Leica V-Lux-1 custom WB (w/flash)???
Any owners of this model out there in Dgrin-land?
I've had mine for 3 months or so...very satisfied overall. The single disappointment so far, however, is either my lack of understanding (or my camera's inability) to set a custom white balance with the either the on-camera flash or with the hot-shoe-mounted flash.
The owner's manual seems to suggest that if a flash is used, that the camera overrides any custom WB setting (and then it says something about "except in brite-sun icon or flash icon mode"). The terminology is confusing.
I've used the Phoxle SpectraSnap successfully taking "non-flash" shots, but haven't figured out how to use it to set a custom WB while using flash.
Is there anyone who's familiar enough with the V-Lux-1 to tell me what I need to do? (Leica's tech team hasn't yet seen fit to answer my query about this, so I'm reaching out to Dgrin with fingers crossed!).
I've had mine for 3 months or so...very satisfied overall. The single disappointment so far, however, is either my lack of understanding (or my camera's inability) to set a custom white balance with the either the on-camera flash or with the hot-shoe-mounted flash.
The owner's manual seems to suggest that if a flash is used, that the camera overrides any custom WB setting (and then it says something about "except in brite-sun icon or flash icon mode"). The terminology is confusing.
I've used the Phoxle SpectraSnap successfully taking "non-flash" shots, but haven't figured out how to use it to set a custom WB while using flash.
Is there anyone who's familiar enough with the V-Lux-1 to tell me what I need to do? (Leica's tech team hasn't yet seen fit to answer my query about this, so I'm reaching out to Dgrin with fingers crossed!).
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Press the "Menu/Set" button to get into the "Rec" menu.
Scroll down until you highlight the WB Set symbol.
Press the "Menu/Set" button to select the WB set menu.
Now highlight "White Set 1" and select it with the "Menu/Set" button.
Now point your camera towards something white that is also being lit by the light you wish to balance against. Make sure that the white subject fills about the middle third of the camera's view. (It doesn't have to be in focus.)
Press the "Menu/Set" button to program the WB for this light source.
Press the shutter button halfway to close the menu.
Now when you want to use this custom WB, use the "Menu/Set" button to get back to the REC menu and then scroll down to "White Set 1" and select it with the "Menu/Set" button.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
If you use the Daylight WB or Flash-Only WB, those are preset WB and are probably around 5500K and 5000K respectively. Trying to set a custom WB would not be appropriate with those settings. Just use the Flash-Only WB and you should be OK unless you somehow filter the flash and then use the arrows to "fine adjust" the WB or shoot RAW with a white card target frame and adjust the WB in software, referencing the white card for a standard.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Hi Ziggy:
Thanks. I think this is where I'm "stuck" ... The hot-shoe flash attachment says it's set for 5700K. When I take photos in an auditorium setting with ambient very yellow lights ( I'm guessing somewhere in the 3000K range), I can get the foreground "people" colors reasonably close with the Flash-Only WB setting (because the primary source of light on them is the 5700K flash), but everything else in the photo is a sickly-looking yellow tint (because the primary source of light is the ambient 3000K lighting).
I'd hoped to use Phoxle's WB disc to custom-set the WB based upon the 3000K ambient, then tone-down the 5700K flash with a gel-filter to come as close as possible to the 3000 ambient.
The problem, it seems to me is, that even though I custom set the WB to 3000K, the flash "resets" the camera to match the 5700K output of the flash, so that both the camera and the flash are the same 5700K, when the "room" is at 3000K (people in the near foreground OK, everything and everyone else in the room terrible). Adding to my woes, putting a gel filter on the flash means the camera is shooting at 5700K, but the flash is at 3000K...worse yet.
If I can't figure out how to lock in a custom WB when using flash, then I'm stuck taking pictures in RAW, and having to do a lot of post-processing work, which I hate....I'm not a professional, and therefore do not sell my photos ( they're just for personal and friends consumption).
I'm just hoping I'm wrong about this, and can find a way to lock in a custom WB that doesn't get "auto-adjusted" by the flash. Manually tinkering with the fine adjustment controls on the WB is complete trial and error...nothing I've tried so far works well.
Trying to mix mix color temperatures as wide as tungsten and flash is always going to be a problem no matter what camera. Your best approach, as you have intimated, is to filter the flash to match the ambient.
I agree that the camera is not able to be white balanced to tungsten while using flash, so your only recourse is to shoot in RAW and balance in software. If you use a RAW processor that allows batch processing you can eliminate most of the tedious base processing to achieve WB.
You could also process to B&W? (Not always the best option but always an option.)
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Ziggy: I appreciate the help. Darn!...I was looking for the silver bullet I thought I'd simply overlooked being an amateur at this. Your dose of reality settled me down.
I better understand now that a camera can only deal in "one-size(color temperature in this case)-fits-the-entire-scene" terms. So when the actual scene has two very differently lit components (ambient and flash), the option you're left with is to balance them as much as possible and shoot RAW + post process or simply settle for two competing outcomes in the same photo. Again, not what I'd hoped for, but at least I know I'm not completely ignorant any longer.
Thanks much!
Using a CTO gel on one's flash and shooting indoors in Tungsten white balance is discussed frequently on the Strobist.
It sounds like you just need to fool your camera into thinking that you are not shooting flash. And then use a CTO gelled monolite or speedlite to do the heavy lifting, but be color balanced for the ambient tungsten illumination.
Worth a try.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Sounds like food for thought...and a learning/research opportunity (for me). Thanks for the suggestion. The Leica Flash attachment was a $$$ investment for me...would I be able to mount it (instead of buying another flash) on a remote "holder" of some sort and still be able to trigger it somehow?
I did not notice a description of a PC plug, but the camera does have a hot shoe, so you could trigger with a hot shot to PC cord adapter ( googling will turn these up at B&H or Adorama I am sure). Then you could trigger an external flash in manual mode, either on a bracket mount or an external light stand mount with the PC cord.
An alternative would be to mount a small manual flash on the camera that can be powered down to a very low output, but enough to trigger an external flash with an optical trigger like a Wein Peanut Slave.
The trick is not letting the camera know there is a flash being used, so it does not automagically reset your white balance settings to what its primitive brain thinks you need. With an orange CTO gel converting your flash to tungsten color balance, you should no longer have the dual color issues in you final image. Dave Hobbe discusses this technique among others here
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Thanks for the suggestions and the links Pathfinder. I feel as though I almost understand the problem and the possible solutions.