GX1: White balance too warm

[William Prip]

Hi folks,




I'm a new owner of the GX1 and, so far, I really like the compact form factor of the camera and the lenses I've bought (the 20mm pancake and 12-35 2.8).




But, I've only used it indoors so far and am having a hard time with white balance with a flash.




First, when I use the "P" (Program) setting without a flash, the WB is reasonably pleasant, but it automatically bumps up ISO too high (too much noise) and also drops the shutter speed too low so I get too much motion blur.




When I switch on the flash, I get the subject exposed okay, but the background is way too warm. This is true in P mode, but especially in M mode. Am I just expecting too much from the built-in flash? I've even used my finger to lift the flash up to get a bit of bounce from it, and it still looks warm.




I thought then maybe I can just correct it in post processing. But, I'm having a devil of a time getting good skin tones in Photoshop/ACR. Are there any profiles that works well with the GX1 and ACR that anyone has come across?




Finally, can I use a Canon speedlight flash with the GX1? I haven't dug that out yet, but maybe that's my solution.




By the way, these observations about WB is with the 20mm 1.7 lens so far. Haven't really played with the 12-35 yet.




Thanks for your thoughts!




Will

 

[RickPick]

Auto WB works much better in daylight than artificial light or flash, I have found. Have you tried setting it to the flash or incandescent setting or setting it manually? If so, and you're still not happy, each WB setting can be fine-tuned to your taste. Hit the WB function, choose the setting, auto, sunny, cloudy etc, then I think it is up arrow to adjust the colour balance on two axes. I don't have a GX1 but this functionality is the same on all the G series cameras I have used.

Rick

 

[fluberman]

I can confirm your finding. Even if I use Olympus FL50 flash on hot-shoe with AWB, the resulting image is still too warm. With "flash" WB, it is slightly better, but still warm. The image coming from Oly cameras is much more pleasant for the same setting. So what I did is I shoot RAW with flash WB, and then adjust the image in Lightroom.

 

[William Prip]

Thanks RickPick and fluberman. Yes, I definitely have to play around a bit to figure out how to get the best results for me. Again, I'm really happy about the physical quality of the camera and lenses I have. Feels great in the hand, although a bit too small sometimes. I'm coming from the Canon 1D4 and the 5D3 with grip (and heavy lenses), so it's definitely going to need some getting used to....




Fluberman, I think I'm going to have to learn to play with the raw files a bit and figure out how to get the best results. I have a reasonably good computer system (with a calibrated screen), so I know it's not my system that's producing somewhat garish skin colors. But, I'll keep playing and see how it goes. Using raw files in LR, do you make adjustments to the various color settings in one of the tabs in ACR, or do you just play with the temp slider and the green/amber slider?




Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[bowportes]

I know this is counter-intuitive, but set the white balance setting to "daylight." Then shoot in P mode. I think you'll like the result. Make sure the IA button is not pressed or it will still come out too warm. Tell me what you think.

 

[William Prip]

bowportes wrote:

I know this is counter-intuitive, but set the white balance setting to "daylight." Then shoot in P mode. I think you'll like the result. Make sure the IA button is not pressed or it will still come out too warm. Tell me what you think.

Haha, I just tried this and it does look much better on the LCD! I'm going to take a few pics of my favorite subjects (my four kids) and see how they look on the computer. Thanks very much for the suggestion, bowportes!

 

[Elemental Photography]

William Prip wrote:

Finally, can I use a Canon speedlight flash with the GX1? I haven't dug that out yet, but maybe that's my solution...

The TTL systems are not compatible but the flash can be set to manual power and it will trigger. You'll have to play around with flash power/aperture/ISO to get a good exposure but in principle it will work.




--

A photograph is a creative interpretation of reality.

 

[bowportes]

William Prip wrote:

bowportes wrote:

I know this is counter-intuitive, but set the white balance setting to "daylight." Then shoot in P mode. I think you'll like the result. Make sure the IA button is not pressed or it will still come out too warm. Tell me what you think.

Haha, I just tried this and it does look much better on the LCD! I'm going to take a few pics of my favorite subjects (my four kids) and see how they look on the computer. Thanks very much for the suggestion, bowportes!

If you set that white balance to one of your custom settings (C1 or C2), you can switch to it for flash every time you use it, just as you would switch to M, P, or A. C1 will then become your "flash mode." The GX1 is a nice little camera.

Also, try using the S mode for shots of your kids if you find the shutter speed being set too slow in P. If you set it to S, set the shutter speed to 125, and set the ISO to auto, you should get some good available light shots (without flash) indoors.