White Balance for a DSLR

[bluesilver]

Hi,  Just a question in regards to white balance for a DSLR

I have a Canon 600D which I have done the full modification on by removing the internal UV filter.

I am just tryin to find out the best way to setup a custom white balance for this camera as I assume that it will need one now ?

I think i read somewhere years ago,  that you just put the standard camera lens on, take a phot of a white piece of paper and then just set this as your custom white balance.

I am just interested to know if this is correct or if i even need a custom white balance even though the camera is modified,  or just use the standard default custom whit balance?

Or yet again, instead of the white paper,  do i connect the camera directly to the scope and take an image as if i were doing flats and use that as a custom white balance?

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

 

[barbulo]

Someone will correct me if I´m wrong but I think you can adjust colors in post-processing. I´ve never bothered in doing so in my 600D but for daytime photography: just take a picture of whatever you want and then auto adjust white balance using that picure. IIRC, this setting remains until you remove the battery.

[michael8554]

Instructions on how to Custom White Balance are in the camera instruction manual.

When you download the .CR2 Raw files to editing software you have a choice of whether or not to apply that custom WB to the images.

For astro use I don't bother with a custom WB, I just adjust the images in editing software, PhotoShop etc.

For daytime snaps the custom WB gives acceptable results, but I do give them a tweak.

Michael

 

[SteveWolves]

You can adjust the White Balance on the astro modified 600D to alter it for daytime photography.

Manually set “WB Shift/BKT”:

Day B9, G9

Night B0, G0

It’s in the 2nd red menu from the left and shows a graph, use the cursor keys to move the white square around.

For night it will be in the middle

[bluesilver]

Thanks for the replies,  appreciated.

First sorry, I may have made my general question a tad confusing there.

I wasn't too worried about the white balance menu options and how to create a custom white balance,  what i was mainly interested to know was:

If i am imaging DSO,  should i first be making up a custom white balance since the UV filter has been removed or just image with it set at the standard stock white balance?

I hope that reads better on what i was referring to.

 

[edarter]

For astro, just shoot in RAW and adjust in post processing. WB is irrelevant with RAW.

[vlaiv]

15 minutes ago, bluesilver said:

If i am imaging DSO,  should i first be making up a custom white balance since the UV filter has been removed or just image with it set at the standard stock white balance?

I hope that reads better on what i was referring to.

This question actually has very counterintuitive and long answer.

White balance as concept is completely useless in astrophotography, but there is other thing that you can do if you want to get accurate color in your images.

We use white balance to compensate for the fact that DSLR is a good measuring device - while our visual system is not. We adapt to viewing conditions to some extent. If you take yellowish light source and illuminate the room, at some point our brain will start telling us that paper is still white - although at that point it is not - it is yellowish, but our brain will trick us into thinking it white.

Camera can't be fooled and it will record the scene as is - not the way we remember it or expect it to be. We use white balance to correct for this and again - make what we think should look white - white under different viewing conditions.

In astrophotography - we should not care about what will our brain tell us the color is - for several reasons.

First is - we can't change illumination in outer space. There is no 3600K light bulb that is illuminating scene - most of the light is actually generated by objects out there and what is reflected light (like reflection nebulae) - will reflect local light that can't be changed.

Second is - we can never go there in order to try to match - what we would see in that case. Best we can do is just try to match the color of light as light that is reaching us.

For this DSLR is excellent - it will record the color as is and we only need to calibrate it properly.

It's a bit like using any sort of measurement device. If we want our device to measure accurately - we need to calibrate it, to conform it to a standard.

This is what color calibration does - and it is not as simple as setting the white balance.  For this reason - most people don't bother with it and just set color in post processing as they see fit.

[bluesilver]

Very much appreciated.

This has cleared up all my questions.

The main part that i was missing and i completely over looked was that the setting is set to RAW.

I completely over looked this main part and the rest all makes sense.

Just set it to RAW.

Thanks heaps,  very much appreciated.