1D X White Balance Bug NOW WITH SAMPLES...

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i have experienced this phenomenon using the 5d2 in conjunction with DynaLites and pocket wizards during VERY meticulously controlled before and after shots for QVC clinical trials.

we use the same heads with the same modifiers (each on their assigned head) with all light positions tape measured and power settings recorded. same camera and lens shooting tethered through canon utility using the Kelvin WB setting. shots are typically a series of 3 shots over the course of 1 to 2 months. always against a white seamless. we measure and record all lighting/modifier/camera positions every time so that each shoot is as identical as we can possibly get them.

all shots are scrutinized by the legal department and must be identical in lighting or they get bounced and the client loses the ability to use the photos to promote whatever product they are pushing on air.

under these controlled circumstances i have occasionally seen color shifts during same day shooting. it is a mystery to me as well but we deal with it by correcting the Raws in ACR. i would chalk it up to either inconsistent light output or just the nature of how the sensor works. it would be nice if the sensor performed exactly the same every shot for tens of thousands of consecutive shots but it is more likely that on occasion there could be a slight inconsistency. such is life...perfection is elusive if not impossible to achieve.
 
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clicstudio said:
Hi Shawn. I did a RAW test and found something interesting. Read my last post.
Thanx
P

That does seem to nix the whole conversion process idea.

Other ideas:
  • Do you have either "Auto Lighting Optimizer" (3rd from bottom on second red menu) or "Highlight tone priority" (bottom item on second red menu) on?
  • What about "Spot Metering linked to AF pt" (2nd to last item on the first C.Fn1 page)?
  • Or "safety shift" (last item on the first C.FN1 page)?

I listed the above because they can affect exposure and/or how the images are processed.

Other than that, I'm tapped out.

Lots of luck, either way :)

Shawn L.
 
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clicstudio said:
docholliday said:
Just for the record, I never said it was related to JPG. The compression in JPG would cause localized shifts, but not global shifting, unless the compression engine was wacked.

Don't worry, I've never "worked" either - I have a philosophy that when it starts to seem like work, it's time to quit. That's why I do everything myself too - if you want it done right, do it yourself!

U know it Doc! :D

So, now that I can read the temperature shift in the RAW file... What do u think it could be?

How about uploading two RAW files (with correct and drifted values) from the controlled test so we can have some samples to experiment with?
 
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clicstudio said:
docholliday said:
Just for the record, I never said it was related to JPG. The compression in JPG would cause localized shifts, but not global shifting, unless the compression engine was wacked.

Don't worry, I've never "worked" either - I have a philosophy that when it starts to seem like work, it's time to quit. That's why I do everything myself too - if you want it done right, do it yourself!

U know it Doc! :D

So, now that I can read the temperature shift in the RAW file... What do u think it could be?

Sounds like a firmware bug to me. Actually, two firmware bugs:

1. The camera should not be doing a glorified auto white balance when it has a flash that is not E-TTL.

2. The camera should not be lying about the white balance temperature in the JPEG metadata.

Either way, setting a single, fixed white balance manually (by number) will probably work around the problem mostly if not completely.
 
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dgatwood said:
clicstudio said:
docholliday said:
Just for the record, I never said it was related to JPG. The compression in JPG would cause localized shifts, but not global shifting, unless the compression engine was wacked.

Don't worry, I've never "worked" either - I have a philosophy that when it starts to seem like work, it's time to quit. That's why I do everything myself too - if you want it done right, do it yourself!

U know it Doc! :D

So, now that I can read the temperature shift in the RAW file... What do u think it could be?

Sounds like a firmware bug to me. Actually, two firmware bugs:

1. The camera should not be doing a glorified auto white balance when it has a flash that is not E-TTL.

2. The camera should not be lying about the white balance temperature in the JPEG metadata.

Either way, setting a single, fixed white balance manually (by number) will probably work around the problem mostly if not completely.


I will try it today! Cheers!
 
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Some people already mentioned the lighting. Usually, tungsten filaments are relatively color stable, but compact fluorescents or fluorescents are not. I did have a minute differences in the color balance when using available light inside a room, until I realized the effect of the CFLs. Does this color balance issue happen outside (when the illumination is stable)?
 
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clicstudio said:
I have a problem with white balance shifting on random images on my 1D X...
We're experiencing the same kind of problem after the latest firmware update. In 2 out of 3000 photos we have noticed that WB was off (even colder than in your samples). Ambient light, RAW, conditions and framing remained the same. WB set to auto though.

Those pictures were removed as soon as we noticed the issue. I'll look closer to see if I can find another sample to share here.

Now I'm thinking over whether to roll the firmware back.
 
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