Setting white balance on an infrared converted Nikon D3100

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Mr Johnty

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John
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Hi all.
First post on the forum.
I have an issue with my Nikon D3100. I had it professionally converted to a 720 IR.
The issue I'm having is all the images obviously have a heavy red colour.
I have read and watched YouTube videos on setting white balance in camera, the problem is it wont save the data. I have used white card, gray card, or grass it just wont save the data. Can anyone suggest any easy ways of setting the balance I'm getting very frustrated with it now.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Regards John
 
Hi and welcome to TP

I know little about the subject so Googled to see and this is what I found..



Hopefully this will throw some light on the matter :)
 
Hi Box Rownie.
I have not tried the green background, I will give it a go. many thanks for your help and warm welcome.
John
 
It's probably an idea to try it out in LR or PS with that WB setting, there are presets available for IR photography that might be worth researching. I'm not well up on this but I do enjoy using a 590 and a 720nm conversion on a couple of old Nikon bodies, then playing around tin LR to get what I'm after. It's interesting stuff.
 
Hi Lindsay.
Thanks for the welcome
Unfortunately I don't have PS or LR.
I have had some very good results using Gimp and Darktable, with a panasonic lumix I converted myself. the custom white balance was so easy to do on that.
I would just like to set it on the Nikon and make life a little easier and get Evan better results.
Thanks for the reply
Regards John
 
Just put it on monochrome with a red filter on the picture control. This will give you a high contrast black and white IR picture. Set it on sunny white balance and you'll get the most realistic range to avoid blown highlights.

If you want to try and get coloured trees then set it on vivid and take a picture of a clear blue sky. Use this and set the white balance. Offset this white balance as far as you can into the pale blue range. Then set your camera for vivid with maximum saturation.

If you want a "grey card" for 720nm (grey trees) then red oxide primer paint worked really well for me. It doesn't work at if the camera is set up for less deep IR pictures (eg 650nm).
 
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I shoot lots of IR, but not with Nikon cameras. However I have read that the white balance needed is beyond the range Nikon camera allow. (not an issue with my Sony & MFT converted models)
Two options:
1/ Shooting JPEG Use the kelvin white balance set to the lowest option. This won't be perfect but will be as good as the camera allows.

2/ Shoot in RAW & deal with WB on the computer. The in camera WB will have no affect on your results
 
Try using a picture to do the white balance. Set it for shade first so it exaggerates the reds that it it is trying to correct.

I had a go with my D3000 (not IR) and it does seem a bit limited on white balance adjustment. You can't offset the colours on a custom WB and I am not sure it has the range of higher end models.

But... If you put it in Nikon Studio you should be able to do what you want to a RAW file.

I shoot most of my IR in black and white with a red filter on the picture control and sunny white balance. This gives me a histogram in the camera that best reflects the brightest colour (red). If I want colour pictures, I fix the colours in Nikon Studio on the raw file. If you want B&W, I think this is the easiest option.
 
Thanks for that Erty.
It makes sense that I can't set the white balance in camera. But as you say I can always do it in image processing later.
I thought I was going mad when it wouldn't set the data. Perfect excuse now for a higher end camera
 
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