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10D White Balance Problem...


brian_volpe

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I have noticed a white balance problem with my 10D. I am using studio flash and I

set the 10D to the "flash" white balance setting. My pictures are comming out with a

red cast. I am attaching an image I shot of a white paper backdrop so you can see

what I mean. The same setup with my D30 works great. I have tried everything I can

think of but I can not get rid of this red cast. I don't want to shoot in RAW because of

the rediculous processing time. Has anyone else noticed this issue?

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Some further notes on the white balance problem...

 

When I use the custom white balance setting with the studio flash I get the best

results at about 5000k. I am using AlienBees which state that their temperature is

5600. So it seems that my camera is about 600k off on its temperature scale.

 

Also the 10D seems to warm the image by adding red, whereas the D30 seems to add

yellow.

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I think it's more likely that your Alien Bees are actually 5000K. Less-expensive studio strobes are not normally noted for their color-temperature accuracy. In addition, many strobes can have variations in color temperature depending on the power setting.<p>

If it's really bothering you, get yourself one of <a href=http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh2.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___20950___GOCP3F___REG___CatID=0___SID=F5DEE5D3520>these</a>. Sure, it's a lot of money, but it's less expensive that the camera body and then you'll know for sure where the problem is. ;)<p>

BTW, I'm quite happy with the WB on my 10D.

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Couple of questions come to mind:

 

 

Did you try using the white page as ref for custom white balance (page 52 in the man) ?

 

Is your param setting for color tone nutral ? I have found they have an infulance. (page 56)

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If your lights' color temperature is 5000K and you are shooting with a 10D, why not just dial in a temperature of 5000K on the camera body.

 

BTW If you think the processing time for RAW files is a problem, perhaps you are using the wrong software. Try CaptureOne LE. I find it saves time since for most shots once they have been converted from RAW, they need no further processing.

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Alan - Maybe the AlienBees are 5000k - that was one explanation that I was

considering, but when I use my D30 with the white balance set to "flash" the color is

fine. The other thing that bothers me is that when the white balance is off, the image

is red cast. I would expect a yellow or blue cast, but not red. Any idea why this

would happen?

 

Yaldor - I have not tried the custom white balance yet, but I will - just to see what

happens. I am not using any custom params.

 

Andrew - Dialing in 5000 does solve the problem, I just want to make sure that the

camera is calibrated correctly. I really can not justify the expense of a color meter

and I can not account for the fact that my D30 works as expected in the same

environment and that bothers me. I looked at CaptureOne, but it appears to only

support 1D and 1DS. Have you used it with a 10D?

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I have some more information...

 

I just purchased the Adobe RAW plugin. I can't believe how cool this software is. It

opens my raw files in about 3 seconds and provides awesome control.

 

Anyway, when I set the 10D to Auto white balance it is pretty accurate. It is only

when I set it to the flash setting that there is a problem. Also though, the Adobe RAW

plugin displays the data from the shot "as taken". It allows you to control the color

temperature and the tint. Tint? Is tint a white balance issue? Anyway, the images

that were taken with the white balance set to auto show a color temp of 3900 and a

tint of -40. 3900 is pretty low for studio flash but the image looks great with this

setting. Why is so much of a tint adjustment necessary?

 

Is there anyone who is using a 10D and can take a picture with studio flash using a

white paper backdrop annd see if they can reproduce these oddities? Or better yet,

does anyone have an explanation?

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John, the version of CaptureOne you want is the Limited Edition (LE). It supports the 10D, D60 and D30. You can download an eval copy and use it for 15 days. Check out www.pictureflow.com and follow the CaptureOne links.

 

BTW Have you tried other color temps besides 5000K. How does 4000K or 6000K look?

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Thanks Andrew. 4000K looks bluish and 6000K has a red cast. Funny thing is that

setting the camera to Auto white balance seems to turn out near perfect pictures. I

am going to stick with the Adobe plugin for RAW conversions -- it works too good to

even bother with anything else. Very, very fast.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have been using the 10D in my studio for about 3 months now. I have the same exact problem. At first I used my proofing software (Express Digital, Portrait & Weddings) to color correct prior to printing but this created problems with clients seeing a red cast on the monitor and beleiving that the final print will produce a true white background. I found, by accident, that setting the camera on auto white balance produced accurate flesh tones as well as allowing my background to go true white. ?????? I don't know why this works but hey a few years ago I swore I wouldn't give up my 6x7 negatives in my studio, and we see where that got me. I guess I can use an automated function and not be to embarrassed by it. right?
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  • 2 months later...

I have had the same problem with my E-20 and Metz 54-mz3 flash, specially when I use ceiling bounce. I did not have any red cast issues before I shifted to Adobe RAW so I assume that the problem is in the converter and not in my camera (or flash). Go to hue/saturation and desaturate reds about -20..-30 depending on the situation. That helps :-)

 

Marko

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  • 2 weeks later...
Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop does NOT support the Canon 10D. That's why you get the funky white balance problem. Adobe won't say whether they are working on a new version, but according to the discussions in the Adobe Photoshop forum they probably are just going to build this into Photoshop 8, which is expected fairly soon (but no date has been announced). See the Adobe forums at www.adobeforums.com for more info.
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  • 6 months later...

I am also having severe problems with the white ballance on my 10d. I shoot with novatron400 stobes and when i use kelvin and set it any where from 5000 up to 5600 i get a bad red pink tint. It used to work fine on auto wb but now it gives me a bad blue tint on auto. My camera is currently at canon for repair and hopefully replacement. it seemed to work on auto for a couple of months then every thing went to hell. Has any one else had this blue tint problem on auto or the red tint issue with novatron stobes with wb set to 5000 to 5600?

 

thanks

Aaron Plotkin

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