What's the recommended white balance for for a Canon 400D?

[g__day]

Guys - simple question,

What is the best setting white balance and colour balance for a Canon 400D. I'm playing with Automatic white balance, tungsten lighting etc.

What can you recommend and what determines it?

[Astroman]

I always set it to Auto, and shoot RAW, you can then adjust the white balance afterwards. Are you talking Astro images or Daytime images?

[RB]

For astro shoot in RAW and you can adjust it later.
But set the WB to give you a nice preview depending on the object you're imaging.

For terrestrial shots always set your WB to the closest conditions you're shooting in, it's best to get it right in camera rather than later especially if you shoot in jpg.
This will give you an accurate reading of your preview and histogram.

Ideally you should set it to custom WB after taking a test shot of the scene.

[RB]

:doh:

Forgot to mention that ideally, for astro, it's best to set your WB later to a known G2V star.

:thumbsup:

[g__day]

Astro shots only - there are about 8 options - for example tungsten looks really, really nice - but very blue.

Yes I always shoot DSO astro shots in RAW, but I wondered what colour temperature or white balance I'm best at starting at guys!

[RB]

Start with Fluorescent.

[JohnG]

Interesting RB :confuse3:

I use Auto/RAW on the 350D and have never had a colour balance problem.

Cheers

[rogerg]

This might be a bit off topic, but seeing as you mentioned it :) ... I presume what you mention there, you'd use a 11% grey card for the test shot? Or is there an easier way?

PS .. for astro I have always used Auto, and then use levels to "calibrate" it in PS. I hadn't thought about trying different ones on the camera, good idea.. could be some fun..

[RB]

Yes Auto is fine although I like the preview images that Fluro gives me, as you know it gets changed later in post processing anyway, I only suggested it for g_day as a starting point.
As I said, ideally you need to calibrate the WB to a G2V star later in PP.


Yes exactly Roger, I use a grey card in a test shot under the same light as the main image and calibrate/set the WB, then take the shot.
Although I use an 18% grey card.

[Ingo]

Does the 400D have preset white balance where you properly expose and it reads the temp of the light? If so, just do that with the sky. I know on my D50 it has that setting and I just properly expose for what it says and usually it just makes everything the right color.

[Benny L]

my understanding is that a G2V star is very similar to our sun.. so just set your camera to daylight or 5600 K and tweak it later. i dont like AWB as it can be affected by the different colours in an image.. it is always best to pick a fixed WB (Daylight) and tweak it for best results.

[g__day]

Guys thanks hugely - once the couds go away I can try the magic again.

I'm sure your advice will help - I wasn't quite positioned for the language - position for a G2V star - er right - name one? I guess I'm trying to get the idiots guide going first! I try setting fluro - do a few shots and then 5600K and do similar shots and see what I get.

I presume this is all about adjusting sensitivity of the emission / absorption spectrum - and trying to get the CCD and Photoshop CS2 process to give colour fidelity that a human mind expects - as its mainly the brain that intreprets colour signal by subjective basis - such as what signals surround the object in question - why the mind is fooled so easily on colour illusions.

[RB]

Alpha Centauri A (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri_A) is one that's convenient.

RA(J2000) 14h 39.544m
DEC(J2000) -60" 49.977'

[g__day]

Thanks! So if I follow the logic - shoot ACA a few times, do my run of DSOs' then later in my Photoshop CS2 sessions - process ACA first and note how I must adjust this shots colour balance to make it look whiter than white - and then do the same for all DSOs - is that the essence?

I'd really appreciate it if you could walk me thru the steps in just a tad more detail Andrew!

[RB]

I'm trying to track down some info I have for you g_day (sorry don't know your name) and get back to you soon.

:thumbsup:

[RB]

OK I found the article I wanted, it was in my AS&T Pg 68, Nov/Dec 2006 issue but I've also found it on the net which makes it easier than typing out the method.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/astrophotography/Going_Deep_with_a_DSLR.html

Also I believe Images Plus v2.8 allows you to take a test shot to set your WB point and apply it to a group of RAWs, thus automatically setting the WB for you in each sub.

As I've stated before if you shoot in RAW you will need to set your WB later in Post Processing.
To give you just an aesthetic pre-view on your DSLR's preview screen try using Fluro, Fluro is NOT used as your setting for your WB in the final image.

[g__day]

Thanks Andrew, it's Matthew by the way!