White balance setting for 3rd party flash/speedlight

[LocalGhost]

Hi guys,

 

As you probably know :-), there's no such thing as Flash White Balance setting in our X-T1s. When using a dedicated Fuji flash, the camera probably gets the info from it, acknowledges its presence and applies corrections.

Do you have any ideas how to force it (or which setting to use) to do it when using a 3rd party, non Fuji dedicated, flash? I have some Canon compatible TTL speedlights and they work well with Fuji (in full manual mode, of course), just the wretched WB is always off.

 

Any ideas?

 

TIA

[rvhout]

If you're using your flash as main light source, you could use a gray card and the custom WB setting to set the correct white balance. If you're using it as fill flash, use gels to balance the output of your flash gun to the ambient light and set your camera for that.

[LocalGhost]

rvhout - thank you, sir! I am aware of these possibilities, but I was hoping to find some "quick" solution. There's not always time for gray card or playing with gels, and I really could use such setting - just install your flash, set WB accordingly and shoot, just like "the rest of the photo world".

 

Why we can't have a Flash White Balance preset is really beyond me. Hell, we even have Underwater setting, but no Flash. I wonder what's the percentage of users doing underwater photography with their X-T1 vs. those using flashes / speedlights. Especially while Fuji's offer is non-existing when it comes to flashes. 

[JRphoto]

In the "Specifications" page of my i40 flash manual it shows the flash has a color temperature of 5600K. So I just go in the WB menu

and set this value for "Color Temperature" (5600K).

[rvhout]

rvhout - thank you, sir! I am aware of these possibilities, but I was hoping to find some "quick" solution. There's not always time for gray card or playing with gels, and I really could use such setting - just install your flash, set WB accordingly and shoot, just like "the rest of the photo world".

 

Well, if you pre-set one of the custom white balance settings with flash and gray card once and use that as 'Flash WB', I think that's fairly close to what you want? Note that you don't need to recalibrate custom WB settings every time you select them, so it basically becomes a fixed preset until you set a new calibration.

[LocalGhost]

Thanks, guys! Both advices true and useful. If I only knew what's the color temperature of my cheap (yet working surprisingly well) flash :-(

I think I need to go the gray card route and create a preset. I am still wondering how come I didn't think of it myself :-0

 

Anyway, I'd still trade the Underwater WB setting for Flash in a blink :-)

[Tom H.]

Always 5600k for flash, I used several brands and that's just fine.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Tom H.

[LocalGhost]

Thanks, Tom! Out of curiosity I will test and compare both 5600K and custom, gray card based preset tomorrow.