SB600 white balance

[RafVal]

I just got a second hand Nikon SB600 and when I load my raw files into lightroom Im having to set the color temperature at about 4400 to get a normal look, I thought flash was about 5500. Any one have any ideas why this is happening?
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http://www.rafval.com

 

[Onetrack97]

It should be 5200 - 5500 or so.

Shoot a calibration card like WhiBal with the flash and see what the actual temperature is.

--
Scott

 

[Clark Hampton]

is the plastic diffuser yellowed?
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[RafVal]

thats a good point, I am using one and I cant see any yellow in it with my eyes, I will try to test it, Im also wondering how white a piece of a4 printer paper is, other thing Im wondering is if white balance changes as these flashes get old?
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http://www.rafval.com

 

[WFulton]

other thing Im wondering is if white
balance changes as these flashes get old?

Anything changes color, but age alone is not a big or quick factor. Color temperature of speedlights primarily changes with power level, and of course with external factors like bounce or diffusion.

Any flash tube burst quickly rises to a strong peak, bluewhite hot so to speak, and then it decays away over a millisecond or so, to zero, becoming cooler and red on the way. For xenon tubes, this duration averages out to the color we call daylight.

But speedlights implement lower power by abruptly truncating the flash duration. This leaves the hot blue part, and removes the cool red tail part.

So we see speedlights (any of them) change colors with power level. So if you are walking around the room into different situations with automatic flash, you see big changes.

Nikon, and I think Canon, implement what Nikon calls Flash Color Temperature Information, where the hot shoe flash communicates a color temperature to the camera, based on the amount of flash power that was actually used in this current shot. This only works on the hot shoe, where it can be reported, and it only works for Auto WB settings, where it can be changed. But in this situation with variable distances, you see color temperature change widely in your JPG files. It's a good thing.

This has no effect on external factors of course.

 

[RafVal]

Right, so Im shooting raw but if I set the camera to auto the flash should tell it what the white balance is?
--
http://www.rafval.com

 

[WFulton]

Right, so Im shooting raw but if I set the camera to auto the flash
should tell it what the white balance is?

If it is a Nikon SB-600, SB-800, SB-900 speedlight and if it is on the hot shoe, yes. Color temp based on actual flash power level. Am not saying "accurate', since there are other factors too, external bounce for example. I think we always have to deal with color balance.

I dont know about the other flash models, like the SB-400 and SB-R200 appear not to mention it, however they do mention CLS.

This reported color temperature is stored in the RAW file (and JPG files), but it is up to your RAW software if it uses it or not, for first default. Nikon Capture software does, Adobe ACR does.

Easy to check... a group of pictures all at Flash WB will all have the same default temperature result. A group with Auto WB will be very varied, and very likely more neutral. The greater the power change, the more varied the color temp (assuming hot shoe operation). And again, there are other factors too.

PS. This feature is mentioned on page 5 of SB-600 and SB-800 manuals.
Flash Color Temperature Information

 

[RafVal]

Thanks for that, I never realized, so the flash setting is really only for studio flash. I just did some tests on auto and it does seem pretty accurate.
--
http://www.rafval.com

 

[WFulton]

It is a pretty neat feature, for walkaround hot shoe flash.

I just wanted to suggest that 5500K for Flash was not the whole story. Your 4400K might have been normal for the situation (or possibly not, I dont know, but a dome will boost the power requirement). Maybe 4000K to 6000K could happen. And external factors can happen too.

 

[RafVal]

The flash says around 4700 most of the time and that seems about right, Im wondering what the auto balance thinks when you use flash as a fill light rather then the main?
--
http://www.rafval.com

 

[WFulton]

The flash says around 4700 most of the time and that seems about
right, Im wondering what the auto balance thinks when you use flash
as a fill light rather then the main?

My hot shoe walkaround flash seems to agree well with result of using a white or gray card in scene for eyedropper balance. The two numbers seem close enough when no distracting external influence. I think this walkaround aspect is the important part.

If commander/remote multiple flash is used (no hot shoe flash), I suspect Auto WB has to be same as Flash WB. This Flash Color Temperature Information only works to report what the hot shoe flash says. Multiple flash would seem a problem. I dont know what Commander/Remote does if the commander hot shoe flash is used for fill. Depends on the firmwares choice I'm sure, could be either way, but it could assume multiple flash is a harder problem than what hot shoe flash does.

 

[RafVal]

Flash wb seems to be so far off what the sb600 is firing at that it would be no use it seems, better to use auto or some other setting when opening in raw I imagine.
--
http://www.rafval.com

 

[WFulton]

I was unsure about commander/remote Auto WB. Actually, I dislike Auto WB and never consider using it except for the hot shoe flash, where I love it. But trying Auto WB with off camera SB-800 remote, it still appears to be doing about the same thing with a D300 - bouncing around 4800-5300K, and looking pretty good. I suppose the commander must also knows about what is expected from flash level.