[warwickmk3]

I bought a K20D a while ago and still have trouble with colour. When I use the flash inside, all the shots have a blue hue and I have to colour correct all of them in Photoshop. When I shoot in subdued light without a flash, all the shots have a yellow hue. Yes I have tried to make adjustments to White Balance but it doesn't work. What really bugs me is that I borrowed a friends Canon 1000D and it didn't matter what light I shot in, what settings, subject matter etc, etc but Every shot was correctly balanced and I didn't have to do any work afterwards ??!?*! Obviously I just don't know how to set my K20D up, but jeez, didn't think I needed to be that clever, not when her bloody Canon worked so well straight out of the box. Can anybody please give me some suggestions, apart from read the manual again.

[enoeske]

I bought a K20D a while ago and still have trouble with colour. When I use the flash inside, all the shots have a blue hue and I have to colour correct all of them in Photoshop. When I shoot in subdued light without a flash, all the shots have a yellow hue. Yes I have tried to make adjustments to White Balance but it doesn't work. What really bugs me is that I borrowed a friends Canon 1000D and it didn't matter what light I shot in, what settings, subject matter etc, etc but Every shot was correctly balanced and I didn't have to do any work afterwards ??!?*! Obviously I just don't know how to set my K20D up, but jeez, didn't think I needed to be that clever, not when her bloody Canon worked so well straight out of the box. Can anybody please give me some suggestions, apart from read the manual again.

What is your white balance set to?

[JeffJS]

Go into your custom menu and find the item that says WB when Flash is used. Set it to FLASH. Your problem will be solved for color balance as you will no longer need to remember to change it (I forget it all the time).

Then once you get past the fact (I think anyway) that the built in flashes on cameras are junk, get yourself an external flash. You'll be amazed at the difference (the custom menu setting still applies though). If you don't want to pop for the AF540 or the Metz 58, I can vouch that the AF360 is a nice little unit, lacking only a swivel head if that matters to you. The Sigma 530 may also be an option worth considering.. That of course, is just my opinion..

[Jewelltrail]

enoeski: What is your white balance set to?

Yes, that is the question.


As far as I know, the K20 is not known for having any more or less white balance issues than any of its competitors.

[warwickmk3]

Ummm, I think it is Auto at present. I have made the changes by accessing through the Fn button and I have gone through the lot and now gone back to AWB

[Russell-Evans]

Ummm, I think it is Auto at present. I have made the changes by accessing through the Fn button and I have gone through the lot and now gone back to AWB

You want the Custom Menu via the Menu button, number 11, white balance when using flash, set it to the third option, flash.

Thank you
Russell

[enoeske]

Okay, you are auto white balance.

Here is what is going on:

You are trying to shoot indoors without a flash. The camera meters the scene and determines that you are in florescent light and sets the WB to that mode. When you shoot, the picture is a little green/yellow because that is the color of the light from florescent lights. The auto WB setting isn't perfect, imo, and usually leave some color cast. It would be better to set the WB to florescent.

You hook up your flash, or use the pop up flash. The camera meters the scene and once again determines that you are under florescent light and set the WB to that mode. When you take the picture, the main light filling the room becomes the flash which comparitively looks blue. It would be better to set the camera to flash WB.

If you shoot with a low enough shutter speed to get some ambient light and flash fill together, you will have a hell of a time trying to white balance that. You have 2 different color lights filling the scene. The best move here would be to gel your flash with the appropriate gel to match the florescent light and shoot in florescent WB.

[warwickmk3]

I will find how to go into custom menu for flash and try that. Yes I have read various things about external flashes and definitely seems the way to go, just need to allocate the money

Perhaps it would be wise to allocate some time to reading the manual before you allocate more money to equipment.

[Just1MoreDave]

One of the things that's probably in the manual is something about Auto White Balance being limited to 4000K to 8000K. At least that's in my manual. Tungsten bulbs are around 2800K. My camera's AWB won't do much to correct tungsten lighting. Fluorescent bulbs can vary widely; don't count on any particular color temperature. Some types of fluorescent bulbs will vary their color output many times per second.

Pentax's logic for their limited AWB is to maintain sunset colors. I don't know if that's just a line.

One way to maintain control over this is to shoot in RAW and set the white balance yourself when you process the image. It is much easier and more flexible than trying to remove a color cast afterwards.

[Canada_Rockies]

One of the things that's probably in the manual is something about Auto White Balance being limited to 4000K to 8000K. At least that's in my manual. Tungsten bulbs are around 2800K. My camera's AWB won't do much to correct tungsten lighting. Fluorescent bulbs can vary widely; don't count on any particular color temperature. Some types of fluorescent bulbs will vary their color output many times per second.

Pentax's logic for their limited AWB is to maintain sunset colors. I don't know if that's just a line.

One way to maintain control over this is to shoot in RAW and set the white balance yourself when you process the image. It is much easier and more flexible than trying to remove a color cast afterwards.

What I do is to set my white balance to AWB, and shoot RAW. It makes the LCD preview look a bit better but white balance has no effect on the RAW file, only the JPG rendering which is displayed on the LCD.

[JeffJS]

I will find how to go into custom menu for flash and try that. Yes I have read various things about external flashes and definitely seems the way to go, just need to allocate the money

Maybe it's just me but I cannot believe how difficult people are making this. There IS no custom menu for the Flash. The Custom menu is the Camera custom menu accessed by pressing the Menu button. It will be the option all the way over to the right. From there, follow the instructions given to you in another post and your Flash WB problems will go away. Wasn't a "bluish" cast on your Indoor Flash photos your original complaint / Problem? or did I read your post wrong?

AWB on both the K10d and the K20d, indoors especially, has always left a Lot to be desired.

[enoeske]

Maybe it's just me but I cannot believe how difficult people are making this. There IS no custom menu for the Flash. The Custom menu is the Camera custom menu accessed by pressing the Menu button. It will be the option all the way over to the right. From there, follow the instructions given to you in another post and your Flash WB problems will go away. Wasn't a "bluish" cast on your Indoor Flash photos your original complaint / Problem? or did I read your post wrong?

AWB on both the K10d and the K20d, indoors especially, has always left a Lot to be desired.

There is actually a custom menu setting such that when there is a flash in the hotshoe or when the built in flash is popped up, the WB is automatically set to flash WB.

[JeffJS]

1:07AM today 1/24 (JeffJS)

"Go into your custom menu and find the item that says WB when Flash is used. Set it to FLASH. Your problem will be solved for color balance as you will no longer need to remember to change it (I forget it all the time)."

Later, at 3:00am (Russel-Evans)

You want the Custom Menu via the Menu button, number 11, white balance when using flash, set it to the third option, flash.

What was so difficult to read before You posted that the custom menu flash option could be used? I don't have a problem with you pointing it out but it's painfully (not really) obvious that people don't bother reading the posts. Certainly no surprise.

[Russell-Evans]

Later, at 3:00am (Russel-Evans)

I just thought the OP needed more specific instruction after he replied that he was looking under the FN menu system. No offence meant.

Thank you
Russell