Filter Question for Indoor shots

[krg1962]

Hi All, I shoot a lot of indoor sports without a flash. I use a nikon d50 with a 85mm 1.4 lens. In well light gyms it seems to work ok but in the darker gyms I get a yellow or reddish tint. I can usually get the tint out in photoshop. Is there a filter I could use to help with this without going to a flash or strobe setup? Thanks

[Xia_Ke]

Hi krg, no filter needed here. This is an issue with your white balance. Try setting it to Incandescent or Auto and see if that helps.

[dhyravy]

Most likely you are experiencing the lights cycling. This is caused by the 60 Hz power making the lights cycle through phases. You don't see it, but your camera does. Many newer design lights don't do this, but it sounds like the ones you have do. About the best bet is to use Auto White Balance and hope for the best. You'll still get some frames that are correct mixed with others that have the tint.

[Greg McCary]

I agree, shot RAW and you can custom set the white balance in post processing. A filter will only slow the camera even more in an already low light situation.

[krg1962]

Thanks Guys, I usually set white balance to auto. Some shots are ok, some are yellow tint, sometimes blue tint all in the same gym with the same settings. I shoot for a local paper so dont really have time to set up lights. Need to be in and out to meet deadlines.

[retroactiv]

Shoot Raw, then edit it in PP to correct the WB problems. I have started doing this myself for my Newspaper shoots only adds a couple of minutes and looks a lot better, but if you are going to be published in black and white, instead of color (I'm about 50% B/W and 50% Color) don't even worry about the WB problems as they will disappear with the B/W