To Auto WB Or Not...?

[68lbs]

...that is the question.

I have read in a number of mags now where they recommended choosing the correct white balance setting. The latest being this month's DCMag where they're on about setting it to cloudy for autumnal shots to bring out the warm tones.

However, I ALWAYS leave it on auto. A useful (I'd thought) tip that I picked up on here very early on. As I believed it, the camera gets it right a lot of the time, and if you do need to adjust it, it's an easy job afterwards so long as you shoot RAW - which I do. As I understand things, if I move over to using LR2 I will be able to batch adjust it too, speeding things up further.

So, the question is... do you manually adjust the WB in camera, or just sort it out afterwards if needs be. And are there any advantages or disadvantages to leaving your camera on auto WB.

 

[33L]

I mainly have it on auto.

times i change it are.
when i am using flash all the time, (even though auto picks this up and changes it)
sunset and sunrise - cloudy - brings out the warmer tones.
custom when work with artificial light/bulbs etc...
tungsten when i cant be bothered to set the custom white balance.

 

[jgs001]

I've pretty much only had it on auto. I did force it once to daylight when I was taking images of the moon through my telescope, but as I was trying to pick up the colouring effects of various CA filters, the Auto WB was correcting the image for the colour cast. I'll bear that in mind about cloudy for sunrise and sunset though

 

[POAH]

auto is pretty much good for most things and even when its slightly off you can adjust via RAW. the only time I set it manually is in the studio for flash or at night or in car parks and I use a white balance cap to set it.

cheap WB disc off ebay here



before £2.50 chinese pastic AWB

after £2.50 chinese plastic Custum WB

WB shift adjusted

 

[OneTen]

I just leave it on auto and shoot RAW, the camera does get it right most of the time and I make any necessary adjustments in PSE. The few times I have changed it I've forgotten to swap it back but still been able to make the changes in the RAW converter and PSE.

 

[Nicos Rex]

I leave it on auto for most of the time. Cloudy for scyskapes - especially early morning or late evening. I also set it to the appropriate light source under artificial light.

After a shot I check the LCD and adjust as required for the next shot under the same lighting conditions if there is time.

I then often forget to set it back to auto which can result in the use of obscene or profane language later.

 

[CT]

The DSLR hasn't been made yet which can cope with WB in all conditions on 'Auto'. 'Auto' works just fine usually for daylight and electronic flash which have the same colour temperature, but for anything else, you're better off shooting in RAW or setting a custom WB. The other option is to set the WB in degs Kelvin if your camera has the option. Don't rely on the 'Tungsten' and other WB camera settings to get it right - they're usually way out.

 

[Craikeybaby]

Does it actually make a differece in RAW?

I thought RAW was the exact image data from the sensor, with no processing, surely changing the WB in camera is processing, so only applies to jpegs?

I would test it now, but I don't think getting my camera out at work will give them the impression I'm working...

 

[68lbs]

Does it actually make a differece in RAW? I thought RAW was the exact image data from the sensor, with no processing, surely changing the WB in camera is processing, so only applies to jpegs

It will make a difference as when you import a RAW it does have a colour temp set which will either be what it's guessed, or what you set.

My query is whether it's worths setting in the camera, since it's easier to adjust afterwards when you can see the results more clearly on screen.

 

[bully74uk]

Even though the AWB on my camera is not the best I still leave it on Auto !

Reason being that I simply open my JPEGS in Adobe Camera RAW and adjust the WB to my liking using the sliders !

 

[CT]

Does it actually make a differece in RAW?

I thought RAW was the exact image data from the sensor, with no processing, surely changing the WB in camera is processing, so only applies to jpegs?

I would test it now, but I don't think getting my camera out at work will give them the impression I'm working...

Setting a WB in RAW will put up an initial WB shot in your RAW processor close to what you set, but it's far more easily altered anyway, than it would be with a jpeg image. The WB isn't actually assigned to a RAW image - think of it as a sort of 'post it note' which you're free to disregard.

 

[DiddyDave]

It's very common with Weddings to shoot with WB set to something like 'Flash' only

That way, it's right when you use flash (either on-camera or off it), and easy in Bridge to correct all the others to it too with one click (though of course this means correcting all similar images at once, so that could be Church, Reception, etc.)

The point really is where the WB needs to be the same throughout a range of images as, in the Wedding example, Brides tend to not like their dress going from blue to orange in their photos!

For landscape etc. work though, I tend to use either the Expodisc to set a custom WB or leave it on auto - depends how much it matter to me really

DD

 

[Markk]

Usually auto just for the sake of simplicity and I shoot in RAW whenever I can.

 

[Mark.A]

Interesting. I've been setting WB manually to flash or using a custom WB with the expodisc. I always shoot in Raw so if it's just as good to change the WB afterwards in LR then that would be one less thing to remember when shooting.

 

[DiddyDave]

Interesting. I've been setting WB manually to flash or using a custom WB with the expodisc. I always shoot in Raw so if it's just as good to change the WB afterwards in LR then that would be one less thing to remember when shooting.

One thing good about using the Expo though is that you have a reference set to show exactly what the correct WB is for the rest of your similar shots - otherwise, you're really relying on your eyes & monitor which may result in some slightly off prints on some occasions

Getting it right in-camera is always preferable - but getting a reference point in-camera too helps loads I found even if you don't reset the Custom WB thereafter on that shoot

DD

 

[Mark.A]

True, plus if you use AWB in the camera and correct it later then you won't get the true colour when previewing the image on the LCD.

 

[pxl8]

I never use auto as I don't believe it does get it right in most cases. If you're shooting in daylight and take one shot of some grass and then another of poppies the WB will be wildly different between the two shots. The problem is that the camera takes the WB from the image data so if the image has a lot of a single colour it puts a bias on the WB evaluation. I leave the camera in daylight most of the time or take a manual WB setting when using artifical light. I still tweak the WB in Lightroom but I get the right value and then batch apply it to all the similar shots.