Black Balance without White Balance?

[Bern Caughey]

As Barry suggests, I "Black Balance often", mostly when turning on the AF100, or changing ISO.

Unless the cam is using a preset color temperature then Black Balancing is performed right after a White Balance.

Where this trips me up sometimes is when I've already established a custom White Balance, & just want to do a quick Black Balance. This usually occurs where we're waiting for the subject to arrive, & then quickly need to fire up the cams to start shooting. In this scenario there's often not enough time to re-White Balance, but I can usually sneak in a quick Black Balance.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to just Black Balance without effecting the White Balance. What I'm wondering is if it's OK to Black Balance with the White Balance's toggle switch on "Preset", & then once it's finished, flip it up to the custom White Blance, or does this defeat the purpose?

Thanks,
Bern

 

[Petros Kolyvas]

I black balance (without white balancing) frequently. Press and hold the AWB button and it should black balance without white balancing.

 

[Bern Caughey]

I black balance (without white balancing) frequently. Press and hold the AWB button and it should black balance without white balancing.

Thanks for the quick response, but that's not how my camera behaves, or the way Barry describes it in his book.

Are you manually setting your Color Temperature, or doing a custom White Balance? I rarely manually set my Color Temperature, & usually custom White Balance.

Best,
Bern

 

[Petros Kolyvas]

Thanks for the quick response, but that's not how my camera behaves, or the way Barry describes it in his book.

Are you manually setting your Color Temperature, or doing a custom White Balance? I rarely manually set my Color Temperature, & usually custom White Balance.

Best,
Bern

I double checked and I was using a preset (although in Variable mode).

You're correct, in A or B settings the white balance is performed first. I didn't notice this behaviour because when I'm in A or B I always white balance before black balancing and clearly in the other mode, there's no white balancing to be done.

Sorry about that.

Perhaps a firmware feature request is in order?

 

[dchutinaton]

I've had the same question as well and a DoP friend of mine recently showed me this trick. Put a lens cap on and hold down the AWB button. The camera will quickly flash something to the effect of not enough light to white balance and then it will do the black balance without changing the white balance.

 

[maranfilms]

I've had the same question as well and a DoP friend of mine recently showed me this trick. Put a lens cap on and hold down the AWB button. The camera will quickly flash something to the effect of not enough light to white balance and then it will do the black balance without changing the white balance.

Does this trick work with most cams? or just the af100?

 

[Bern Caughey]

I've had the same question as well and a DoP friend of mine recently showed me this trick. Put a lens cap on and hold down the AWB button. The camera will quickly flash something to the effect of not enough light to white balance and then it will do the black balance without changing the white balance.

Interesting. I'll give it a try.

Thanks,
Bern

 

[dchutinaton]

Does this trick work with most cams? or just the af100?

Should work with most cameras since a white balance requires a well exposed "white image" and if its not enough the camera won't do a white balance. My Nikon dSLR is the same way. I needs enough a well exposed image to do a white balance too.