Color balance with Nikon D500?

I've been using this camera with the 500mmPF +/- 1.4x for the last year and had great results. Coming from Canon the biggest improvements have been the focusing accuracy and the flexibility of the image to post-processing. However, there seems to be a problem with the white balance. I shoot RAW and leave the white balance on auto so I can correct minor issues but my D500 seems to be making my life harder than needed. If there is a lot of blue sky in the shot the image appears very cool but 10 minutes later I have images that are very warm. I'm viewing them in LR which could be contributing but I did not see this issue with Canon's DSLRs. I flipped all the images from "As Shot" to "Auto" in the tone settings of LR and that helped for many but it was not consistent. The downside of changing this setting is LR now takes forever to render these images now.

I looked at the Auto white balance setting on the D500 and see there are multiple options. Any suggestions that give more reliable results? I shoot birds outdoors in all type of light but mainly the early and late hours of the day.

Cheers,

Jim

hi Jim

I'll pitch in.  probably not the best qualified but hope anyway this helps.

D500 has three AUTO settings.  

Auto0.  Keep white (reduce warm colours).
Auto1.  Normal
Auto2.  Keep warm lighting colours.

I have had my camera set on auto1 for two years with no issues, BUT, i do not process with Lightroom as I still use Adobe.  Shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Not sure why images are cool and then warmer ten minutes later Jim.  Something is changing there that isn't a factor when the image was taken in raw, which suggests a change in LR.  

PS.  I'm a shooter in the early light or late light only too.  You don't say what auto setting you are on, and whilst I suspect that modern cameras offer far more adaptability that may mean also more adaptations whilst we are out shooting.  (something I might struggle to keep up with...LOl).  However, I do believe that the WB aught not needed to be changed at the same frequency as for example, some AF systems do.  Either way, I can say the WB is one area I set a few years back and have LEFT ALONE. 

Thanks David,

I've generally not bothered with white balance in the past but I was comparing photos of the same subject with a friend who shoots Canon and there was a marked difference in color balance (images posted on eBirds). You can find fault with every camera brand or imaging program's interpretation of the correct color but these looked odd. I should also find and read my copy of Thom Hogan's book on the D500!

One thing I noticed on my D500; when I press the WB button, the top screen shows b1.5 (it could also be 61.5, the LCD lettering is really crude) together with WB*A. When I dive into the WB options via the menu, there is the option to "adjust" each of your auto white balance by pressing the right arrow. There is now a 2D color graph showing where your auto white balance resides. On my camera, Auto*0, Auto*1 & Auto*2 all have the same setting:  A-B is B1.5 and G-M 0.0. Not sure why they should all be the same?? I'm assuming the b1.5 on the top screen means B1.5 setting. I'll play with this to see what happens.

With this lightweight camera system (I still have 600/4/tripods/gimbal), my shooting style is run & gun although at my age it is more walking than running! My preferences are Aperture Priority, Auto ISO 3200, C-AF, RAW, AWB & matrix metering.

Cheers,

Jim

Personally, I recommend using a fixed white balance (I use sunny) and then just adjust it to what I want when I RAW process the files. Since I would likely tweak the WB anyway on every shot it's pointless to let the camera adjust it to whatever it feels like. It also makes things like stitching panoramas a lot easier.

Hi EJ,

My point is that like David, I have generally not needed to change the color balance. But many of the D500 images look plain wrong forcing me to do additional work. I already loath using LR and now I have an extra step! I'm curious, how do you tweak the WB aside from ensuring they are the same for stitching panoramas? Do you carry a color/white balance card?

Cheers,

Jim

hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

My point is that like David, I have generally not needed to change the color balance. But many of the D500 images look plain wrong forcing me to do additional work. I already loath using LR and now I have an extra step! I'm curious, how do you tweak the WB aside from ensuring they are the same for stitching panoramas? Do you carry a color/white balance card?

Cheers,

Jim

I believe that every photo is its own individual creation and as such should get its own customization and that includes white balance.  I usually start by using the white balance picker in my RAW converter and clicking on something neutral and then manually tweaking it from there. If there is no neutral tone in the photograph then I just use the balance and hue sliders as needed to get the look that I want.  I don't think there has ever been a photograph, whether I was shooting in AWB or manual WB where I haven't modified the WB to some degree.  That holds true regardless of the brand of camera I am using.

Usually, if it's product shot, color accuracy is important. For many other photos, the photographers have a lot of leeway to play with.

Thanks EJ

I recently switched to Capture one for RAW conversion, colors are better and conversion is better than Adobe.
I shoot with a D500.

I shoot with a D500 and the 500mm f5.6 PF lens a lot, often with the Nikon 1.4x tc. I normally set a fixed white balance, usually daylight for my nature images. I have not noticed any issues with color rendering. I am currently using DXO Photo Lab 3, Elite as my raw processor. Previously I had been using the free Nikon NX-D. My experience to date is that DXO PL does a very good job in matching what NX-D does to a raw file. One caveat--I am partially color blind so I am not the best source to comment on white balance issues. (It's also one reason why I have stuck with Nikon raw processors for so long.)

I always struggled with LR for some reason, never liked it and eventually switched over to DPP while with Canon. Since I switched to Nikon I use DXO PhotoLab 3 Elite version and it seems to do a good job. Sometimes color cast is an issue and requires extra work that I do in Photoshop. My setting for white balance is AUTO1. I was experimenting with different settings in the past mostly with Canon but always returned to auto for simplicity's sake. I shoot outdoors, birds 99% of the time. You might want to try DXO PhotoLab 3 Elite version, I think it is free for the duration of a month trial and sometimes it goes on sale.

I think anyone who is interested in color accuracy should consider creating DCP color profiles for your cameras. Here's how:

How to Create DCP Color Profiles


It's much easier to use dcp profiles in DxO PhotoLab than Capture One Pro. From what I found so far, it seems to me to use dcp profiles in Capture One Pro, you need to use a work-around way to do it. In DxO PhotoLab, you just input the dcp profiles you created and click to select the one you want.