# Does wb affect focus



## paigew (Jun 11, 2015)

Does getting proper white balance in camera affect your cameras ability to achieve focus? I have a friend claiming it does. I can't find any info on Google. What do you think? 


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## 480sparky (Jun 11, 2015)

Is your friend wanting to take you out for a snipe hunt?  Invest in a bridge in Brooklyn?


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## paigew (Jun 11, 2015)

Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr. [emoji16][emoji16]


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## paigew (Jun 11, 2015)

I'm doing a photo experiment tomorrow to prove my point [emoji12]


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## Alexr25 (Jun 12, 2015)

White balance is applied to the captured data after the photo is taken, focusing has to take place before a photo can be taken so maybe you could get your friend to explain how one could effect the other.


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## Braineack (Jun 12, 2015)

/debate.


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## Designer (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr.


Sometimes it's best to just not argue.  Seriously.  Not kidding.  

You will not win an argument with someone who cannot accept simple facts.

Let it go.


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2015)

Designer said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr.
> ...


Yeah I hear Ya but I gotta try [emoji12] 


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## Designer (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yeah I hear Ya but I gotta try


Yes, I know.  I've been arguing with ignorant people for decades.  Haven't won yet.


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## astroNikon (Jun 12, 2015)

==> Understanding Camera Autofocus


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## 480sparky (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr. [emoji16][emoji16]
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Never argue with an idiot.  They will drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.




paigew said:


> I'm doing a photo experiment tomorrow to prove my point [emoji12]



Tell your 'friend' that you couldn't duplicate their his/her claim, but you did discover that the color of your fingernail polish affected the gas mileage of your car.




paigew said:


> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



This useless and silly feature can be turned off.


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2015)

480sparky said:


> This useless and silly feature can be turned off.


I need to turn it off!!! I'll look into that. 

Thanks for the link @astroNikon


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2015)

which image was shot at proper wb? One was shot all the way cool kelvin (2500) one at (10000 K) one on auto wb and one on a preset wb. All exposed +1 and edited to have the same wb.


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## astroNikon (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> Does getting proper white balance in camera affect your cameras ability to achieve focus? I have a friend claiming it does. I can't find any info on Google. What do you think?
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


he's probably thinking about Contrast


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > Does getting proper white balance in camera affect your cameras ability to achieve focus? I have a friend claiming it does. I can't find any info on Google. What do you think?
> ...


Yeah that is what I was thinking too but I just don't think it could have a measurable effect.


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## Braineack (Jun 12, 2015)

Change the color temp of his/her monitor.  ask why the focus didnt change.


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## astroNikon (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> > paigew said:
> ...


The Nikon 70-300 VRii has very noticeable Contrast issues which affects the focusing system, which really makes for a poor sports lens in certain situations .. like when my team has low contrast jerseys compared to the other players and surroundings.
I had that lens once, it drove me batty.  I got rid of it fast and haven't looked back.


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## Designer (Jun 12, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yeah that is what I was thinking too but I just don't think it could have a measurable effect.


It would be instructive to see an example of what your friend is looking at.  Has he/she shown you an example?  

I wonder if it has something to do with chromatic aberration.  The fringe of CA might be misconstrued as some WB defect, but your friend could be taking it for OOF.  

Aw.. who knows?


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## Alexr25 (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> > paigew said:
> ...


Scene contrast can definitely affect autofocus but white balance can never alter the scene contrast, only lighting can change that. As I said above white balance is *always* applied to the captured data a long long time after focusing has occurred so it can *never* have affect on focusing.


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## paigew (Jun 13, 2015)

Yeah well I got kicked out of the group I mentor over this. It's all just too much. [emoji51][emoji51]


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## paigew (Jun 13, 2015)

She claims wb affects light channels which affects contrast.


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## pixmedic (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> She claims wb affects light channels which affects contrast.



ask your friend what happens to the focus if you shoot in raw since none of those presets that affect jpeg's are used in camera. 

as far as white balance affecting light channels (wtf?) and affecting contrast (again wtf?)
none of those settings, even if  your shooting jpeg, would affect your cameras AF. 
where contrast affects AF is the color contrast of the _*subject *_your are shooting...NOT your in camera WB/color settings. 
those settings only affect the picture _*after *_it has been taken and processed by the camera.


