The D2Xs' AWB is pretty darned good I must say! It does have trouble below 3000K as mentioned before, which is fine, because I'll guess close and get it okay from there.
GregCD300 wrote:
I guess the D700 is a trade off: going full fx at the expense of WB and increase in cost or sticking with a cheaper D300 with better wb, but DX.
GC
Why would the wb on the D300 be any different than the D700? I'm pretty sure the wb sensor and meter are exactly the same.
Jammy Straub wrote:
Why would the wb on the D300 be any different than the D700? I'm pretty sure the wb sensor and meter are exactly the same.
I think you're probably right, Jammy. There is some slight differences in WB between my 2 cameras, but I don't know if that is due to the WB sensor. I figured it was more due to the different sensor, CFA and all that jazz. I don't have the yellow problem the OP described, but I immediately customize my WB and picture controls to suit my tastes, when I buy a new cam.
I'd say (also a D700 owner) that the problem gets "worse" the further down in colour temperature you get. With my "standard" camera settings I get very good WB in almost all situation in light temperatures from 4.6k and up. Below this the yellow tint gets worse and worse, as if the camera doesn't compensate enough...
Undercompensation is in any case almost always better than overcompensation in my book, but I can agree that they should/could be a little less careful.
Poisonpill's three examples at the top of this page are three versions of what I'd call [undercompensated/good/overcompensated] - the standard AWB D700 being "undercompensated", the Fuji standard is "good", and the expodisc version is definitely "overcompensated". It's too blue - my mind knows that this is an indoor incandescent shot, and that makes the "perfect" WB seem a little unnatural to me.
If I shoot in incandescent I always keep the WB giving results leaning towards the red/yellow to keep the impression of being "indoors in electric lighting". That is part of reality, as I see it. As good as the eye WB is, we still notice the yellow tinge in reality. Things are never perceived as "perfect white" in bulb lighting.
I wish LR had a setting that chose a WB point halfway between what LR chooses in "auto" mode and the in-camera "auto" - that'd be perfect for me. Not that I find the WB "problem" that big, anyway... :-)
I'm starting to find I'm not really digging the wb in low light either. My D80 was pretty abysmal, and this is better, but it's not without it's flaws.
Taken on a train at night. I realise my interpretation of what the what balance should have been might be a bit on the clinical side, but I prefer it to the former. Any thoughts?
I don't think I would ever rely on AWB. I hate to say it but I don't even think on a camera of this level, it should be considered. If you're shooting on AWB, you might as well be shooting a point and shoot. This is a pro-level camera, and I think part of using it is knowing how to set your camera properly. It'd be like complaining about not having a built in flash on a Hassy H3D. In my opinion the color balance on the D700 trumps anything other than the Fuji's. I almost always shoot everything on Sunny and love the filmlike color balance. Even if the actual light is a little warmer or cooler, I still think it renders it realistically based on the scene. I always felt like canon's had a horrible orange or blue cast to it.
I'm starting to find I'm not really digging the wb in low light either. My D80 was pretty abysmal, and this is better, but it's not without it's flaws.
Taken on a train at night. I realise my interpretation of what the what balance should have been might be a bit on the clinical side, but I prefer it to the former. Any thoughts?
My thought is that there is a ton of natural grey in that shot, and that fixing the WB was very easy.
No offense luminosity, but the topic isn't about how easy it is to adjust in PP, it's about what the camera should be producing, but isn't. And no, it wasn't 'very easy', as in clicking a button and getting this result, it was quite a bit of trial and error, but maybe that's just me.
My point is that I'd rather have a fix for this without having to do it in PP later. Maybe an expodisc is the solution, maybe getting in touch with the Pre wb settings is the answer. I'll have to look into it further.
Are you using NX2? Setting a grey point off the seats would take me but a few seconds with it.
I guess I'm unconcerned how AWB fares, and more concerned about whether there's something reliable in the background to meter off of later. If you get the look you want, what's the trouble? Even today, I don't think it's reasonable to expect much from auto white balance in anything but daylight conditions.
luminosity wrote:
Are you using NX2? Setting a grey point off the seats would take me but a few seconds with it.
I guess I'm unconcerned how AWB fares, and more concerned about whether there's something reliable in the background to meter off of later. If you get the look you want, what's the trouble? Even today, I don't think it's reasonable to expect much from auto white balance in anything but daylight conditions.
Ah I see what you mean now. I had not really thought about metering off something gray. (still relatively new to fixing wb before the fact). Might have to invest in a grey card then, or an expodisc. Looking at the shot at top most, I'd prefer something a bit less cooked. Would a grey card provide a more natural look??
I'm pretty new at it too, but NX2 is good with it, and that's what I've come to use regularly.
Something I did recently while shooting in a dimly lit restaurant was meter off the tablecloths. The shots went from being hideously yellow to being pretty well balanced. I know I already mentioned that above, but you may not have seen it. All it takes is but one or two shots, and if the location of the shot is relatively constant, you can plug in the values you get from the one shot into others (which helped in my case because the cloths weren't always in view).
So, you take one test shot with grey clearly in it, meter off that and then plug it into future shots that don't have the card in it.
If it took a considerable amount of time with each shot, I would have more of a problem with AWB. But, so far at least, when using RAW, that hasn't been the case.
Victor S wrote:
I am a Canon shooter. Just for the heck of it decided to try Nikon gear. Mostly for the 24-70 and 14-24. I just got a Nikon D3 and D700 and noticed that pictures that come out of the Nikon are on the yellow side. So I'm thinking what about "best AWB ever" and other slogans that came with it.
Do you guys dial in any bias for the White Balance? I've heard someone was saying that B5 solved the problem for them. I've tried that doesn't seem to work well.
Any other suggestions?
Victor, I have seen your wedding images and they are gorgeous .
I have had a D700 and a few Nikkor lenses for over a year although like you, I am a long time Canon shooter. For kicks, I am enclosing an archived thread of over a year ago that ended up comparing skin tones of both the 5D and D700 of the same subject: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/673343/0?keyword=D700#6016939. I tried and tried and I came to the conclusions that Canon's rendition of skin tone looks a tad more pleasing to the eye, to mine, at least. I dare to say that it is more than a WB issue and I am not saying it is bad but somehow different. Yes, it has that distinctive yellowish tone hence yours, mine and others' experience and it is more noticeable in comparison.
I've heard some people suggesting using the D2x color profile for the D700/D3 to get the skin tones closer. Anyone had any luck with that? Anyone tried using Phase One's C1 RAW processor to see if the colors from the Nikon can be more "easily" adjusted?
Although the following link might demonstrate bad shot to shot color matching or white-balance, I think the 5D produced the more pleasing image, but perhaps less true to life than the D3.
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