Speedlite Colour Temp

[anthonyi]

I'm wondering what the temp(s) of my 580 EXII and 430 EX flashes are...the manuals don't seem to help.

Can anyone point me in the right direction..?

Thanks...A

[Curtis N]

The color temp varies with the amount of power used. This is why the camera will use the color temp reported by the flash if you use AWB or Flash WB. Most flash units are around 5600K, give or take.

If you're picky about getting the "correct" white balance, use a good reference target like a WhiBal card or Ed Pierce calibration target, and set a custom white balance or correct it with RAW conversion software.

The "correct" white balance isn't always the "best" white balance.

[ZSutton]

The color temp varies with the amount of power used. This is why the camera will use the color temp reported by the flash if you use AWB or Flash WB. Most flash units are around 5600K, give or take.

If you're picky about getting the "correct" white balance, use a good reference target like a WhiBal card or Ed Pierce calibration target, and set a custom white balance or correct it with RAW conversion software.

The "correct" white balance isn't always the "best" white balance.

+1.

They aim for 5600K, but that will vary depending on the quality of your flash head, aswell as many other things. They are designed to "mimic" the sun temp, which is around 5600K, but they dont always hit it exactly, which can be good

[anthonyi]

Great, thanks for the info - much appreciated.

[anthonyi]

I'm not especially picky about the 'correct' white balance - I'm just trying to figure out whether I should go back to leaving my camera in AWB mode or sticking with a K setting (which is what I'm using now, a tad high it seems at 5700K).

Any thoughts on what will work best?

[Curtis N]

The AWB setting will give you the "correct" white balance for direct flash. However, it won't take into account any ambient light contribution, nor color shifts caused by bouncing flash off surfaces or flash modifiers in use. Since bare, direct flash with underexposed ambient tends to create bad pictures, most people tend to avoid that technique.

My normal workflow is to shoot RAW and adjust white balance in post. So I normally just use AWB to get me reasonably close so the image in the LCD looks ok.

[tetrode]

This is an interesting question. Since I'm fortunate enought to own a Gossen Color-Pro 3F color temperature meter (thank you eBay!!!), I thought I'd test a few of my shoe-mount flash units.

I know you're curious about the 580EX II and 430EX II. Unfortunately, I own the older 580EX and 430EX, neither of which has a PC socket (grrrrrrr!). This makes triggering the flash units with the Gossen a major problem. I don't have the necessary adapters on hand.

I moved on to my Nikon SB-26 and SB-800 Speedlights which DO have PC sockets. The quick and dirty results:



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3446/3377757568_0cd86529bb_o.jpg

I'm sufficiently curious about the Canon units that I will, eventually, get them tested along with my various Sunpaks and Vivitars. We'll leave that for a rainy afternoon.

Dave F.

[anthonyi]

I'd be interested to see those Canon results, Dave.

[la_ricecooker]

thanks for the post dave. interesting.

[Ross McT.]

This is an interesting question. Since I'm fortunate enought to own a Gossen Color-Pro 3F color temperature meter (thank you eBay!!!), I thought I'd test a few of my shoe-mount flash units.

I know you're curious about the 580EX II and 430EX II. Unfortunately, I own the older 580EX and 430EX, neither of which has a PC socket (grrrrrrr!). This makes triggering the flash units with the Gossen a major problem. I don't have the necessary adapters on hand.

I moved on to my Nikon SB-26 and SB-800 Speedlights which DO have PC sockets. The quick and dirty results:



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3446/3377757568_0cd86529bb_o.jpg

I'm sufficiently curious about the Canon units that I will, eventually, get them tested along with my various Sunpaks and Vivitars. We'll leave that for a rainy afternoon.

Dave F.

Any chance you have the SB-600 results also?
I'm wondeing if im going to have a drastic spread with my 430EX and my borrowed SB-600

[tetrode]

Any chance you have the SB-600 results also?
I'm wondeing if im going to have a drastic spread with my 430EX and my borrowed SB-600

Sorry, but I don't own an SB-600. The consolation prize is that I was able to get readings from my Canon 580EX and 430EX units (I omitted the "K" but we know we're talking Kelvin degrees here):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3658/3383558182_742ac7289c_o.jpg

You'd probably be safe assuming no more than a 100-200 degree Kelvin differential at any power setting between your 430EX and a Nikon SB-600.

Dave F.

[anthonyi]

Interesting, Dave...thanks for posting.

All a fair bit lower than 5600K then...

[Curtis N]

I hereby nominate Dave F. for the Measurebator of the Month award!
:D:D

Nice work. A few years ago I posted color temps from my Sigma flash, using a grey card and RAW converter to measure. Some rainy day, I might do some more testing along those lines. I have a WhiBal card and an Ed Pierce black/grey/white target that I know will give different results when compared to each other.

[tetrode]

I hereby nominate Dave F. for the Measurebator of the Month award!
:D:D

Nice work. A few years ago I posted color temps from my Sigma flash, using a grey card and RAW converter to measure. Some rainy day, I might do some more testing along those lines. I have a WhiBal card and an Ed Pierce black/grey/white target that I know will give different results when compared to each other.

Thanks for the virtual pat on the back, Curtis. Everyone here secretly craves an occasional "kudo" from the Master Flasher himself ;)

Of course, the wild card in this case is the calibration of the Gossen Color-Pro 3F meter itself. A TRUE measurebator would ensure his measuring device was calibrated against a known source. Alas, not having any such source available means my test results have to be viewed with some skepticism.

If I really wanted to get serious about this, I'd send the meter to Gossen for calibration but, frankly, I haven't attained that level of measurebatorness as yet. In any case, it's only important (to me) to (1) understand the color temps of my lights relative to one another to ensure they'll all play nice together in a single setup and not cause any difficult to correct color shifts, and (2) understand how color temp of a light shifts over its power adjustment range.

Assuming the meter IS accurate, what's interesting to me is that none of the flashes I've tested have come anywhere near their advertised 5500K-5600K. However, as long as they're all in the same ballpark, setting WB isn't a problem.

Lastly, I also have one of the Ed Pierce targets and find it excellent. What's unique and clever about the Pierce target is that the black and white bars are actually "almost" black and "almost" white which means they can be used for controlling highlight and shadow clipping.

Dave F.

[Curtis N]

Lastly, I also have one of the Ed Pierce targets.I would be interesting to compare what you get by shooting the target, neutralizing it with RAW software and noting the resulting color temp in the software. And compare that with the Gossen readings.

[tim]

I'm not so interested in being perfectly correct, I like to make nice photos. I use 5800K-6200K, as I like my images a little warm.