Today’s Question: My mentor insists on nailing the white balance in camera. My research says white balance has no effect on raw images. It helps the on-camera viewing, maybe has some impact on the histogram, but bottom line, get the white balance “right” in post. Thoughts, comments?
Tim’s Quick Answer: For raw captures the in-camera white balance setting is merely a metadata value and has no impact on image quality. You can absolutely wait until after the capture to optimize the white balance adjustment.
More Detail: It is obviously a good thing for photographers to want to get their photos perfect in the camera, but this doesn’t need to extend to the white balance setting. There is no impact on image quality when you adjust the white balance during raw processing after the capture.
The in-camera white balance setting translates to a metadata value. As noted in the question, changes to the white balance setting will change the appearance of the image preview on the camera’s LCD display, which in turn can alter the appearance of the histogram. But getting the setting right in camera won’t provide a benefit when it comes to image quality for a raw capture.
Of course, there may be other reasons to want to use an optimal white balance setting in camera, such as to ensure uniformity of color for photos and to minimize the degree to which images need to be adjusted after the capture. But there isn’t a benefit when it comes to image quality.
It is important to note, however, that this only applies to raw captures. If, for example, you use a bad white balance setting for a JPEG capture, that color adjustment alters the pixel values for the image, and can create image quality problems when you need to apply a strong color correction after the capture. But for raw captures you can ignore the white balance setting on the camera unless adjusting it provides you with a workflow advantage.
