When I shoot in my studio, I set my custom white balance in my camera to 6000K. However, when I import the photos in Lightroom, they are all 5500K. Am I missing something or does this have a purpose?
Thejaggy Member ![]() 171 posts Joined Feb 2009 Location: Waco, TX More info | Mar 09, 2011 22:43 | #1 When I shoot in my studio, I set my custom white balance in my camera to 6000K. However, when I import the photos in Lightroom, they are all 5500K. Am I missing something or does this have a purpose? 5D MkIII gripped, 5D MkII gripped, 1D MkIII, 50D gripped, 17-40 f4L, 24-70 f2.8L, 70-200 f2.8L IS + 1.4x & 2x extender, Tamron 28-75 f2.8, 580EX II, 550EX, Alien Bees
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tonylong ...winded ![]() More info | Mar 09, 2011 23:21 | #2 It's because the Canon in-camera settings are proprietary, in that they don't translate into exact values in the Metadata. So, the Raw processor has to make an educated guess. They have done a pretty good job of "reverse engineering" the Canon settings but not perfect -- use your own judgement as to how accurate the WB is and tweak when needed. It's always good to use a WB target in a studio shoot in a test shot anayway, I figure. Tony
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tzalman Fatal attraction. ![]() 13,488 posts Likes: 202 Joined Apr 2005 Location: Gesher Haziv, Israel More info | Mar 10, 2011 06:37 | #3 I explain this somewhat differently than Tony. It's because the Canon in-camera settings are proprietary, in that they don't translate into exact values in the Metadata. But the WB values, the multipliers applied to each color channel, are clearly stated together with the deduced color temperature in the Maker's Notes section of the metadata. They can be seen with ExifTool and if Phil Harvey was able to decipher the code, I'm sure Adobe engineers can do the same. (Or they could use Exiftool since it is Open Source and the code is freely available.) Below are three sets of data from three CR2 files - the top one is from a shot taken with AWB in sunlit conditions, the middle with the WB set to 5200K (although the light was actually colder) and the bottom with a custom WB set. In each case there are listed the actual multipliers used by the camera for the embedded jpg as well as the camera's measurement of the reflected light (note that they are not the same when AWB is set). Elie / אלי
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kirkt Cream of the Crop More info | Mar 10, 2011 09:10 | #4 An alternative to the studio approach of setting CCT in camera (as the OP noted) is to shoot a reference gray target in the studio for that session, and for each time the lighting is changed in that session. Then, number differences between Canon and the rest of the world are irrelevant, and click-WB'ing on the target in whatever application you use becomes the standard. Kirk
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Wilt Reader's Digest Condensed version of War and Peace [POTN Vol 1] ![]() More info | Mar 12, 2011 09:12 | #5 Not sure what the issue really is, for this thread. The WB scale is defined by Lord Kelvin to be based upon the light output of a black body when heated to a certain temperature. I know that 'daylight' really is a range of temperatures (different at different times of day). I assume that at one specific tempature, the R-G-B values are balanced (neutral), but I do not know at what K value this happens to occur.
