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Howard20377

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This is a suggestion for Canon-

Years ago I white balanced my Canon camcorder by putting the white lens cap on the lens, aiming the lens at the light source and pressing one button. It would be a great improvement if Canon would add the capability to assign such a feature to one of the buttons on the camera. Either Canon would provide a white translucent lens cap or the user would. Perhaps in the next firmware update?



Anyone else desire such a feature?
 
I remember the days of the diffusing caps and had one.

To me, a bigger issue is that setting the white balance is buried in the menu under the camera options tab 4 (on an RP). I would like to have the option to have a button set it. For as much trouble as it is to do, I often forget.

I usually shoot in AWB and save RAW+JPEG so I can go back and fix the white balance. If you take a shot of a grey or white card you can use it to later fix the white balance.
 
Howard said:
This is a suggestion for Canon-

Years ago I white balanced my Canon camcorder by putting the white lens cap on the lens, aiming the lens at the light source and pressing one button. It would be a great improvement if Canon would add the capability to assign such a feature to one of the buttons on the camera. Either Canon would provide a white translucent lens cap or the user would. Perhaps in the next firmware update?

Anyone else desire such a feature?
Click to expand...
Naw, I just put my WB in the custom menu on my R, when I hit the menu button the custom menu comes up. I keep my most used in there like WB, Format Card, EB, etc... It gives you up to 3 screens to use but I try just to keep the ones I really want quickly.

I used those white caps a decade or so ago. A good idea but they have some issues, maybe thats why you don't see them anymore. Its looking at reflected light, not really always the light falling on the scene your shooting. For instance, if you have a lot of greenery in the scene that gets reflected in the scene and you will get a white balance that weights to magenta. For studio lighting you have to start with a correct exposure, the camera meter of course is useless in this case. A hand held meter has to be compensated for the light loss of the white cap. It worked for me for the most part but I couldn't trust it like I do with a white card. Canon does better with a white card and Nikon works better with a grey card.

I now use a spring frame twist-n-fold WB fabric made by Lastolite, Its about 18-20 inches unfolded, easy for a model to hold and after a WB shot it takes a split second to twist back to the small case it comes in. Grey on one side and white on the other.
 
Karl_Guttag said:
I remember the days of the diffusing caps and had one.

To me, a bigger issue is that setting the white balance is buried in the menu under the camera options tab 4 (on an RP). I would like to have the option to have a button set it. For as much trouble as it is to do, I often forget.

I usually shoot in AWB and save RAW+JPEG so I can go back and fix the white balance. If you take a shot of a grey or white card you can use it to later fix the white balance.
Click to expand...
Karl-

Thats my point- I hate going into menus, taking a picture of a white or gray surface, and then saving it as a custom white balance. I don’t bother to do it. A single button press while aimed at a white surface or with a white lens cap would be so much better.
 
Howard said:
This is a suggestion for Canon-

Years ago I white balanced my Canon camcorder by putting the white lens cap on the lens, aiming the lens at the light source and pressing one button. It would be a great improvement if Canon would add the capability to assign such a feature to one of the buttons on the camera. Either Canon would provide a white translucent lens cap or the user would. Perhaps in the next firmware update?

Anyone else desire such a feature?
Click to expand...
Why go to the trouble, if you shoot RAW?

I use AWB ambient. It actually gets the color right a lot. DPP allows me to check what other settings would be, use the pen to choose something white in the scene to balance to, or adjust to taste. DPP handles color the best. Then I export 16 bit TIFFs to Lightroom.

If the light is the same throughout the shooting area, your method would still work, but it rarely is. Point the camera in a different direction, and the light is a different color.

Some professional event shooters and sports shooters shoot JPEG, so they can send the pictures out right away. Even then, there is the problem of inconsistent light color. The solution there is to pay attention to the EVF, which gives you a good approximation of the color in the final image.
 
Dan W said:
Howard said:
This is a suggestion for Canon-

Years ago I white balanced my Canon camcorder by putting the white lens cap on the lens, aiming the lens at the light source and pressing one button. It would be a great improvement if Canon would add the capability to assign such a feature to one of the buttons on the camera. Either Canon would provide a white translucent lens cap or the user would. Perhaps in the next firmware update?

Anyone else desire such a feature?
Click to expand...
Naw, I just put my WB in the custom menu on my R, when I hit the menu button the custom menu comes up. I keep my most used in there like WB, Format Card, EB, etc... It gives you up to 3 screens to use but I try just to keep the ones I really want quickly.

I used those white caps a decade or so ago. A good idea but they have some issues, maybe thats why you don't see them anymore. Its looking at reflected light, not really always the light falling on the scene your shooting. For instance, if you have a lot of greenery in the scene that gets reflected in the scene and you will get a white balance that weights to magenta. For studio lighting you have to start with a correct exposure, the camera meter of course is useless in this case. A hand held meter has to be compensated for the light loss of the white cap. It worked for me for the most part but I couldn't trust it like I do with a white card. Canon does better with a white card and Nikon works better with a grey card.

