Photoclubalpha

Hello to all, first post here. I got a month ago new Sony A700 and have had color balance problems with firmware v4.

JPG-color has greenish/yellowish tint, even outdoors in sunny conditions (though only slightly comparing with flash or tungsten). I have used autoWB, preset WB and custom WB. If I use custom WB, colors are too pale and has greenish tint. This tint makes difficult adjusting custom WB right in first place. Reducing green-channel and a bit red-channel I get colors okay in PP. A700 LCD colors are about right.
I have not had this kind of problems with my Sony A200 or KM A200. My display is calibrated with GretagMacbeth Eye1Display2-calibrator. I have not used RAW much yet with A700. A700 is great for handling.

I wonder can Sony service adjust the color balance or could they mess things worse. There is no user hue adjust in A700. Or do I have to go back to firmware v3 (by Sony service), if that would make color tint cooler. I upated very soon to fw v4 and have not got a lot of experience with v3.

Best regards
Matti

Hi Matti and welcome to the forum.

First of all, do you use RAW, if yes, does it show the same problem with ACR or Lightroom?
2- Where do you live? PAL or NTSC area?
3- Have you tried with RAW + JPEG?
4- Do you use on the camera "function" methods, such as "Vivid" or "Neutral" or ...etc.?

Thanks Dr. Harout

I have mainly shoot JPGs. With RAW there is no real problem, but I would like to have JPGs and WB
about right in first place, and also in A700 LCD. My computer display is calibrated.

I only have oldy PSE 5. I have mainly used neutral or standard creative styles.
My Sony A200 I have not got color problems, JPG colors are usually better than with RAW .

_Matti

mattio wrote: JPG-color has greenish/yellowish tint, even outdoors in sunny conditions (though only slightly comparing with flash or tungsten). I have used autoWB, preset WB and custom WB.

Do you mean it is even greener when using flash? the on-bord flash or an external flash? I read some people have problems with V4, AWB and Flash, but I never experienced it -I don't use AWB...

mattio wrote:If I use custom WB, colors are too pale and has greenish tint. This tint makes difficult adjusting custom WB right in first place. Reducing green-channel and a bit red-channel I get colors okay in PP. A700 LCD colors are about right.

I have not had this kind of problems with my Sony A200 or KM A200. My display is calibrated with GretagMacbeth Eye1Display2-calibrator. I have not used RAW much yet with A700. A700 is great for handling.

When I got my 28~75 f2.8 it came with a (supposedly) clear filter but every time I used it the pics had this warm cast. the filter wasn't "clear" at all but had a yellowish tint. I don't use it anymore... I guess if you have a warm/yellowish filter on your lens, the AWB will compensate that cast. Same goes for the coating cast of the lens. Have you tried taken a photograph of the same scene with both the A200 and the A700, same exposure, same lens, same WB (no AWB but Daylight or set it to 5500K)?

mattio wrote:I wonder can Sony service adjust the color balance or could they mess things worse. There is no user hue adjust in A700.

Yes, there is a hue adjust on each WB setting (+/- 3 stops). If you still have problems with the white balance, call SOny Service and ask them to fix your camera.

mattio wrote:Or do I have to go back to firmware v3 (by Sony service), if that would make color tint cooler. I upated very soon to fw v4 and have not got a lot of experience with v3.

No way back to V3.

Regards