Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Searching for camera white balance

Beemer
I presently use Lightroom but am considering purchase of Capture Pro 8. If I incorrectly set my Nikon camera white balance I can in Lightroom change the setting of my RAW images, e.g. 300 of 600 taken at an event were on flash WB instead of auto. However Lightroom cannot search for or display in a list a specific WB setting. Therefore the search must be a manual one looking at obviously out of WB thumbnails.

Can Capture One 8.xx search for specific camera set WB ?

Ian
0

Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • Permanently deleted user
    Hi Ian,

    if I understand you correctly this would be sort of a DB operation. For several times I would have liked to have such a function which would allow this type of search or at least a classification of the files in a session according to a certain criterium (for example the ISO setting). At least a classification is possible according to the rating but I don't know if there are other search / classification option.
    0
  • SFA
    You can filter by WB based on whether it was set Automatically or Manually but as far as I know not by specific value.

    I would guess that the ability to do so may be constrained by whether or not the camera manufacturers report the values in a usable way in their section of the EXIF.

    And of course ultimately when shooting RAW the value does not matter so perhaps a filter based on "Manual" WB setting and then an assumption that the erroneous setting may well have been used batches with consecutive frames could greatly reduce the effort taken to find them.

    Alternatively would the Auto White Balance adjustment available on import do most of the job for you?


    Grant
    0
  • Beemer
    Grant,

    Typically I imported by first using Photo Mechanic then using Lightroom. It is only after the import that I see my WB setting error.

    ASFAIK only Nikon software is able to read and display from EXIF anything other than "as shot" which is what Lightroom only shows.

    I'm not looking for a specific colour temperature but just anything that was not set to camera WB "Auto".

    Ian
    0
  • SFA
    [quote="Beemer" wrote:


    I'm not looking for a specific colour temperature but just anything that was not set to camera WB "Auto".

    Ian


    In that case have a look at the filters. One of the match criteria can be White Balance and the choices are "Auto" or "Manual" so that might give you just what you want.

    Or loading with Auto WB might be a good starting place for you anyway. Can't be sure - only you can know!


    Grant
    0
  • Permanently deleted user
    Grant:

    Wouldn't loading or importing with AutoWB mean that C1 does an auto WB? As far as I understood the OP he's looking for a possibility to filter for "As shot" = AWB as metered by the camera. Two different things, isn't it?
    0
  • SFA
    [quote="Michael11" wrote:
    Grant:

    Wouldn't loading or importing with AutoWB mean that C1 does an auto WB? As far as I understood the OP he's looking for a possibility to filter for "As shot" = AWB as metered by the camera. Two different things, isn't it?



    Yes it is different and very much an alternative approach to the need. However there is a case for suggesting that the camera does not always get AUTO WB right and C1 MAY (no certainty) do a better job for the user's needs.

    If there is a known issue with some images in a batch that is being imported (the manually set incorrect WB) then just maybe applying AUTO WB to the entire batch without the need to try to work out which images have been manually set would be both acceptable and save time.

    Obviously it's an individual decision and something that can only be decided after trying an experiment with a problem batch. But if it worked well enough for, say, 90% of the imported files it might save a lot of time separating the Auto from the Manual.

    It is just a thought to consider, not a recommendation.


    Grant
    0
  • Beemer
    Grant,

    I'll download the trial and give your suggestion a try. Michael11 thanks also for your input.

    Thanks,

    Ian
    0
  • Permanently deleted user
    [quote="SFA"] wrote:

    Yes it is different and very much an alternative approach to the need. However there is a case for suggesting that the camera does not always get AUTO WB right and C1 MAY (no certainty) do a better job for the user's needs.

    If there is a known issue with some images in a batch that is being imported (the manually set incorrect WB) then just maybe applying AUTO WB to the entire batch without the need to try to work out which images have been manually set would be both acceptable and save time.

    Grant[/quote]

    Well I'm aware of that. But until now the occasions were very rare when C1's AutoWB did get it right in a tricky lighting situation when camera AWB failed. At least in my experience the results of AutoWB used to be worse than taking camera's AWB as a starting point for some manual tweaking. Not rare this C1 AutoWB came out with weird Kelvin values in the 10-11 thousand range...
    I'm shooting Sony and I have to admit that my last testing of this is some time back so things possibly may have changed/improved since the teaming up of P1 and Sony.
    0
  • SFA
    [quote="Michael11" wrote:
    [quote="SFA" wrote:

    Yes it is different and very much an alternative approach to the need. However there is a case for suggesting that the camera does not always get AUTO WB right and C1 MAY (no certainty) do a better job for the user's needs.

    If there is a known issue with some images in a batch that is being imported (the manually set incorrect WB) then just maybe applying AUTO WB to the entire batch without the need to try to work out which images have been manually set would be both acceptable and save time.

    Grant


    Well I'm aware of that. But until now the occasions were very rare when C1's AutoWB did get it right in a tricky lighting situation when camera AWB failed. At least in my experience the results of AutoWB used to be worse than taking camera's AWB as a starting point for some manual tweaking. Not rare this C1 AutoWB came out with weird Kelvin values in the 10-11 thousand range...
    I'm shooting Sony and I have to admit that my last testing of this is some time back so things possibly may have changed/improved since the teaming up of P1 and Sony.


    Michael,

    I seem to recall that there were some some extreme examples of WB value discrepancies with Sonys that were not so evident with, for example, my Canon cameras.

    I too was not entirely convinced by Auto WB choices but having experimented again very recently what I have seen suggest that for uncompromised shots the results are pretty good. If you have an image which is a WB challenge for some reason then maybe the Auto is not quite so likely to guess what you would prefer.

    However, in the context of the original question it is possibly that using the Auto option on an entire mixed batch of camera auto and accidental manual settings MIGHT be a faster approach over all than working through and selecting the images requiring correction.

    Obviously it's impossible to be sure about that and indeed it might work well enough in some situations and be no good at all in others. It just seemed to me that the requirement, as described, might be satisfied by the approach I proposed and the OP might like to try it to find out if it worked for him. If it doesn't then nothing has been lost by the experiment and a little useful experience has been gained.

    As ever I am always keen to support a spirit of discovery!


    Grant
    0

Post is closed for comments.