White balance question

[CALTN]

I have noticed that is seems that in AUTO WB that pictures appear to be on the warm side vs my D300,I can use the SUN preset or K-5260 and pictures look more like the way I`m seeing the picture.Is this the way the D700 is or do I have a camera issue. I am using the Neutral preset shooting RAW and the 24-85D 2.8-4.0 lens and ISO 200.

Many Thanks,
ALAN

 

[daveja]

I have noticed that is seems that in AUTO WB that pictures appear to be on the warm side vs my D300,I can use the SUN preset or K-5260 and pictures look more like the way I`m seeing the picture.Is this the way the D700 is or do I have a camera issue. I am using the Neutral preset shooting RAW and the 24-85D 2.8-4.0 lens and ISO 200.

Many Thanks,
ALAN

WB is very diff on the D700 IMO... Everything I thought I learned with my D2HS went out the window with the D700, so different...

 

[CALTN]

Thanks for replying dave,I least i`m not crazy thats a shame we have to contend with that..... big dissapointment to me.My D300 is a whole lot better.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Domdog31]

Disappointment? Maybe exaggerating a tad? lol

Shoot RAW? If not, you have many options with a custom WB(grey card, white card, expodisc etc...)

Dont fault the camera without trying other options :biggrin:

 

[CALTN]

Yes maybe disappointment was exaggerating more like surprised coming from the D300, but just for the fun of it I shot a white sheet of paper to get a custom WB worked great..and paper is cheap lol

Alan

 

[daveja]

Thanks for replying dave,I least i`m not crazy thats a shame we have to contend with that..... big dissapointment to me.My D300 is a whole lot better.

Thanks,
Alan

Not sure it's a disappointment in a way that I would say the D700 is bad as it is not, it actually performs very well in auto WB mode where the D2hs was not great in that regard. Where it was different for me was that I used to shoot my d2hs in Calvin and those values did not convert well to the D700 as it is way warmer in that regard..

Dave

 

[Domdog31]

Yes maybe disappointment was exaggerating more like surprised coming from the D300, but just for the fun of it I shot a white sheet of paper to get a custom WB worked great..and paper is cheap lol

Alan

True! I have heard the expodisc is a godsend for people that like controlling WB in camera rather than adjust in post...

 

[Jaws]

The AWB in the D700 is different from the D300. It has a warmer tone to it. That is one thing that has dissapointed me in the D700 as I love the accuracy of the D300 AWB feature.

The neutral ExpoDisc is a great tool for setting custom white balance, though I got used to not having to use it with the D300 due to it's very accurate AWB and now find it an inconvenience to have to use it with the D700 to have to get accurate white balance settings.

 

[Jaws]

Here are some prior discussions on this:

https://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=203733&highlight=white+balance

https://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=207506&highlight=white+balance

https://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=223731&highlight=white+balance

 

[Mimas]

Jaws' links are a good read.

Tree alternatives: first a custom WB works in simple (single source, especially natural) lighting, second spend a day finding the adjustments you prefer then create your own PictureControl and use that in camera, finally an expodisk or equivalent is oft reported as being a Good Idea™ (the real expo is too much, so I found an alternative that works for me as an expo might)

By the way, for custom white balance grey cards works better than white, and if you do use white make sure it hasn't any 'brighteners' which most 'white' paper is riven with - a good 'white paper' source is newspaper as that rarely has whiteners and the print doesn't do any harm to the WB, but really, a grey card is better.

You are aware of the fine tuning of WB in camera? Given that a try yet?

 

[nealgrof]

I noticed the warmer auto WB of the D700 on my first shoot with it. As for fixing in post, the less I have to "fix" later, the better.

Other than that, I'd say that in my limited time with the D700, I've had more keepers straight OOC than with the D300.