How do you manage White Balance in your Modified DSLR - Forums

Topic starter

IOTD Staff

Jul 13, 2017

Hi

White Balance : WB
I have read lot of articles recommended many ways to manage WB in modified DSLR images ..
Some saying its not important to do WB in the imaging session as your RAW files have all data ..so you can manage that in Pixinsight or PS.
Others saying you have to do WB before starting imaging if you really want nice stars colors.. and the way to do that can be :
1- Take an image for the sky in your imaging session,, then use that as a reference to do Custom White Balance.
2- Gray card method at day time.

So ,, As you are a user of Modified DSLR .. how do you handle that.. ?!!

Fritz

Jul 13, 2017

Hi Ali,

I go with those who manage WB in post processing. In very difficult cases i go with color calibration using star catalogs. Theli, Fluxx, and Regim - to name a few programms- can do that.

CS, Fritz

Vittorio

Jul 13, 2017

Hi,
everyone said me that with astromodified DSLR the white balance is done in post processing. White balance with gray or white card is done if you want to use your dslr during the day and save your pictures directly in jpeg.

Albert van Duin

Jul 13, 2017

I also use WB on the stars in PixInsight, that works great. On the LCD on the camera the color doesn't look that good…
I'm using a CentralDS Astro 6D.

crazygame12345

Jul 13, 2017

I have an OSC Cooled CCD camera, the white balance is well done with MDL5 at linear state. First let MDL select the original points of RGB automatically, then adjust the scaling factors to equalize the average values in the background. This method, using the Possion-like noise distribution of sky flows, is an effective method for a majority of cameras with good linearity.

Andreas Dietz

Jul 13, 2017

Did anyone manage to achieve a good WB as described above on a combination modified DSLR + LPF (e.g. CLS-CCD)?

Fritz

Jul 13, 2017 · Edited: Jul 14, 2017

Andreas Dietz:
Did anyone manage to achieve a good WB as described above on a combination modified DSLR + LPF (e.g. CLS-CCD)?

Yes, I did. When in doubt, try Fluxx: : http://www.skypixels.at/pixinsight_scripts.html (this is he newest secret weapon of the Austrian PI community, but it is a standalone application 8) )

Frank Breslawski

Jul 13, 2017

Fritz:
Andreas Dietz:
Did anyone manage to achieve a good WB as described above on a combination modified DSLR + LPF (e.g. CLS-CCD)?
Yes, I did. When in doubt, try Fluxx: : http://www.skypixels.at/pixinsight_scripts.html (this is he newest secret weapon of the Austrian PI community, but it is a standalone application 8) )

Your link is broken...

Fritz

Jul 14, 2017

Fritz:
Andreas Dietz:
Did anyone manage to achieve a good WB as described above on a combination modified DSLR + LPF (e.g. CLS-CCD)?
Yes, I did. When in doubt, try Fluxx: : http://www.skypixels.at/pixinsight_scripts.html (this is he newest secret weapon of the Austrian PI community, but it is a standalone application 8) )
Your link is broken...

Should be fixed now.

Frank Breslawski

Jul 14, 2017

Thank's Fritz! Didn't know this collection of scripts before

bobzeq25

Jul 16, 2017 · Edited: Jul 16, 2017

I use the first approach. Ignore white balance and just manually balance the RGB channels.

White balance is just a programmed version of doing that. It does nothing you can't do by balancing RGB
yourself or with tools in processing programs, such as PixInsights ColorCalibration. In my opinion that's a
better (more flexible) way to go.

I'm not aware of any way to use the camera's white balance in PixInsight.

Well Written Concise

Ali Alhawas

Topic starter

IOTD Staff

Dec 20, 2017

Thanks all for your great information..

I used to do WB in the test images before I start taking my main sub frames.. the reason is to see the image in nice rich colors and good BG .. after that I can decide Exp. time , iso.. etc.
As I do not use a PC at site

.. I thing that is the best way to see what you will capture and give you a good idea about your sub frames..

Best Regards..

Luke Arens

Nov 29, 2018

Andreas Dietz:
Did anyone manage to achieve a good WB as described above on a combination modified DSLR + LPF (e.g. CLS-CCD)?

I shot a gray card in sunlight with my CLS filter in place and set custom white balance on the camera. Still have to align channels a lot in Photoshop but it seemed to help a bit.

Tom Marsala

Jul 24, 2021

+1 on bobzeq comment. Once I align RGB in post all my worries are gone, even for the blue cast of the Astronomiks CLS and the somewhat green-blue of the L-enhance.

lucian_nicu

Jul 9, 2022

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for WB. First of all, a certain value of WB may or may not look good, depending on the level of light pollution, the predominant color of light pollution, the altitude of the target, etc. Second, the overall color given by the WB is simply subjective. If I like cooler colors, it doesn't mean that your image in warm colors is not good, or vice versa. It's just a personal choice.
As for me, I adjust WB on the spot only if I have the time and desire to test different values. If I want to start the astro session and then admire the night sky while having a coffee, I set the WB at 4500-5000k and start imaging.
Comment valid only for DSLR imaging, mostly for widefield.
For cooled OSC I trust Pixinsight's color calibration. There have been only a few cases where I have had to use Linear Fit.

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Michael Fleischer

Oct 18, 2023 · Edited: Oct 19, 2023

Hello all.

I think my answer is a few years too late, but here it is.
I take a shot of a white paper at noon when the sun is shining without clouds, with the wp setting daylight, it will appear quite reddish in your DSLR display but thats okay.
Then in my camera menu I change to custom whitepoint and select the image of the white paper just shot before, that this is my reference file for white.

Then the custom wp for my modded Canon 77d is set, and the colors for my astroimages are correct again when shooting with custom whitepoint setting active.

Cs to you all

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