White Balance and Flash

[caldgrp]

Using the 420EX with tungsten lighting, what white balance setting should I use, flash, tungsten or auto? The scene on the G2 LCD will vary from orange to blue none of which look "natural"

I shoot in RAW and do not see much difference, as compared to the G2 LCD display, when I experiment with different white balance settings in Breezebrowser

[ega1]

I don't think you can have a hard rule for this. It all depends on the ratio of flash to tunsten light. If the flash is the main light, the flash setting would probably be best.

If you're not satisfied, perhaps you can try custom white balance, either at shooting time or when you convert from raw.

[Harv]

caldgrp wrote:
Using the 420EX with tungsten lighting, what white balance setting should I use, flash, tungsten or auto? The scene on the G2 LCD will vary from orange to blue none of which look "natural"

I shoot in RAW and do not see much difference, as compared to the G2 LCD display, when I experiment with different white balance settings in Breezebrowser

You will always be best off using the flash as your primary light source when in a mixed light situation. Adjusting white balance later is a possible solution but will most likely just give you a photograph where none of the colors are correct.

Using a bounce like a Lumiquest will give you a good amount of spillover flash and will work to lessen color "pollution" of ambient lights.

Also keep in mind that flash is not dependent upon shutter speed (up to sync speed), so use the fastest shutter possible to minimize ambient light. This again is where a bounced flash will make a big difference in lighting up the background.

As an experiment, shoot a scene with normal household table lamps in the background and a subject, such as a person, in the foreground. Shoot at F4 with a shutter of 1/60 (and using your 420ex in bounce position, since this is just an experiment, a Lumiquest or similar bounce card is not necessary).

You will need to use the camera in Manual mode to do this, and adjust the flash output via the control button on the camera (same button as the white balance button). Then shoot the same scene again at f4 at 1/250.

With the 1/250 shutter, the background could be a bit darker, but not necessarily so. The big difference should be a significant reduction in the intensity of the incandescent lamps. The shutter speed has a large effect of continous light sources such as lamps, but has no effect on flash. Remember that the flash must be bounced for this to work.