What white balance method do you use?

I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance?
thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
is invisible to the eye"
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance?
thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
is invisible to the eye"
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Shoot RAW and forget about WB...

Guy

Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance?
thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
is invisible to the eye"
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I shoot RAW and take a couple of shots of an 18% Gray card under the
target lighting. I use the gray card photos to set my white balance in
my RAW processor.
-Allen

Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance?

Can you put an IR filter on the front?

Any piece of white paper is adequate for setting a custom WB but I only
do that for studio work, things change outdoors if you are pointing
different directions, in & out of the shade.

thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L

"Bigguy" wrote in message
...
Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance? thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is
invisible to the eye" Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Shoot RAW and forget about WB...

Guy

Look, shooting RAW is NOT a panacea.
Even in RAW, you have to decide on a proper WB...
Marcel

Setting white balance for astrophotography is a good question. I have never
shot space, however personally, I would set the white balance to around
5200K, take a test shot and look at the results.

As someone else mentioned, if you shoot in RAW, you will have the
flexibility to change it during post process, but I personally would want to
get it right in camera if possible.

I'm with you on the desire for the 300 2.8, especially on a cropped body.


"Moonstarer" wrote in message
...
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
responsive to the red light for astrophotography. Great! It's not
the best choice for everyday photography though, so I usually manually
set the white balance(set to "daytime" for bird, plane & all daylight
pictures). Should I carry around one of those gray cards and use
those? Tell me, what method do you use when you're not relying on
auto white balance?
thanks!
Mike in Milton
Canon 40D
10-22mm
50mm f1.4
135mm f2L
pining for the 300mm f2.8L
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
is invisible to the eye"
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

But seeing that we are discussing White Balance, should it not be a White
card?
Neutral grey was used for colour film photography, when WB had not been
thought of yet.
Cheers, Peter S.
********************

"Allen Paul" wrote in message
...
Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
SNIP
I shoot RAW and take a couple of shots of an 18% Gray card under the
target lighting. I use the gray card photos to set my white balance in my
RAW processor.
-Allen

Peter Stacey wrote:
But seeing that we are discussing White Balance, should it not be a White
card?
Neutral grey was used for colour film photography, when WB had not been
thought of yet.
Cheers, Peter S.
********************

I use ufraw for processing RAW files. To quote from the documentation:
"If you have a neutral gray color in your picture, then instead of
fiddling around with the above controls, you can simply use spot white
balance." This method works beautifully, I shoot high school basketball
using just the gym lighting - very yellow tint - and the gray card
brings the colors right in line.
-Allen

"Allen Paul" wrote in message
...
Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
SNIP
I shoot RAW and take a couple of shots of an 18% Gray card under the
target lighting. I use the gray card photos to set my white balance in my
RAW processor.
-Allen

Thanks for your explanation Allen.
Cheers, Peter.
******************

"Allen Paul" wrote in message
...
Peter Stacey wrote:
But seeing that we are discussing White Balance, should it not be a White
card?
Neutral grey was used for colour film photography, when WB had not been
thought of yet.
Cheers, Peter S.
********************

I use ufraw for processing RAW files. To quote from the documentation:
"If you have a neutral gray color in your picture, then instead of
fiddling around with the above controls, you can simply use spot white
balance." This method works beautifully, I shoot high school basketball
using just the gym lighting - very yellow tint - and the gray card brings
the colors right in line.
-Allen

"Allen Paul" wrote in message
...
Moonstarer wrote:
I have one of those dslr cameras modified by Hutech so it's more
SNIP
I shoot RAW and take a couple of shots of an 18% Gray card under the
target lighting. I use the gray card photos to set my white balance in
my RAW processor.
-Allen

Get an X-Nite CC1 Color Correction Filter from http://www.maxmax.com/aXNite67mmFilters.asp

I use the 67mm for my 2 Nikon lenses - an 18-70mm and the 70-300mm
VR.

I do use the 18% digital gray card when astroimaging and I leave the
CC1 filter on the 70-300mm lens for grab and go daytime use. That
gives me the option to use the camera in its original mode and I can
choose from all the various WB settings, or shoot raw. So, it's like
having both a modified and unmodified camera. The IR-filter was
removed by Life-Pixel, by the way. I'm very pleased with this
arrangement and have actually only had to use the gray card once, to
establish the preset measure with the camera attached to the
telescope.

Bill in Gold Canyon, AZ