Not all white balance is the same

[SSquared2000]

Is it a given that the pre-set white balance on one Canon camera will not necessarily be the same as another? I recently upgraded my G1 to the Rebel XT. Where the flourescent (and even Tungsten) settings worked well in my kitchen using the G1, both settings produce very red/brown results on the Rebel. I am forced to CWB with the Rebel.

I am even finding the white balance to be off outside. It was overcast tonight and cloudy was giving me somewhat greenish/yellow results. Again, the G1 seemed to compensate correctly.

Just curious if I should expect to shoot with CWB more often with the Rebel than I was with G1. Perhaps a white/gray card will be on my wishlist.

[tim]

Strange, my 20D (which is very very similar to the XT) works fine on auto. I rarely bother to change it, I shoot RAW and worry about it later, but when I shoot JPG it's usually fine.

[Todd Jacobsen]

Different sensor, different WB.

There is a big assumption being made, that your G1 had proper WB. Unless you calibrated the sensor, you used factory defaults. The same exists for the Drebel, you have factory defaults which may or may not be calibrated exactly right.

[2goldens]

I have the Rebel 300d and I don't have any problem. I use the auto mode and it's great. I will use my 420 ex speedlight in the P mode most of the time when I am outside without any problem. Were you using a flash?

[SSquared2000]

Below are links to an Auto White Balance and then my Custom White Balance using the back wall for white balance setting. I prefer the CWB, but perhaps others will think it's too white/blue.

http://www.ccgr.org/screens/misc/ssquared/AWB.jpg
httP://www.ccgr.org/screens/misc/ssquared/CWB.jpg

Tood, is there a way to calibrate the sensor? Do I use the white balance shift? I thought that was for something else. You have a good point regarding the G1. The G1 seemed to look ok with either Tungsten or Flourescent (in this particular room), which I thought a bit strange. I would have assumed a bigger difference in white balance.

[DocFrankenstein]

I usually tweak outside shots later, cause there's no way for the camera to guess the right one.

Cheers

[KurtKuhn]

Is it a given that the pre-set white balance on one Canon camera will not necessarily be the same as another? I recently upgraded my G1 to the Rebel XT. Where the flourescent (and even Tungsten) settings worked well in my kitchen using the G1, both settings produce very red/brown results on the Rebel. I am forced to CWB with the Rebel.

I am even finding the white balance to be off outside. It was overcast tonight and cloudy was giving me somewhat greenish/yellow results. Again, the G1 seemed to compensate correctly.

Just curious if I should expect to shoot with CWB more often with the Rebel than I was with G1. Perhaps a white/gray card will be on my wishlist.

Are you looking at your images on a calibrated monitor?

-KK

[Todd Jacobsen]

Todd, is there a way to calibrate the sensor? Do I use the white balance shift? I thought that was for something else. You have a good point regarding the G1. The G1 seemed to look ok with either Tungsten or Flourescent (in this particular room), which I thought a bit strange. I would have assumed a bigger difference in white balance.

Utilizing a GretaMacbeth Colorchart, and a calibration script, you can accurately determine whether or not your camera's default setting is correctly calibrated for use with your RAW program. The following site provides the ability to calibrate Adobe ACR for your camera:

http://visual-vacations.com/Photography/cm_101/04camera.htm

Realize this may not improve your jpeg output from your camera, but based off of RAW data manipulation, you can determine what WB settings you may want to implement.

[SSquared2000]

Thanks for all the input. I am slowly getting used to working with the camera. I am thinking I will start shooting in RAW mode. I never liked shooting in RAW with the G1 because it was a pain converting the RAW images just so I could view the picture. It looks like the RAW manipulation software is much better now (4 years later) and I also really like how the XT will save a JPEG along with the RAW.