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## Alexr25 (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yeah well I got kicked out of the group I mentor over this. It's all just too much. [emoji51][emoji51]





paigew said:


> She claims wb affects light channels which affects contrast.


She is sort of half right but mostly wrong in that white balance does affect the mix of the RGB channels in the final image and so it can affect the contrast of the final image but focusing takes place before any image data exists. The focusing module can be affected by scene contrast but not by the contrast of the final image and it is this final image contrast that white balance affects.


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## astroNikon (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yeah well I got kicked out of the group I mentor over this. It's all just too much. [emoji51][emoji51]


Kicked out of the group you mentor ?
dissolve the Group ... tell them the group lost focus ....


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## 480sparky (Jun 13, 2015)

pixmedic said:


> ............ask your friend what happens to the focus if you shoot in raw since none of those presets that affect jpeg's are used in camera.............



If your camera is set to shoot raw, it will not focus at all.


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## astroNikon (Jun 13, 2015)

btw, where and what group is this ... link ... can we all join ?


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## paigew (Jun 13, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> btw, where and what group is this ... link ... can we all join ?


Ahh I wish I could add you all [emoji12][emoji12] its a private mentoring/critiquing group on fb. But since I left the group I'm out.


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## Braineack (Jun 13, 2015)

Maybe you can teach at the online photography institute.

using tapatalk.


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## astroNikon (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> > btw, where and what group is this ... link ... can we all join ?
> ...


now watch everyone join every photography critique / criticism group on fb ...


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## Dave442 (Jun 13, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yeah well I got kicked out of the group I mentor over this. It's all just too much. [emoji51][emoji51]



I think you should have a plaque to hang on the wall for getting kicked out of a group over this


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## Overread (Jun 14, 2015)

Wait your students kicked you out? 
Methinks the group is nuts 


My guess is that they set WB incorrectly and then correctly and saw a difference in the contrast of the scene when they reviewed it and thus assumed that the more contrasty - ergo "sharper appearing" shot came from the correct white balance setting. Might also be that they tested on a poor subject and that they got actual focus problems with the WB set wrong which, due to unrelated factors, then worked on the shots that they took with the right WB (this being even more the case of the scene/lighting changed between the test shots - since not everyone knows to do tests properly).


Honestly sounds like  the group has problems, sometimes you have to be very authoritative when giving information to a group to prevent "smart" students taking over when they really know very little.


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## paigew (Jun 14, 2015)

I am one of three mentors who started the group over a year ago. . I was warned by a moderator to stop "arguing" my point or be removed from the group. Of course I didn't stop and then they deleted my comments so I removed myself from the group.


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## Overread (Jun 14, 2015)

How odd - I guess either the mentor isn't a photographer or that things got more to the heated insults/accusations stage of things


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## paigew (Jun 14, 2015)

Yea it was me vs another mentor and I think she didn't wanna look wrong in front of her students. [emoji16]. She is running a paid course and I called her out.


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## astroNikon (Jun 14, 2015)

paigew said:


> Yea it was me vs another mentor and I think she didn't wanna look wrong in front of her students. [emoji16]. She is running a paid course and I called her out.


Sooner or later they'll learn the correct information


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## 480sparky (Jun 14, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > Yea it was me vs another mentor and I think she didn't wanna look wrong in front of her students. [emoji16]. She is running a paid course and I called her out.
> ...



Maybe.  None are so blind as those who refuse to see.


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## Dave442 (Jun 14, 2015)

Did the other mentor do the testing or did they site research to give the basis for their claim.

Are they claiming this on just a different WB setting in the camera, or scenes with different color temps?

Is the issue just related to the speed of autofocus or is the claim that it gives a different focus distance setting?

Are we talking about phase detection autofocus or just on contrast based autofocus?

I think FB is a poor location to try and resolve a disagreement so probably best you stepped away from the issue there.