I now use a spring frame twist-n-fold WB fabric made by Lastolite, Its about 18-20 inches unfolded, easy for a model to hold and after a WB shot it takes a split second to twist back to the small case it comes in. Grey on one side and white on the other.
Click to expand...
If you aimed the camera with the white lens cap at the subject you were doing it wrong. It was supposed to be aimed at the light source to read the color temperature of the source to get the white balance. A light meter reading off of a proper grey surface is also used for exposure reading.
 
Eddie Rizk said:
Howard said:
This is a suggestion for Canon-

Years ago I white balanced my Canon camcorder by putting the white lens cap on the lens, aiming the lens at the light source and pressing one button. It would be a great improvement if Canon would add the capability to assign such a feature to one of the buttons on the camera. Either Canon would provide a white translucent lens cap or the user would. Perhaps in the next firmware update?

Anyone else desire such a feature?
Click to expand...
Why go to the trouble, if you shoot RAW?

I use AWB ambient. It actually gets the color right a lot. DPP allows me to check what other settings would be, use the pen to choose something white in the scene to balance to, or adjust to taste. DPP handles color the best. Then I export 16 bit TIFFs to Lightroom.

If the light is the same throughout the shooting area, your method would still work, but it rarely is. Point the camera in a different direction, and the light is a different color.

Some professional event shooters and sports shooters shoot JPEG, so they can send the pictures out right away. Even then, there is the problem of inconsistent light color. The solution there is to pay attention to the EVF, which gives you a good approximation of the color in the final image.
Click to expand...
Yes, I also use AWB for convenience and its pretty good these days. But if you bother to custom white balance properly it is so much better. I’m just suggesting to make it easier.
 
Howard20377 said:
If you aimed the camera with the white lens cap at the subject you were doing it wrong. It was supposed to be aimed at the light source to read the color temperature of the source to get the white balance. A light meter reading off of a proper grey surface is also used for exposure reading.
Click to expand...
What I was talking about is if your outdoors in nature for instance doing landscapes. You may have a lot of colors reflecting light even when you looking up, it happens. I'm not saying it doesn't work, most of the time it did a pretty good job but not always for me.

As far as using a meter, I never used a grey card for a exposure. I always measure the light falling on the subject I was shooting unless it is a landscape were I would use spot. Or are you talking about the built in meter, if thats all. you have then yes you could use reflected reading on grey card but I prefer a handheld because its colorblind when doing an incident reading for exposure.
 
I shoot raw and fix in LR
 
Shooting raw and color balance in post? Of course you can do that but what are you using as a reference? Your eyes? You trust you're monitor?

With people I think it's very important to get color as close as possible. I have a friend that is of middle eastern decent, he likes a yearly head shot for his web stuff. I don't notice his skin color in person but when precessing it he looks dark and little yellow maybe? Anyhow if it wasn't for a good WB I would give him something he is not.

Mixing ambient and strobe can be tough sometimes. If you don't want to do a custom color balance in camera carry a color checker passport in your back pocket and have the model hold it and take a shot after you get your lighting right. Most post software will let you sync all photos to one image WB.

But yes when I'm just doing casual travel or candids or whatever I just use AWB and adjust in post if I need to by eye.
 
Dan W said:
Shooting raw and color balance in post? Of course you can do that but what are you using as a reference?
Click to expand...
I use a white object in the scene with the eye dropper or pen or whatever you call it. Then I add a little amber, because it looks better. If there is nothing white in the scene, I refer to another shot that has something white in it that is close in lighting.
Dan W said:
Your eyes? You trust you're monitor?
Click to expand...
My monitor is calibrated. I compare it to various printer that I use, and adjust for them, if I am having prints made.
Dan W said:
With people I think it's very important to get color as close as possible. I have a friend that is of middle eastern decent, he likes a yearly head shot for his web stuff. I don't notice his skin color in person but when precessing it he looks dark and little yellow maybe? Anyhow if it wasn't for a good WB I would give him something he is not.
Click to expand...
Most of the people I know are vain and want something they are not.
Dan W said:
Mixing ambient and strobe can be tough sometimes. If you don't want to do a custom color balance in camera carry a color checker passport in your back pocket and have the model hold it and take a shot after you get your lighting right. Most post software will let you sync all photos to one image WB.
Click to expand...
This is a great idea for planned portraits, which I rarely do. The Canon presets for sunlight, flash, shade, and clouds are often very good.
Dan W said:
But yes when I'm just doing casual travel or candids or whatever I just use AWB and adjust in post if I need to by eye.
Click to expand...
 
I shoot with AWB and sort it out in post - if I need consistent WB, I'll use a grey card.
 
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