D7100 Preset Manual White Balance

bwoodahl

Senior Member
I've shot, for a number of years, in a natatorium that has a mixture of filtered sunlight, sodium-vapor, and fluorescent lighting. My back-up body, D3200, nails the preset manual white balance every time (with either the 18% gray card, a white card, or just pointing it at a white wall). But the D7100 struggles to get it correct. It's frustrating -- I just resort to entering it manually: about 3800 K (+/- 80 depending on cloudy conditions). Have others noticed this problem on the D7100 with the PRE manual WB?
 

RockyNH_RIP

Senior Member
I have not noticed any issues with mine but then my conditions are more normal, daylight, nighttime, indoors without flash..

Pat in NH
 

WayneF

Senior Member
I don't know about the D7100, but why struggle with it? Just shoot Raw, include a shot of white card, and click the white card later at home. If not perfect, just tweak it slightly until it is, your preference. Piece of cake. It is much easier and more accurate to decide these things after actually seeing it, instead of being limited to one try unseen, in advance.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
If you know the K value of the lighting (as stated, 3800 K), then why not just set the preset WB to 3800 K and start shooting? :bull_head:
 

bwoodahl

Senior Member
I don't know about the D7100, but why struggle with it? Just shoot Raw, include a shot of white card, and click the white card later at home. If not perfect, just tweak it slightly until it is, your preference. Piece of cake. It is much easier and more accurate to decide these things after actually seeing it, instead of being limited to one try unseen, in advance.

I also shoot videos, about 20 minutes worth, so it saves time in post-processing.

 

bwoodahl

Senior Member
If you know the K value of the lighting (as stated, 3800 K), then why not just set the preset WB to 3800 K and start shooting? :bull_head:

Well it's not always 3800 K, if it's cloudy outside, I bump it by about 40 or 50 and then shoot some samples (and then chimp/tweak from that point). But with the D3200, one shot, and bang it's spot-on.

I guess with me, it's just the issue that the D7100 struggles getting the PRE WB correct. I honestly wonder if the removal of the OLPF has altered the WB algorithm (and they/Nikon have not corrected for it)? Maybe I should post the same question to D800E shooters.
 
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