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## vintagesnaps (Jun 15, 2015)

Probably better to say something off the site, in a message, it just doesn't seem like a good idea to get into it with another mentor or instructor or whatever especially in front of students. They'll figure out at some point that this doesn't make sense about WB and focus. Takes being somewhat objective if you're the one mentoring or running a meeting or whatever.


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## thereyougo! (Jun 16, 2015)

At the same time, this 'mentor' is taking money from people from lessons and yet doesn't know what white balance is all about and what it does and does not affect?  I'm glad you called her out on it.  She shouldn't be teaching anyone!  Let alone taking money for doing so...


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## 480sparky (Jun 16, 2015)

thereyougo! said:


> At the same time, this 'mentor' is taking money from people from lessons and yet doesn't know what white balance is all about and what it does and does not affect?  I'm glad you called her out on it.  She shouldn't be teaching anyone!  Let alone taking money for doing so...



But this is vital to our industry as a whole, as well as the global economy!

Without such clueless teachers, the supply of Facebook Fotographers would shrivel to nothing.  Without them, how are we supposed to maintain the MWACs?  No one would be able to pay $150 for a CD chock-full of wedding photos with Instagram and dutch tilt filters. Where will the next generation of iPhotographers come from?

The world demands cheap images, and some are willing to actually PAY for knowing how to produce them!


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## astroNikon (Jun 16, 2015)

480sparky said:


> ... CD chock-full of wedding photos with Instagram and *dutch tilt filters*. Where will the next generation of iPhotographers come from?
> 
> The world demands cheap images, and some are willing to actually PAY for knowing how to produce them!


They make filters for dutch tilt ?
Are they round screw-on filters or do you need a Lee/Cokin type holder ?


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## Dave442 (Jun 16, 2015)

My old lenses had the IR mark for focusing for the infrared wavelength. So it would seem that different wavelengths of light could affect focusing. I gave a quick look and found a few links

However as most noted here, the WB setting made in the camera is applied after the image is captured by the sensor, so that setting would not affect focus. Otherwise, camera makers could just add an IR setting to the WB and the camera could focus properly if the IR filter was removed from the sensor.


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## Braineack (Jun 16, 2015)

is someone confusing white balance with color temps and atmospheric conditions?


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## 480sparky (Jun 16, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > ... CD chock-full of wedding photos with Instagram and *dutch tilt filters*. Where will the next generation of iPhotographers come from?
> ...



They're rear-mounted gels.


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## paigew (Jun 16, 2015)

480sparky said:


> But this is vital to our industry as a whole, as well as the global economy!
> 
> Without such clueless teachers, the supply of Facebook Fotographers would shrivel to nothing.  Without them, how are we supposed to maintain the MWACs?  No one would be able to pay $150 for a CD chock-full of wedding photos with Instagram and dutch tilt filters. Where will the next generation of iPhotographers come from?
> 
> The world demands cheap images, and some are willing to actually PAY for knowing how to produce them!



For what its worth, the group is full of some amazingly talented photographers. These people can really shoot and are just working on refining, finding their photographic voice/style, + putting together a portfolio.


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## Derrel (Jun 16, 2015)

paigew said:
			
		

> Yeah well I got kicked out of the group I mentor over this. It's all just too much. [emoji51][emoji51]



Wow, that will make a GREAT story among photo friends! Loads of laughs! Well, just remember what Groucho Marx said in his now famous quote, "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member...especially a club full of dimwits that think white balance has anything to do with foi-cus!"

But wow, white balance and focusing, somehow linked to one another...that does not make any sense at all really. This is in fact the very first time I have ever heard such a theory even brought up, in any conversation, either in real life or on-line. It's unfortunate the way things ended up playing out, but that's kind of the way things go in some FB groups.


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## gr8five (Jun 22, 2015)

480sparky said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr. [emoji16][emoji16]
> ...


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## gr8five (Jun 22, 2015)

480sparky said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > Seriously. Not kidding. Been arguing in circles for like an hr. [emoji16][emoji16]
> ...




sparky, I enjoyed your sense of humor


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