Custom white balance on a Nikon D7000. Please help a Canon user.

[mickledore]

I shoot Canon, and so have no idea how a Nikon works. A guy from the club I was out with last night shoots Nikon. We were out in the middle of nowhere under strange lights, and I set a custom white balance by taking a shot and asking my 5DIII to set a custom white balance from that. Simple to do and works every time. No need for white/grey cards at all. My mate has no idea how to set a custom WB on his D7000, and I don 't understand the Nikon menu. Going though Google for help the only tutorials say that you have to have a white card before you can set a custom WB. We didn't have one, and I could set a WB without one, so does anyone who uses Nikon know how to set a custom WB by using a "test" photo to show the camera the parameters?

Please don't say we should always carry a white card - not many of us do!

 

[HoppyUK]

It's impossible to set accurate custom white balance on any camera without a neutral colour target for the system to reference, ie white or grey that has equal quantities of red, green and blue. See handbook for instructions.

Edit: if you're stuck, use one of the pre-sets (ie, tungsten, flash etc) to get it close, then shoot Raw and adjust final colour in post processing.

 

[TAT2]

You should always carry a white card if you intend to always create custom white balances

 

[jockwav]

I always do.

 

[StewartR]

I set a custom white balance by taking a shot and asking my 5DIII to set a custom white balance from that. Simple to do and works every time. No need for white/grey cards at all.

How on earth do you do that? Surely it only works if your subject is white/grey?

 

[Suvv]

I have a Nikon and can set a Custom WB from an existing photo.
Instead of taking a photo of a white or neutral grey card I just select Use Photo.
However, it is only of use if the existing photo has the correct WB and the lighting is the same as will be in the new shot!

 

[LCPete]

If you shoot raw do you need to set a white balance in difficult lighting or is it to just save time in editing?

 

[TKD]

The Nikon D7000 has live view. If I feel I will have trouble, I use live view and look at the screen. Does it look like what you want the WB to be? If not change the WB to something else and look at the live view again until the screen matches what you want the shot to mimic.