Set XT to auto Wb with 580EX?

I can't find it now but thought I read that the camera should be set to auto WB when using the flash for general photography. Is this correct? Even though one of the WB choices is FLASH?? Can someone explain why? Thanks

I typically leave my XT on AWB when shooting with flash. Some people say AWB is wrong most of the time but I haven't had problems with it unless I'm shooting in really crazy light like tungsten or a mix.

Agreed. Although if you plan on shooting with ONLY your flash and never without it, you can put your WB on the Flash mode, which means it should be balanced for white light, which that flash produces. Nonetheless, I typically always shoot in Auto.

I use AWB for flash photography... but have played with the other settings to see what happens.

There are NO rules here. Do whatever you want... and do your own experimentation. If you play around and see what the other settings will do in different scenarios... you'll really understand what's going on.
Then, you'll be able to adjust on the fly to get some really cool effects.. like shooting in Tungsten with flash or in daylight.

Better yet, setting custom white balance from tinted sheets of paper.

Don't conform to ANY rules... the best thing is to experiment yourself. Not to say ignore advise you'll hear... that would be silly.

Thanks for the replies. I got to checking some sites and found the one I read that on. It actually says that the EX series light will automatically inform the camera of the color temperature of its illumination so it can calculate white balance, but that the WB must be set to either automatic or flash. This is from Canon's Flashwork site. I think I'll leave it on auto most of the time but it sounds like the same calculation would be made in both cases when the flash is used.

Yeah I read that too but forgot about it. It's also in the 580EX manual. That probably explains why I've been getting such good consistent results in AWB with flash.

Not sure if it's smart enough to compensate for tungsten though. When I made the remark I was thinking of back when I shot with the Sigma EF-500. Haven't been in powerful tungsten lighting lately.

If you can shoot RAW, you can change the WB after you shoot with an editing program. Otherwise I would keep the WB on DAYLIGHT which will cover flash and outdoors. Auto can be inconsistent. If I can't figure out what kind of light I'm in ( like a mixture of incandescent, daylight, fluorescent, etc.) then AUTO would be safest. I never use the FLASH WB because it is alway wrong. There's alot of things to consider especially when using ettl flash. RAW is the best. Then you pick the exact WB when you edit the shot with your editing software. If you want consistent results with flash, use a high f stop and fast shutter speed and set the WB to DAYLIGHT. Experiment and see for yourself. Good luck.

I use a gel over my flash so that the flash isnt a different color than the ambient light, so that way the background matches the person. I leave it on AWB, or custom with greycard.

Am I the only one that sets custom WB from a normal white sheet of paper? Everybody seems to have grey cards... or grey dual purpose micro fibre clothes. I like the white sheet of paper since they're available everywhere and are large enough to easily fill a frame.

Don't worry, not picking on you specifically... just an observation that most people seem to set white balance from a special grey card.

White cards are OK, as long as you don't overexpose it and blow it out. It's a lot harder to blow out a gray card.

you're never getting as accurate with white as with grey because you camera's meter is callibrated to grey, and might over expose white.

Actually someone JUST said that, shoulda refreshed!

Hmmm... overexposure was never a concern for me since the camera will adjust the entire image to neutral gray based on your metering mode.... but the sensor being "calibrated to grey" is an interesting point.

Honestly though, I've never had a problem with the pure white sheet. Over exposure just will not happen. I think I usually switch to Av mode from manual for the calibration shot though. Maybe the overexposure you're talking about is from manual mode settings?

Using anything but white can cause undesireable effects. The whole point of white balance is basically you're telling the camera "in this lighting environment, this is white", thus correcting the balance. If you balance off of something other than white, you could be getting inacurate color schemes. It's the same with video cameras. Yes, the camera's meter is based on 18% gray, but your meter has very little to do with the color scheme of an image, it's just for the exposure settings. Even if the image is overexposed, it doesn't really matter when you're white balancing on a white card or white sheet of paper. When you tell the camera what image to white balance off of, you'll notice that it'll shift it to a neutral shade. Ever try balancing using a colored sheet? Like if you white balance on a green sheet, the green will turn rather neutral in shade, and the rest of your surroundings will have a bit of a red color scheme to them.

I think the point here is you need a neutral page, whether it be white or grey. Either way, it's the analysis of colour that is cast onto that neutral sheet so the camera can auto adjust and make the R/G/B values the same (thus producing a neutral colour).

I'll keep using a white sheet since they're everywhere and it works very well.

RE coloured sheet... I wouldn't suggest using solid coloured sheets. The lightly tinted pastel sheets give some cool effects though.
Spiral Photo... nice to see somebody else is thinking out of the box. Glad you supported my comment... thought I was crazy to do that.