Auto white balance always wrong in cloudy or snowy conditions?

[Garbz]

I have a Nikon D200. My question is about automatic whitebalancing on photographs. For some reason I find the camera tends to get some shots very wrong. Examples include on an overcast day with some sky visible where the shots come out too blue, or on an overcast day photographing snow, or photographing inside of churches lit by outside sunlight only.

In all cases the autowhite balance fails to get it right. In the first case the correct setting appeared to be cloudy +2, the second cloudy +0 and the final one setting it to sunlight.

If these are in the normal range of the camera why does it sometimes go so wrong? Do other photographers here always set their whitebalance manually with a grey card?

 

[shingfan]

auto white balance as you see is not an ideal tool for getting a good white balance......the ideal would be to use a grey card for custom white balance...or adjust the white balance on RAW afteraward......i started a thread to ask ppl who ppl would usually with white balance adjustment just right below yours

 

[ksmattfish]

With my 20D it seems to me that I could put the camera on a tripod, and make several exposures of the same scene in the same lighting, and the auto-WB will come up with a different WB everytime. I keep my DSLRs set to 5000 degrees, just like daylight balanced film. I shoot raw so it's no big deal to change it later if that doesn't work out.

 

[JIP]

In my opinion auto white balance is almos always wrong.

 

[droyz2000]

I have a D200 as well and most of the time, as with most cameras, the Auto WB is incorrect. I do find that the vast majority of the time the Auto WB is close enough that I can correct it afterwards. That being said, I only shoot in raw so that I can alway go back and change it.

 

[Alex_B]

some cameras are better with auto white balance for some type of shoots, others for others and some are always wrong. that is because the camera simply cannot know what your ambient light is like, and what the image should look like ... you yourself however know.

but this really does not matter, since auto WB isn't what you will be using in the future

shoot raw, and WB while shooting is no more hassle ...

 

[simonkit]

RAW is always the better option when shooting in tricky conditions like these - WB is easily corrected afterwards

simon

 

[Garbz]

Shinfan I saw your thread and along with that and my purple shots taken of a castle today it prompted my question

Raw also takes up 6 times the space, and takes hours for me to convert afterwards. I already shoot raw for controlled shoots, but this white balance thing is mainly hurting my snapshots.

I mainly ask because everytime I load a raw into CameraRAW in photoshop the autowhitebalance does a MUCH better job than my camera. I will try today running around with the whitepoint set at 5000k and see what results I come up with.

Btw can anyone explain how autoWB works? My guess is it equalizes histograms or something like that.

 

[Garbz]

Daylight setting works very well at daylight. 5200k on the D200 Thanks matt the resuts are great.

I did a little bit of testing in a museum and established that the D200 auto WB fails completely under pure tungston or most neon lights even when taking pictures of white paper I think Auto WB mode is officially dead to me.

 

[shingfan]

Daylight setting works very well at daylight. 5200k on the D200 Thanks matt the resuts are great.

I did a little bit of testing in a museum and established that the D200 auto WB fails completely under pure tungston or most neon lights even when taking pictures of white paper I think Auto WB mode is officially dead to me.

auto WB is not a preferrable method by most professionals......but if you are going to shot it RAW and adjust it afterward....i would use white balance....and i'm sure it doesnt take 6 times more space....i have D80...RAW is only about double or 3 times more space (approximately 8-10 MB each file)......the best way to adjust white balance is either use custom white balance (you nee dto set it every time the light condition is differet).....or use auto WB and then adjust it afterward on your computer..........for me.....i use auto WB...and the use nikon capture NX to recalculate the WB automatically....it does a good job all the time....(if it is so good...then why the hell are you asking more about WB....lol)....it is because i'm trying to learn more about WB as a beginner

you dont get white when you shoot white.....instead...you'll get grey...because camera's meter is metering for 18% grey......this i learned from this forum

 

[Majik Imaje]

I am old school I use film

when taking photos of snow/ ice sunny day

I walk around for years.. with one setting in / on my camera


ev 15 125 @ f 16

haven't lost one shot yet!

any light meter can only 'AVERAGE".. !

I realize your using digital, but you can still set your camera manually

try these settings and see what happens!! I bet you will be surprised

ONCE YOU IGNORE THAT METER !

This what happens, when I use the top setting. no matter which year

or what part ot fhe world I am in!

 

[Alex_B]

I realize your using digital, but you can still set your camera manually

film does not automatically mean manual and digital does not automatically mean automatic In both worlds you find both sorts of people ...

 

[Garbz]

I know about the grey I have been into film photography for many years. And it is 6 times the size. 16mb on the D200 everytime compared to 2-3 for a JPEG. But the point is if Nikon Capture NX's WB algorithm gets it perfect then why not the camera's!

btw yay for manual, but Majik Imaje I disagree. Currently in Europe and as a proponent of the sunny 16 rule I can guarantee that even on a perfectly clear day thanks to global dimming being much worse here than australia I have not gotten the sunny 16 rule to produce an image with the right brightness. They all come outtoo dark here in Austria or the Suisse. Oh well in 4 days that won't matter anymore!

 

[Christie Photo]

any light meter can only 'AVERAGE".. !

umm.... sure.....


No. That's not right. I will agree that any light meter is only as good as the photographer using it, and they are often used incorrectly.

Don't give up on it. Do some reading. Do some shooting. You really can nail things down.

Pete

 

[Majik Imaje]

I guess it is way way over your head what I am even trying to say .

I am making very simple statments.. and you are telling me NO ?

LISTEN .. I don't care what part of the world you live in..

A sunny day here.. is still a sunny day somepleace else.. now.. just because you have polution or global warming or different light the point it this..

that ev chart those fiom settings.. ARE A STARTING POINT.. now if it does't work in your area..then adjust accordingly.

don't dare tell me a meter does not average.. put a meter right in front ot a grey card or a white card.. so that it is just taking the measurements off that card.. what is it doing? it reads ALL THE LIGHT relecting off that card.. and establishes a reading that is AVERAGED on all the data

I am not taking about pointing that meter into a crowd of different colors or values..

well I guess your right.. in 40 years I never did learn how to use a gossen Luna pro!! ha ha ha.ok!!

that's ok.. I have people tell me all the time.. that I don't know how to change a light bulb either.!! but I live with 'FEEBLE MINDED" people..

that have no idea what they are talking about. If I have a 35 mm pentax K-1000 I can adjust it manualy.. if I have a sony digital camea model xyz

I can use it manually and make adjustments.. I can also use it automaticaly..

whew.. i have been uisng these principles when teaching for 40 years..

this is all so new to me! wow.!! it is amazing that any of my images have ever been exposed properly!

where I live.. a brght sunny day.. I notice which EV to use to obtain a perfectly exposed image. now in your area.. ESTABLISh a starting point!

then once you have that starting point.. then fill in your own EV values

I know people that have absolutly no idea how to use alight meter or even how to read one.. but put a mamiya Rb in there hands.. load them up with film. and they can walk aoutside and shoot roll after roll after roll with no meter. in all typss of conditions.. and every frame is CONSISTENTLY expose with the same density. and they do weddings. inside and out

under all conditions. because they have learned how to read light!
some people cant even read a simple paragraph!