In other words, the camera as-shot CWB values had the same WB values as LR when using the eyedropper tool! Now admittedly the LR values for WB temperature and tint could vary around the sample area, just by moving the eyedropper tool to a different sample area. But when sampling around, the values were nominally clustered within a certain range of values (e.g. 2650-2850), and the values which I reported above seemed to be a statictical 'mean' and this was also a real sample point which I could point at. You need to give me OK to edit your image and repost! Keep POTN alive and well with member support https://photography-on-the.net/forum/donate.php
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tzalman Fatal attraction. ![]() 13,488 posts Likes: 202 Joined Apr 2005 Location: Gesher Haziv, Israel More info | Mar 12, 2011 10:39 | #6 Wilt - If you have an Exif reader that shows you the Maker's Notes section of the metadata, check what the camera wrote there - it will be different from the LR display. Or look at my screen shot above: In the first instance, an AWB shot in sunlight the camera wrote 4982K and LR shows 4600K. In the second, with the camera set to 5200K, the camera wrote 5224K (essentially the same) and LR displays 4850K. And in the third example, a CWB, the camera has 4690K and LR is at 4500K. When I shoot in my studio, I set my custom white balance in my camera to 6000K. However, when I import the photos in Lightroom, they are all 5500K. Elie / אלי
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Wilt Reader's Digest Condensed version of War and Peace [POTN Vol 1] ![]() More info | Mar 12, 2011 10:56 | #7 I just set the WB to a specific K value of 6000, and when I imported it into LR with no presets or any other adjustment, it initially came in with a value of 5700. If you choose 'Daylight' for WB value, LR sets it to 5500, but 'As Shot' is 5700 (not the 6000 set in camera). You need to give me OK to edit your image and repost! Keep POTN alive and well with member support https://photography-on-the.net/forum/donate.php
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tzalman Fatal attraction. ![]() 13,488 posts Likes: 202 Joined Apr 2005 Location: Gesher Haziv, Israel More info | Mar 12, 2011 12:26 | #8 Wilt wrote in post #12006781 ![]() I just set the WB to a specific K value of 6000, and when I imported it into LR with no presets or any other adjustment, it initially came in with a value of 5700. If you choose 'Daylight' for WB value, LR sets it to 5500, but 'As Shot' is 5700 (not the 6000 set in camera). I see why the question now. I've read your earlier response a couple of times, but I must not have eaten enough brain food because it is pretty hard for me to comprehend ![]() Let me try again, but without any guarantee of doing a better job. Elie / אלי
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Wilt Reader's Digest Condensed version of War and Peace [POTN Vol 1] ![]() More info | Mar 12, 2011 14:23 | #9 tzalman wrote in post #12007149 ![]() Let me try again, but without any guarantee of doing a better job. I just set my camera to 6000K and took a shot. The metadata says that the As Shot settings were R=2362, G=1024, B=1538. This means that the camera thought to itself, "The Master wants me to do a WB for 6000K. Now I know what the sensitivity of my sensor is to R,G and B light (because my Creator in Tokyo endowed me with that knowledge) so to get the color channels balanced when I make a jpg I will have to boost the R by 2.362 and the B by 1.538." But instead of letting the camera make a jpg I gave the file to LR to play with and LR looked at the metadata and thought, "Hm, it says here that the As Shot was R=2362 and B=1538. I have a profile for this camera (that The Lord Adobe gave me) that embodies what TLA thinks he knows about how the sensor reacts to light, so I'll use that as a base and apply the As Shot corrections to it." But because LR's UI displays the WB in terms of temperature, it has to do another operation also. It has to do a calculation that is the reverse of the one the camera did (from user-requested temperature to multipliers) and figure out what temperature would require that those particular multipliers be applied to the profile. The result is that because the profiles are different, LR comes up with a different value for the temperature. But it really doesn't make any difference, because that temperature display is really just window dressing. The important thing is that the WB is obtained and will be correct for 6000K light, even though LR thinks it is balancing for 5500K light. Now THAT made sense! You need to give me OK to edit your image and repost! Keep POTN alive and well with member support https://photography-on-the.net/forum/donate.php
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tonylong ...winded ![]() More info | Mar 12, 2011 16:52 | #10 So, I'm glad that we all agree that our brains mush together! Tony
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CanonVsNikon Senior Member 255 posts Joined Jan 2013 More info | Dec 08, 2013 10:00 | #11 ![]() I know this is an old thread but say you set the wb to 6000k and when imported into LR it shows up as 5700k. What if you adjusted the wb in LR back to 6000k and exported to jpg. If you compare the two jpg's (one SOOC and the other adjusted to 6000k in LR) will their wb be slightly off? Would you have been better to keep the "as shot" wb value in LR (in this,case 5700k) to match wb of SOOC camera shot?
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tzalman Fatal attraction. ![]() 13,488 posts Likes: 202 Joined Apr 2005 Location: Gesher Haziv, Israel More info | Dec 08, 2013 11:59 | #12 The LR version would not be neutral. It would have a slight red/amber bias. Unless you could get a copy of the Canon profile, convert it to a .dcp file and install it in LR. Elie / אלי
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CanonVsNikon Senior Member 255 posts Joined Jan 2013 More info | Dec 08, 2013 12:49 | #13 ![]() Gotcha. I agree sometimes WB is a personal choice
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