Canon 7DMk2: AWB Automatic White Balance
I don’t like Canon’s Auto White Balance. I’m not saying that it’s wrong, I’m saying that I don’t like it. I usually like the light balance to be warmer.
- There’s never an exact right white balance. Even when using a color meter, like the old Minolta or now Kenko’s.
- White balance is the reading of the white color and adjusting everything around it. The problem is what’s the right white? An 87% white, a 92% white, or the 18% grey card?
- CCD and CMOS sensors react differently by model and brand to the white balance. My Canon 7D is cooler than what I’m used to.
- I know about the various contraptions for getting the “right” white balance like ExpoDisk…
Color Temp | Light Source |
---|---|
1000k | Candles |
2000k | Twilight before sunrise |
2500k - 3000k | Household incandescent lights |
3000k - 4000k | Clear sunrise / sunset |
4000k - 5000k | Fluorescent bulbs, cool white - “daylight” |
5000k - 5500k | Small flash |
5500k - 6000k | Studio flash |
6000k - 7000k | Bright sunlight |
7000k - 9000k | Overcast |
9000k - 11000k | Rain… clear day in mountains |
11000k - 20000k | Overcast… snow in the mountains |
I set my white balance to Daylight and that’s it! The colours are usually a little warmer and I will adjust if necessary in Lightroom, much less than ½ of the time. I don’t mess around with the white balance. RAW files are only affected by:
- ISO
- Shutter Speed
- Aperture
And that’s it!. Nothing else. The white balance is just a flag to indicate to the processing software, in my case Lightroom, how it should process it.
Tip
- If colour accuracy in required, I have a grey card that I use in the photo.
- The real problem is not establishing the WB but setting the white balance when there are 2 type of lighting involved, like fluorescent and incandescent.