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in Texas says:
I purchased a Sony A7III and I'm having difficulty using it on real estate photo shoots. The real problem is when I turn on the camera mounted flash (Flashpoint Zoom R2 TTL), the white balance changes to very warm, even when it's set to auto. When I'm not using the flash, auto white balance works great. I started setting the white balance manually but I have to do it for every shot which is very time consuming. I'm not sure what I'm missing but something is changing as soon as the flash is turned on.
I don't have a Sony A7III or that kind of flash but it seems like if you set manual WB on the A7III and put the flash in manual mode, the WB should stay put. You may want to pose this question in the SonyAlphaForum.com. There are other questions in that forum about issues with the Flashpoint Zoom R2 TTL.
What kind of flash gear are readers with Sony A7III's having success with?
I use the 6300 (auto white) with a yongnou 560 flash and white balance doesn't change.
I do not have a sony but think I heard about this. I believe it has to do with the wb defaulting to "flash" when there is a flash or trigger in the hotshoe, which will usually appear warm when the flash is bounced. This is why we never want cameras to do any sort of thinking for us. I heard the fix was something horrible like soldering off a pin on the connection.
I could be wrong about that. There are so many people using sony i am sure you will get good info.
Are you shooting RAW or Jpeg? If RAW, you shouldn't worry about it... just set to Auto and Fix in Post... actually I would test at your home and see how that works to be sure theres not actually something wrong with the camera... if your shooting Jpegs, I would set the WB while using the flash if you are going to use the flash for the shot... it will change with or without flash naturally since you are adding a light source with its own color temp to the overall scene... so the camera should be adjusting if you are in auto... also depends on how much power you are using and what that light is bouncing off of or if it is direct etc... sounds like from what OP supplied, it is a natural change in overall scene when the flash is added... Colors will change especially in interiors with light than without...
I would suggest always shooting in RAW as you will have more control later and you need as much control as you can get with interiors. And definitely do some test shooting and then post work to see how the end result will be rendered.. Hope its not a camera issue...
I have a Sony A7. I cannot comment on "on camera" flash as I always use "off camera". With reference to the WB, I use the custom white balance available in the Sony menu. Select custom WB and scroll down until you reach custom setup. Take a shot using the button in the centre of the dial wheel, after which you can select which register to store this in, once the register is selected press the button in the middle of the dial wheel again and bobs your uncle, you have stored the value for future use. My Sony A7 has 3 registers thus allowing me to store up to 3 different white balance values. I find this function very useful allowing me to store gelled and un-gelled values. With reference to loosing the WB, I have never suffered from this problem.
Is it possible to set the flash to single pin mode? I have had the same issue with a Canon 5DSR and using the Flashpoint/Godox trigger for Canon where the WB would shift 300-700° K. Even in single pin mode the issue still existed. If you look at your exif data I'm willing to bet that for the images where the flash was turned off the exif data will show "Did not fire" and when the flash was turned on it will say "Did fire". To fix the issue I had to buy a trigger that was for Nikon instead of Canon. You might have to get a flash that is not compatible with the Sony to fix your issue.
Tim,
I've had my A7III for about 2 weeks now and there is certainly a learning curve. Right out of the box, I got hit with the fact that my version of Lightroom doesn't read the sony raw file. Next I went on a mission and added the Adobe converter into my workflow. I remain a bit perplexed at the WB result but find making the adustment in LR to be easy and fast.
For anyother A7III owners, it would be great to hear how you keep the windows from blowing out and what settings you use on video. These two areas are still problematic for me.
I strongly suspect that what Andrew suggest is in fact the case and that Tim has not thoroughly read the instructions for his camera and flash. If that is the case, and neither the camera nor the flash provide a means to stop this overriding of the camera white balance setting, then I see two choices: use a manual-only flash or tape over the pin or pins of the ttl flash that are causing the override of the white balance setting.