White balance with S3

[tom0511]

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The white balance of my S3 seems off. If I use auto or daylight in camera and look at the dng in LR or C1 it looks greenish/ too cold.

If I use presets in LR it looks wrong either.

I can adjust it manually and then it looks fine, but is this normal?

And why is adobe or c1 not able to deliver usable presets for WB. (The WB presets also dont seem great for other Leica cameras, but at least the starting point)

 

 

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[irenedp]

You can always use a thermo colorimeter, but otherwise all cameras have their own bias. For instance, compared to the M9 and the S2 the M10r, the S3, the Q1 and the Q2 all look a bit too warm and magenta and I have my own algorithm to skew white balance in the CCD sensor direction. 

That in the leica realm. Fuji is all magenta and about 1000 degrees kelvin over real, and Nikon is greenish. And so on and so forth with all brands and models.

If you want “real” color you can always use a grey patch (or a color checker) to grade each session. Or use a thermal colorimeter and adjust your white balance manually in session. The first solution is cheap and the second rather expensive. But there’s plenty of options (including using the Adobe Camera raw and Lightroom color pickers) out there 

Edited December 17, 2024 by irenedp

[davidmknoble]

I use the color patches / grey patch or white plastic block over lens frequently when I want exactly what I see.  Otherwise, I’m giving it my own color balance and don’t worry as much about what I get.  Frequently I use daylight, but I change most every image in every camera to some extent.

[Pieter12]

From a newsletter I recently received, comparing RAW files from a number of cameras (none MF). Interesting conclusion:

"...the vaunted Fuji colors vs the legendary Leica colors… all fixed up with the same actual white balance and compensating exposure so the mid-tones and highlights are the same density due to Leicas under exposure disposition compared to real ISO. Am I saying there is no difference? Absolutely not but they are so, so far behind just about anything else you might do in-camera with exposure or in post that those things overwhelm minor differences in sensor architecture, color filter array tweaking, etc, etc, etc. Heck even the lenses are hard to distinguish from each other...

Use what you have, use what you like. Don’t worry too much about gear in the same league (real cameras with real sized sensors) and any reasonably decent glass (most of it). Go do the work, get better at all the things that count way more but make more pictures."

 

 

 

[davidmknoble]

@Pieter12, it sounds like they are using the highlight metering mode, which does under exposure.  I have yet to find mine underexposing when using the average metering and compensating approrpriately for dark and light subjects.  I agree Leica is not doing what Fuji does in camera, but then again, I edit my RAW files, so why would I need in camera stuff?  

Thanks for sharing what you received!

[Pieter12]

1 hour ago, davidmknoble said:

highlight metering mode

On the S3, there are only 3 options: Spot metering, Center-Weighted and Multi-Field. Is one of these what you are calling highlight metering? My S3 images tend to look underexposed, but compensating in post makes them right and I don't have to deal with blown-out highlights. The files from the S 006 don't seem to need as much tweaking.

[davidmknoble]

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15 hours ago, Pieter12 said:

On the S3, there are only 3 options: Spot metering, Center-Weighted and Multi-Field. Is one of these what you are calling highlight metering? My S3 images tend to look underexposed, but compensating in post makes them right and I don't have to deal with blown-out highlights. The files from the S 006 don't seem to need as much tweaking.

Based on the article you quoted, it seemed like it was Leica Cameras (most of which have the hi light metering mode, apologies if it was intended to be direct comparison to the S3.  I guess I’ve gotten used to the exposures on the S3.  The Jpegs seem to be brighter, but the histogram shows it a little darker, so I follow the histogram.

[Pieter12]

5 hours ago, davidmknoble said:

Based on the article you quoted, it seemed like it was Leica Cameras (most of which have the hi light metering mode, apologies if it was intended to be direct comparison to the S3.  I guess I’ve gotten used to the exposures on the S3.  The Jpegs seem to be brighter, but the histogram shows it a little darker, so I follow the histogram.

The article I quoted was not using the S3, but one of the digital M cameras. I only have digital S Leicas, so my knowledge and experience is limited to those.