[panoguy]

I think the custom setting for WB when using flash has to be set to "unchanged." Default setting on K7 is AWB, K5 might be different.

DingDingDingDing! We have a winner!

It's Custom Function #11 on the K-5. It defaults to AWB when using flash, so if you have a flash mounted to the hotshoe (ie: the camera knows it's there and is communicating with it), you will get AWB for every shot until you change the preference...

[LSshock]

Nothing beats RAW, although using the right settings when you take a photo is still important

[elliott]

Nothing beats RAW, although using the right settings when you take a photo is still important

Yeah, RAW is nice for tweaking it to exactly what you want, but it always helps to have a good starting point to save time.

[Shutterbug]

Don't forget that even with the right WB setting and ensuring that the custom Flash AWB setting is right (posts by CLM and Panoguy) you WILL need the shutter to be slow enough to deposit enough "colored light" into the scene if it is not well lit. If your flash is exposing everything say to the back of your room, everything is while balance perfect because you just adjusted the flash light to come out perfectly natural while what you've really changed is how white (or ambient) light looks to the camera. If the room is poorly lit then most of the illumination is light from your flash which is supposed to make the subject (and everything it falls on) look natural.

The good news is turning the speed down is not going to affect your main subject exposure powered by the flash but just the stuff that's lit by ambient light. Another way to deal with it is put your (external) flash in Manual mode and dial down power to 1/32 or 1/16 (if you're close enough to the subject) so you can still keep the shutter reasonably fast. I have to admit though that even though I'm on my way, I'm yet to get a picture like Gary's! I'll post when I can get outdoor and get a good sun powered shot!

[adwb]

The good news is turning the speed down is not going to affect your main subject exposure powered by the flash but just the stuff that's lit by ambient light. Another way to deal with it is put your (external) flash in Manual mode and dial down power to 1/32 or 1/16 (if you're close enough to the subject) so you can still keep the shutter reasonably fast. I have to admit though that even though I'm on my way, I'm yet to get a picture like Gary's! I'll post when I can get outdoor and get a good sun powered shot!

If you ever get it right please do post as I never have got anywhere near the effect shown in the video close but not as effective.

[polachekphotography]

I'm not sure if this is relevant to the discussion but it's worth noting that the default behaviour for the K-5 is to fine-tune WB even when it's set to one of the presets. It may even do so if you select a colour temperature, IIRC. However, there is a menu option for disabling this feature.


I've encountered this during a lighting workshop where the instructor recommending setting a fixed WB for consistency. Even after doing so my shots were showing noticeable colour temperature shifts on the camera's LCD.

[adwb]

I have just retested having not looked at this for months and the only gels I now have to hand havibg sold my fong thing and gels to someone are not that dense a blue, if I put two together set the white balance shooting through them there is a definite red tint and with the gel on the flash any thing not flash illuminated keeps that red tint.
I think my problem is the gels I have are not as deep or dense a blue as used in the video so the red is not so strong.