Nikon D7000 tips

[Grandpaw]

Getting a custom white balance

The Nikon D7000 does a very good job of getting the White Balance (WB) right by itself but if you ever get in a situation that has some strange lighting and you want to really nail the WB you might try doing a custom WHITE BALANCE to really get your whites and colors correct. If you listen to someone try and explain how to accomplish this or read about how it is done it can sound a little evolved or complicated. Actually it is quite simple to do and takes just a matter of seconds to accomplish. The results of taking the small amount of time and effort to get the WB right will pay off in the end by helping you get a great picture. By completing the custom WB you can eliminate off skin tones and strange colored tints on your pictures. The custom WHITE BALANCE can only be accomplished in modes M,A,S, and P. In each of the other modes the camera will make all the decisions for you. This is just one more reason that if you are wanting to advance and get better control over your photography it is necessary to start leaving the AUTO modes behind and start experimenting with the more advanced modes. Give it a try because I think you will be very happy with the results.


All of the instructions below can be done by looking at the top LCD screen. Do to the fact the top LCD screen is small and more difficult to see I will be showing you the first step on the larger rear LCD screen.

Here is how you do it
Turn on the rear LCD screen
Locate the white Balance (WB) button that is the third button up from the bottom left side of the back of the camera
While holding down the (WB) button, rotate the thumb wheel through the different types of white balance until you see "PRE", then stop and release the (WB) button
Next push and hold the (WB) button one more time and look at the top LCD screen and see if the "Pre" is flashing, if it is release the button
Next you need to place a white object, such as a piece of paper near your subject so that the light you will be shooting in shines on the paper
Next zoom in or get close enough to the paper so that you can fill up the frame of the camera with the white sheet of paper and press the shutter button. This will only read the lighting and not take a picture
Now look at the top LCD screen and you will either see"GOOD" flashing or "NO GD" flashing
If "GOOD" is flashing you are ready to take a picture

This may seem like a lot to do but after you do it a couple of times you should be able to complete this in about 10 or 15 seconds and will be time well spent. Remember in most cases this will not be needed and your camera will handle things by itself just fine.Your camera will retain this white balance setting until you take another custom (WB) setting or change your setting to one of the other (WB) settings such as CLOUDY, SUNSHINE, TUNGSTEN, FLORESCENT or one of the several others available or even turn your camera off. To get a proper reading it needs to be taken near the subject. It may be necessary to move up closer to the subject to fill the frame of your camera with the paper for the reading for your custom setting but you can always change locations of the camera as long as the lighting and subject stay the same. What you are doing by taking a custom white balance is telling the camera that under these lighting conditions that this is what the color white would look like so the camera will know how to adjust to get the correct colors.

In case you still think this is too hard to do, this is really all there is to it
Press the WB rotate thumb dial and make "PRE" flash
Press shutter to take a reading, see "GOOD" your ready to shoot

[coolpix56]

Hi Jeff, I'm a newbie here and found the site and your tips after doing an Internet search for the D7000. I purchased one used and received it today. I was reading this particular tip on custom WB and I'm unsure of what kind of white paper you are suggesting shooters to use, but all the white paper I ever used, such as copier paper, have yielded me the worst white balances. The 18 percent gray card or something similar to that works very well and is accurate for me using a D700, D3 and D300 over the last few years. I also used white coffee filters that were effective. The reason is white paper is comprised of many different colors to complete the white color. The human eye doesn't see these colors, but the camera definitely does and I have got some pretty wild color balances as a result. I know video crews use white paper and I'm unsure of what kind of results they get, but of course, a video camera is a different piece of gear.

[Grandpaw]

Hi Jeff, I'm a newbie here and found the site and your tips after doing an Internet search for the D7000. I purchased one used and received it today. I was reading this particular tip on custom WB and I'm unsure of what kind of white paper you are suggesting shooters to use, but all the white paper I ever used, such as copier paper, have yielded me the worst white balances. The 18 percent gray card or something similar to that works very well and is accurate for me using a D700, D3 and D300 over the last few years. I also used white coffee filters that were effective. The reason is white paper is comprised of many different colors to complete the white color. The human eye doesn't see these colors, but the camera definitely does and I have got some pretty wild color balances as a result. I know video crews use white paper and I'm unsure of what kind of results they get, but of course, a video camera is a different piece of gear.

I have used a sheet of white paper and also just a white wall without any problems. You do have to make sure that whatever you use is covering the entire screen for it to work properly.