[Culture]

I have been meaning to post a similar problem that I have also had about a month ago shooting an event.
When I was using my flash, Metz 58 AF2, I was getting really weird white balance. It looked like i was shooting under tungsten light.
I changed my setting but nothing worked.

Mind you without the flash the WB was spot on. I was also shooting with my K-30.

[Katja]

I changed my setting but nothing worked.

Mind you without the flash the WB was spot on. I was also shooting with my K-30.

I can so relate to this and still can't fully comprehend the reasoning behind this sudden shift. I am starting to accept the fact that we're trying to integrate a lot of fine electronics - camera, lens, flash, triggers and things sometimes don't line up properly.

I've just had another learning experience where I connected/tested all my strobes and triggers - all worked perfectly fine. So, I set my k5 on timer and quickly sit in the allocated spot - I was waiting for everything to go off and no strobe fired. So, I tested everything again and checked if all devices are correctly connected, screwed on etc. - all was perfectly fine. Same thing happened again - no strobe fired.

My partner suggested me to turn off my camera and remove the trigger and put it back on - so, I did and everything worked as it should. I reckon, camera gear is like a MacBook or laptop - sometimes, it's the best when you restart your machine or turn off/back on.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I have been meaning to post a similar problem that I have also had about a month ago shooting an event.
When I was using my flash, Metz 58 AF2, I was getting really weird white balance. It looked like i was shooting under tungsten light.
I changed my setting but nothing worked.

Mind you without the flash the WB was spot on. I was also shooting with my K-30.

Sounds kind of like what happens with my K-30 sometimes. Generally, when it happens, my pictures shot with strobes will be a bit warm. But again, since I'm shooting RAW I just tweak WB when I import my photos.

Katja, does adjusting the WB settings on your computer during processing allow you to fix the issue to get the correct colors? (I apologize if you already provided this information.)

Cool name BTW. After living in Eastern Europe for a couple years I named one of my daughters "Katya", but I wasn't sure if I should go with a "j" or "y".

[Katja]

Katja, does adjusting the WB settings on your computer during processing allow you to fix the issue to get the correct colors? (I apologize if you already provided this information.

Not a problem - I didn't even tried to check this until now. No problem with changing WB - I've tried all WB options in LR 5 and they are spot on as they should be.

Cool name BTW. After living in Eastern Europe for a couple years I named one of my daughters "Katya", but I wasn't sure if I should go with a "j" or "y".

I personally think that "Katya" sounds/looks more exotic. :-) My real name is actually "Katarina" and Katja is my nickname. :-)

[MadMathMind]

Glad we could help out...kinda.

I personally think that "Katya" sounds/looks more exotic. :-) My real name is actually "Katarina" and Katja is my nickname. :-)

"Katarina" is a really pretty name.

[Digitalis]

when it happens, my pictures shot with strobes will be a bit warm.

This is beyond warm, it is almost as bad as the skin tones from X-processed disneychrome.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

This is beyond warm, it is almost as bad as the skin tones from X-processed disneychrome.

Agreed, but my point is that when you manually set WB on your camera, it should not vary from shot to shot...a little or a lot. My old K-x never did it. It's kind of like my K-30 is HAL 9000, and when I tell it to use the flash WB preset it tells me "I'm afraid I can't do that."

[BrianR]

Agreed, but my point is that when you manually set WB on your camera, it should not vary from shot to shot...a little or a lot. My old K-x never did it. It's kind of like my K-30 is HAL 9000, and when I tell it to use the flash WB preset it tells me "I'm afraid I can't do that."

It depends on the camera and settings. My k100d was determined to do slight changes to the WB no matter what setting. The k5 series has menu options to stop the camera from trying to outsmart you... Custom Setting 2 > WB Adjustable Range > Fixed. With this set to "Adjustable", you will get minor shifts across a series under the same lights.

This is nothing like Katja's problem as the shifts are usually plus or minus 100K, but I'd still make sure this is set to Fixed as it's frustratingly pointless to have a series of images with ever so slight changes in WB.

