how to white balance on 300d

[cliffrebl]

Hi ALL,

I have had my canon eos digital rebel 300d for some time and never could understand how to do a custom white balance. I go into hockey rinks to watch my kids play hockey and never could get the camera to white balance properly. Could someone please tell me how to do this right?

Cliff

 

[Doug Pardee]

Did you not like the answers that you got when you asked this same question in this same forum just a few hours ago?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=21546752

 

[cliffrebl]

You are right about that. I am hoping someone would enlighten me as to how to properly get the white balance setup. Should the camera be in program mode or otherwise? Just putting a white 8x10 card in front of my dreb camera in program mode does not allow the camera to snap a picture. I t wont trip the shutter. What is the sequence in plain english? Thanks for any help.

Cliff

 

[Hosebag]

1. shoot a picture, any picture with something white in it.
2. hit the menu button
3. choose custom white balance.
4. camera says "which picture to use for custom white balance?"
5. select the picture you just took. Hit the set button.

6. shoot the same picture again, and see the difference in white balance, right then and there.
7. Camera loses this setting when turned off.

 

[cliffrebl]

What I find interesting when I ask the question, how do you custom set white balance on a 300d canon, three people answered and all three had completely different answers as to how to perform this task. Is there not one proper way to do this or does everyone have their own method?

Cliff

 

[KiboOst]

It is well explained in the manual ! Not hard to understand, but a bit tricky (menus etc ..).
Just shoot raw and adjust WB in PP ...

Nico
--
Live fast, shot slow !
http://www.kiphoto.net

 

[balloonchasers]

I don't believe you got three different answers, you just got three different ways of explaining the process. All are correct, Doug Pardee gave you a very good explaination (not meaning to leave any others out!) and of course the manual is the best source for the answer. If the camera will not let you take a picture, it is most likely because you can't get a focus lock (can't focus if shooting if there is no contrasting objects to lock on to). Try setting your focus button on your lens to manual.

John

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Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c

 

[balloonchasers]

Sorry but I just did one of the things that bugs me from time to time.

Picking up an old thread and carrying on the conversation like it is brand new. I know I would never do it in the real world.

Cliff if you see this thread and are still having problems, please let us know and I am sure someone will try to provide you with more help.

John
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Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c

 

[skrubol]

From what I've heard, even if you do everything perfectly to set your white balance, you may still have problems.

Ice rinks typically have pretty poor and inconsistent lighting. They generally don't have tungsten lights either. I think most rinks use lights that pulse with the power (120 Hz.) Using shutter speeds above 120 (100 and 80 can cause problems as well) can end up with seemingly randomly improperly exposed images. Shooting much above 200 can end up with the top exposed differently than the bottom.

There isn't a lot you can do about these problems. Just wanted to warn you that it may not be as simple as you'd expect. I'd recommend shooting in RAW as well so you can easier correct color and exposure issues in PP. Also, especially if you need to shoot above 120 (which you probably will) to freeze movement, shoot several exposures of anything you really want to increase your chances of getting one good keeper.
--

3oD, Fifty f/one.eight, twenty8-1o5 f/three.five-four.five, Seventy-2hundred f/fourL

 

[payoung]

Hi, I have a 300d also and I was having the same problem. A friend that is very seasoned in photography showed me an easy way to do a custom white balance. Hold a white object (paper or whatever) up in front of your camera (at arms length) with your thumb showing, focus on your thumb then move to the center of the paper (where you can't see your thumb)and snap the shot. It worked everytime for me.