White balance under LED (Nikon D3400)

hockeyhead019 · Mar 20, 2018

Hey everybody,

I was looking to see if anybody had any tricks for setting a more accurate white balance for the D3400? I usually just leave it in auto and correct in post processing. My camera may just be a little limited in what it can do within the body and if so that's ok. I just wanted to see if I was missing anything easy lol

Thanks!

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 20, 2018

Not sure 100% your WB options in the camera. But I belive it’s mercury vapor WB you want.

Then correct from there.

hockeyhead019 · Mar 21, 2018

I'll be able to give you my specific settings in a little bit. Off the top of my head they're: incandesent, flourecent, cloudy, natural, auto and maybe one more?

nautical_nathaniel · Mar 21, 2018

I leave my D3200 in Auto and fix in post.

Here's how that turns out usually:

hockeyhead019 · Mar 21, 2018

nautical_nathaniel said:
I leave my D3200 in Auto and fix in post.

Here's how that turns out usually:

Those are post edit? If they're pretty edit they look a heck of a lot better than what mine come out as haha.

Great shots BTW!

madweazl · Mar 21, 2018

I've tried to set a good manual white balance (D3400) but it doesn't have near the range my Pentax K-r had in that regard.

nautical_nathaniel · Mar 21, 2018

hockeyhead019 said:
Those are post edit? If they're pretty edit they look a heck of a lot better than what mine come out as haha.

Great shots BTW!

Thank you! That's only with raw file adjustments, sometimes I blend out air bubbles from the image but for the most part I just adjust the temperature of the image and add a little saturation and vibrance since the pictures from the Nikon D3200 are always pretty flat in terms of color. I try to make it look as close to the real thing as possible

SMB · Mar 21, 2018

Why not just shoot in RAW and adjust WB the way you want it in post?

hockeyhead019 · Mar 22, 2018

SMB said:
Why not just shoot in RAW and adjust WB the way you want it in post?

This is what I've been doing, just wanted to make sure there wasn't a step in the camera that would make my post workflow easier.

SMB · Mar 22, 2018

Two ways to try and streamline the WB just for your tank shots. (This is assuming your tank lighting does not have a program such that the color/intensity is not varying over the course of the day.)
If you have WB adjustment in your post software (in LR it is the Temp slider in the Basic panel), find the kelvin (numbers far right in the temp slider) you like the best for your images and make that a preset for when you download your tank shots. Or just go to that number everytime you process an image from your aquarium.

As you go up the line in Nikon cameras there is a way to directly set the WB Kelvin in the Shooting Menu WB (so you could use that Kelvin number once you find what you liked in your post software.). The D3400 does not have that. But in the WB menu there are certain WB options (like Direct Sunlight) where you can make adjustments (Use the "Adjust" option, bottom R corner with Direct Sunlight selected) . You can by trial and error find the best WB setting for your tank lights and keep that in the camera. As above you can also use the Pre Manual option and a White card to set a WB for your specific lighting.

The in camera seems a bit tedious unless you find one setting that works for the D3400 and your tank lights. So perhaps doing it in post is easiest.

madweazl · Mar 22, 2018

The highest preset is 10,000k (fluorescent > 7 high temp. mercury-vapor) and a white/grey card doesn't work either (out of range for the sensor or similar error). You cant get it any higher with manual settings. Only thing you can do is hit is post processing. I usually end up using a WB color temp of 16,322 in LightRoom for my specific lighting.

nautical_nathaniel · Mar 22, 2018

+1 on saving presents for RAW files, makes photo processing so much quicker if your lighting stays the same.

hockeyhead019 · Mar 22, 2018

SMB said:
Two ways to try and streamline the WB just for your tank shots. (This is assuming your tank lighting does not have a program such that the color/intensity is not varying over the course of the day.)
If you have WB adjustment in your post software (in LR it is the Temp slider in the Basic panel), find the kelvin (numbers far right in the temp slider) you like the best for your images and make that a preset for when you download your tank shots. Or just go to that number everytime you process an image from your aquarium.

As you go up the line in Nikon cameras there is a way to directly set the WB Kelvin in the Shooting Menu WB (so you could use that Kelvin number once you find what you liked in your post software.). The D3400 does not have that. But in the WB menu there are certain WB options (like Direct Sunlight) where you can make adjustments (Use the "Adjust" option, bottom R corner with Direct Sunlight selected) . You can by trial and error find the best WB setting for your tank lights and keep that in the camera. As above you can also use the Pre Manual option and a White card to set a WB for your specific lighting.

The in camera seems a bit tedious unless you find one setting that works for the D3400 and your tank lights. So perhaps doing it in post is easiest.

Awesome response thank you! It sounds like with my model it will be the easiest to just to figure out what temp I like in LR and go from there. I have a "photo mode" that I can set up for my light so the lighting in the tank won't change when I'm shooting.

Thanks for all the responses everybody!