7D Flash white balance question

I have been using two remote flash units (a 430EX and a 550EX) with my 7D recently firing them with the built in flash. My camera white balance is set to flash. When I import the images to LR4.3 the develop module shows the 'As shot' WB as 7300K.

I've always used the Flash WB setting and gotten something around 5500K with some tint adjustments included over daylight.

What would be causing the overly warm WB? Any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong?

What mode are you shooting in. It wouldn't be one of the user presets modes?

Does it also shoe 7300 when opening in dpp.

I'm shooting flash in manual mode. I checked the camera for anything I could think might cause it.

I don't use DPP but opened an image there and couldn't readily find the WB temp.

I'll look again now.

Open the picture up. If The tool palette isn't open, right click on the picture to open the tool palette. The first tab is the Raw tab assuming you shot the picture in raw. Under White Balance (next to the tune tab) click and choose color temp. It should read out the color temp.

I just checked some LR 4.3 files and the Flash WB is as you expected: 5500K for a 580EX II on a 20D, a 420EX on a G9 and a Nikon SB900 on my D700.

Just re-read your initial post Dave. When using flash the resulting WB reported by the camera (As-Shot) isn't necessarily going to be 5500K ... it can be almost anything. About the only time it would be close is if the only light for the scene came from the flash, there was nothing reflecting the light that would cause a color cast and if the flash actually produced light at 5500K (and the camera was perfectly calibrated to also see it as 5500K).

The white balance settings on different camera models (also within the same manufacturer) are also not consistent. For my D700 the cameras WB setting for Flash is 5400K, while it's 6000K for my 20D. A 7300K As-Shot result sounds really high unless you were using a colored gel, you're under odd lighting (shade? LED's?) and the flash power is quite low or some WB compensation has been dialed in on the camera.

When you select Flash (5500K) in LR does the image look correct?

Hitthespot wrote in post #15429421
Open the picture up. If The tool palette isn't open, right click on the picture to open the tool palette. The first tab is the Raw tab assuming you shot the picture in raw. Under White Balance (next to the tune tab) click and choose color temp. It should read out the color temp.

Thanks for the info.

If I switch from Shot settings to Color Temp it changes the WB to 5200K and the picture cools way down.

I just realized I use a dual illuminant profile created with xrite color checker for the camera in LR. Dropping back to the camera neutral setting, my normal, cools it down from 7350 to 7100.

DPP doesn't see that. But I'm not sure what DPP is doing.

Glad you got it figured out. Thats why I recommended opening in DPP. These kind of things can drive you nuts.

Bill

I also recently updated my 7D firmware.

I just did too. I don't know why. I'm not interested in any of the new features, and my camera was working perfectly, which always makes me leary of updating. But the camera hasn't seemed to pick up any problems with the new firmware. I am personally looking forward to the 7D replacement. I"m hoping for better noise and dynamic range performance. I'd buy a 5D3 but shoot mostly wildlife and won't give up the 1.6 crop factor.

Thanks Hitthespot - I like the 7D and upgraded from the 20D. I was shooting soccer at the time but quite that and now shoot mostly wildlife. I just don't have the lenses for that...yet.

I haven't figured this WB thing out yet but it's easy to work around. I'll do some more test shots tomorrow.

Titus213 wrote in post #15429445
Thanks for the info.

If I switch from Shot settings to Color Temp it changes the WB to 5200K and the picture cools way down.

I just realized I use a dual illuminant profile created with xrite color checker for the camera in LR. Dropping back to the camera neutral setting, my normal, cools it down from 7350 to 7100.

DPP doesn't see that. But I'm not sure what DPP is doing.

Dave, a properly built dual illuminant DNG profile using the Colorchecker should be really close to the Adobe Standard profile in LR. The result for my D700 was so close that I tossed the custom one I made and now I use Adobe Standard for almost every image. I'll only use the Colorchecker for images I take under consistent lighting, such as for portraits.

Bob_A wrote in post #15429778
Dave, a properly built dual illuminant DNG profile using the Colorchecker should be really close to the Adobe Standard profile in LR. The result for my D700 was so close that I tossed the custom one I made and now I use Adobe Standard for almost every image. I'll only use the Colorchecker for images I take under consistent lighting, such as for portraits.

Thanks Bob, I'll go through all my settings, recalibrate the monitor, and re-shoot the DNG profile if necessary.

What I can't understand though is if I set the camera to WB = Flash LR 4.3 at default As shot says that's 7350K. If I change that to Flash in LR it looks much better - cooler.

Changing the camera calibration in LR 4.3 changes color, tone, contrast, etc. and adjusts the WB setting by a couple of hundred points. Lowest is 7100K.

That is just much to warm for my flash images.

Here are some shots - soon imported to LR 4.3.

Camera setting was WB = Flash, manual mode, with two EX flash units as slaves.

Titus213 wrote in post #15430108
Thanks Bob, I'll go through all my settings, recalibrate the monitor, and re-shoot the DNG profile if necessary.

What I can't understand though is if I set the camera to WB = Flash LR 4.3 at default As shot says that's 7350K. If I change that to Flash in LR it looks much better - cooler.

Changing the camera calibration in LR 4.3 changes color, tone, contrast, etc. and adjusts the WB setting by a couple of hundred points. Lowest is 7100K.

That is just much to warm for my flash images.

Well it at least sounds like LR is doing it's thing properly if the subject was lit primarily by flash and the WB looks correct in the 5200-6000K range (or the 5500K Adobe default). Is the problem really consistent from room to room, different colored walls, different lighting types, etc?

Have you checked the White Balance Correction setting on the camera to ensure you don't have any Blue/Amber correction (temperature) dialed in? Also what result do you get for As-Shot if you shoot an 18% grey card?

Interesting problem Dave. I look forward to hearing what the resolution is.

Oh ... and Happy New Year!

Titus213 wrote in post #15430116
Here are some shots - soon imported to LR 4.3.

Camera setting was WB = Flash, manual mode, with two EX flash units as slaves.

The images didn't attach ...