Epson R-D1 white balance Kelvin values

[vicmortelmans]

After much frustration, I concluded that digital photography is crap if you rely on auto-white-balance.

The white balance settings on the R-D1 always confused me, and after looking things up, I understand why: the settings are not in logical order!

So I decided to make a label with the corresponding K-values, in the right order, and stick it to the back of my camera for easy reference.

Also on my other digital camera's, I'm now setting numeric K-values, rather than relying on the icons. And I installed an app on my phone that shows the K-value when pointing at a white surface (like e.g. that label 🙂 )

Problem is that I have no clue what the real values are that Epson is using for each setting. I've used typical values that I looked up on internet, but I'd like to have the real values, so I can be consistent with my other camera's. The manual doesn't tell.

Would someone overhere know what the actual values are?

And another question: am I correct in my understanding of the 'Tint' setting in the menu's, that it is a kind of white-balance correction, i.e. +2 making the picture warmer and -2 making it cooler?

Here's the label:

Best regards,
Vic

 

[Larry H-L]

Hi Vic,

I don't know the individual temperature settings, however I think they should be very close to other major camera brands, for daylight, cloudy, shade and tungsten, since Epson is a major player in the photo world. Fluorescent settings are all over the place, so that one might be different.

If you shoot a white or gray card under daylight lighting in RAW using each of the RD-1's individual white balance settings and then put those files into an editing program using the white balance / eyedropper tool, you should be able to determine the deviation in color temperature from daylight and arrive at a close approximation of those settings.

 

[shawn]

Auto white balance performance varies greatly by camera/manufacturer. Esp. with old cameras like the RD1.

If you have a white surface in your picture and shoot raw in post you can easily set white balance on your white surface and then copy/paste the white balance settings to any other pictures in the same lighting.

Shawn

 

[vicmortelmans]

Hi Larry,

that was a good idea!

I did the test shots (just using a white piece of paper) and measured the white value in digikam. These values are kind of 'reverse' white balance settings, so to get the actual white balance values, I made a series of test shots using another digital camera (Fujifilm X100S), for a range of K-values, and I also measure the white values of these images in digikam. With these two sets, i have determined that the white balance settings on the R-D1 range betweeen 2500K and 8300K.

Here's the table:

So now I have to re-do my label 🙂

Best regards,
Vic

Hi Vic,

I don't know the individual temperature settings, however I think they should be very close to other major camera brands, for daylight, cloudy, shade and tungsten, since Epson is a major player in the photo world. Fluorescent settings are all over the place, so that one might be different.

If you shoot a white or gray card under daylight lighting in RAW using each of the RD-1's individual white balance settings and then put those files into an editing program using the white balance / eyedropper tool, you should be able to determine the deviation in color temperature from daylight and arrive at a close approximation of those settings.