No one has complained, and if the shot was vital I could easily tweek it in. Compared to shooting film(s) and having the laboratory develop and print, it's a god send. With film I could hardly get two identical prints from the same negative printed at different times.

I tried the custom wb several times right after I recieved my 10d. I was pretty dissapointed. It never seemed consistent.

As a side, a lot of people complain about the tungsten WB setting on the 10d. It is a little warm for home lighting. However, I've found it is just about dead on in gym's and arera's. Now if I had a 1d so that the tee of shot of the lady lobo's vs. Col state rams (WAC womens basketball I took wasn't soft...

Darkman,

Interesting that the custom WB on your 10D is inconsistent. Mine is dead-on, even more so than my Nikons were. Have you talked to Canon about it?

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

Darkman,

Interesting that the custom WB on your 10D is inconsistent. Mine is dead-on, even more so than my Nikons were. Have you talked to Canon about it?

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No I haven't. Maybe I should.

Thanks, Mike

And that is not give a damn about "accurate" color... :D

Boy, I can't tell you how liberating that feeling is! Guess this is one of my quirks, but as long as I'm in the ballpark, I'm happy.

I think I would only get a color temp meter if I shot movies...

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Originally Posted by racingpinarello

I was thinking that while it's great to do manual WB settings by shooting a gray card, why couldn't somebody enter the color temperature into the camera directly? Many pros use color meters so it would make sense to allow pros to do that.

I know with the cameras that I have used that you couldn't do it, but what about Canon or Nikon cameras? I know you can "develop" the raw images through Photoshop with the temperature guide, but I think that cameras should be able to do so too.

Just a thought

Loren

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