[Digitalis]

my point is that when you manually set WB on your camera, it should not vary from shot to shot.

I agree, I work with a fixed white balance of 5000Kelvin - If my camera changes this in any way, I will choose a camera that doesn't. And toss the unreliable camera out the window.

[tuco]

That is bizarre. I'm at a loss for a reason for why you've gotten such red flesh tones except for a malfunction with the camera's WB or something. If the green shirt is pretty close to actual color then I can't see how the strobes themselves would put out such a color temperature as to create such red skin tones with what seemingly looks like little cast affecting the green. But I can't say for sure.

Turn off the camera, try it again, change WB to manual by setting it to 5200 to 5500K range are a few of the things I'd to try then check if it repeats the problem. Does it go away or is red a permanent result now?

[Culture]

I agree, I work with a fixed white balance of 5000Kelvin - If my camera changes this in any way, I will choose a camera that doesn't. And toss the unreliable camera out the window.

Can i ask why you do this? Does this setting work under all lighting conditions?

[Katja]

Turn off the camera, try it again, change WB to manual by setting it to 5200 to 5500K range are a few of the things I'd to try then check if it repeats the problem. Does it go away or is red a permanent result now?

I've also done the above - turned off/back on the camera, triggers and strobes on the day and the weird color was still there. A day later everything was working back to normal. I was keen to see what would happen if I was shooting while the modelling light was on - no problem - everything was as it should. However, a part of the picture was black ? In this instance, it looked like the shutter didn't work properly. I took a few pictures while strobes were on (this time, I switched off the modelling light) and the same thing happened. Then, I turned off everything - removed the battery from my camera - put it all back in and all worked just fine.

I reckon, the issue was caused by camera electronics or as somebody suggested before, it could be the latest firmware. It might be time to buy a new camera. And I was so keen to wait for the upcoming release of the full frame camera body but now I might need to go for k3 II in the meantime as I don't want to take any further risk with my k5.

---------- Post added 01-19-2016 at 09:51 AM ----------

Does it go away or is red a permanent result now?

The red (pink) color went away - and I was able to change it to any WB in LR afterwards.

[Digitalis]

Can i ask why you do this? Does this setting work under all lighting conditions?

5000K is a very common light temperature - equivalent to midday sun, flash and many high CRI light sources. I use this setting as I work in the studio with flash and many cameras from different makers( Leica,Pentax,Canon,Nikon,Hasselblad,) and I use a fixed WB value so my workflow is simpler, in post processing I correct WB if needed - but I always have the 5000K baseline to work from with colour corrections.

Sometimes, I will change the WB to 3200 or 7600K - I do work with mixed light sources on occasion, and I have colour profiles for both of those settings.

---------- Post added 01-19-16 at 12:21 PM ----------

That is bizarre. I'm at a loss for a reason for why you've gotten such red flesh tones except for a malfunction with the camera's WB or something. If the green shirt is pretty close to actual color then I can't see how the strobes themselves would put out such a color temperature as to create such red skin tones with what seemingly looks like little cast affecting the green.

I agree, it is utterly bizarre. I can think of a possible way for a flash to produce erroneous spectra through overheating and under-charging capacitors. But it would require all the flash units in the scene to suffer from the exact same fault in the same millisecond which is extremely unlikely. I has to be something going pear shaped with the camera.

[Katja]

I has to be something going pear shaped with the camera.

I now think the same as last night, I had another bizarre experience with my k5 - the same set-up with exactly same exposure, strobes etc. Final pictures had about 25% of space black ? Clearly the shutter dint' open properly - in this instance, the only thing I can think of is the camera electronic issues.

All three bizarre episodes happened after my recent firmware upgrade and when I was using external flash unit/s. Otherwise, I had never had problems with this camera body over last three years (with flash/no flash).

[Digitalis]

All three bizarre episodes happened after my recent firmware upgrade and when I was using external flash unit/s.

The evidence is strongly suggestive that this is a camera issue.