EOS Rebel SL2 All WB settings giving yellow/orange sky after sunrise, no blue

[Precious2]

I have a question re firmware. I have a Canon EOS Rebel SL2, firmware 1.0.1, which was updated earlier this year. Prior to the update, I had no trouble getting blue sky after sunrise. Now, all I get is yellow & orange. It doesn't matter if I'm using WB of Auto, Sun, Shade or Cloudy.... every WB setting shoots the same. My question is.... Is it possible to upload the previous firmware - I did not see it in the firmware list? Thank you for any help you are able to provide. If necessary, I can provide a link to the flickr album which shows all the post-sunrise colors.

[Precious2]

Thank you. I don't think the latest firmware is correcting any security problems. I'll upload the latest and see what I get - I miss the grid in Live View.

[rs-eos]

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@Precious2 wrote:

I do not have any use for RAW images

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Nobody can force you to use RAW, but as others have pointed out, if you want to be able to have the best option to recover from WB going awry, capturing RAW would be a must (since WB isn't baked in to RAW like it is for JPEG).

You can always set your camera to RAW+JPEG (which is what I do) to have best of both worlds.  The convenience of having a JPEG file immediately.  But then the original image in a format that provides the maximum amount of leverage.  And since software that deals with working on RAW is non-destructive (the RAW file itself isn't changed), you'll always have that original data just as it came from your camera.

Whereas editing JPEG images is a destructive process (unless you save off the original JPEG and any edits you make are saved to a separate copy).

[Precious2]

Thank you, Elite. I'll look into a newer version of DPP and see if that makes any difference.The only problem, for me, is that the person who was going to help me use the RAW tab, suffered a stroke and is giving away all her incredible photography from time immemorial, and has given away her dogs. She is that bad. For me, reading software or camera directions leaves me clueless. And, yes, I do have to make a working copy to edit, for all images I may keep. Thank you.

[Precious2]

[normadel]

Dunno, I don't see anything wrong with these photos. 

[Precious2]

Except the soft yellow one actually was blue sky. It's pretty, just the way it is, but I know better - I was behind the camera ;)) I'm going to look into calibration software, and update the firmware. Thanks.

[amfoto1]

The sunrise and early morning shots such as you showed us very naturally have a golden, orangish or yellowish tonality. Depending upon clouds and what's in the atmosphere, there also can be reds and magenta at times. For example, forest fires such as have been occurring in Eastern Canada, put a lot of particulates in the air that tend to cause a heavy yellowish tint throughout the day. 

It is also possible that your camera is fine... your computer monitor (or whatever you are using to view the images) is the problem. I am looking at your photos on a calibrated, graphic art quality monitor and they look quite normal and good to me. But, of course, I never saw the scene myself and so can't be entirely sure whether the rendition is "correct".

Not all computer monitors render colors the same way. Some cannot display the full gamut of colors in an sRGB image, let alone the wider gamut of Adobe RGB.

In addition, most monitors are way too bright to properly display photos (causing their users to make their images too dark). AND the typical computer monitor doesn't render colors very accurately (even if it is capable of the full gamut). There are calibration devices and software such as the Datacolor Spyder and Calibrite ColorChecker that help a lot. The way these work is by running a series of tests and "reading" the monitor's output. First the brightness is set, then a series of color patches are displayed and analyzed. The information gathered is used to create a "profile" that's applied to the monitor to correct it.

Even if a computer monitor is accurate in both color rendition and brightness when new, it will gradually change with age. It will lose brightness and shift color rendition. For that reason it's necessary to re-calibrate periodically. (I do it monthly... some people do it more often, others do it less frequently).

I'm not saying this IS what's happening... just that it is POSSIBLE your camera is fine (it appears so to me). It is POSSIBLE something else, like your computer monitor, is what's making you think your images are off.

All that aside, I don't have an SL2 so can't say for certain... I had a problem show up in one of my cameras years ago. There was a feature on that camera allowing users to dial in some color bias. One of my cameras suddenly started rendering everything with magenta bias. It turned out that somehow that bias had been set. I have no idea how... because I know I didn't set it and no one else ever used the camera. Once I zeroed out the setting, the problem was solved. (It wasn't a very big issue anyway, very easily fixed because I always shoot RAW. In fact, I was able to correct 1200 images that all had the same added magenta bias with a single click in Lightroom.)

EDIT: Firmware is cumulative. The most recent version is complete, includes any and all corrections made in previous versions. It is possible a firmware update will reset some things in your camera to their factory defaults. But usually it doesn't.

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Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7DII (x2), 7D(x2), EOS M5, some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR

[Precious2]

amfoto1 -thank you for all this information.So, are you saying you see blue skies in the very yellow pic?? That is what I saw, but the camera (or monitor) sees something very different. Maybe it does need some calibrating. But, today's images are just what I saw, nothing off in color, not too bright (yes, I lower the compensation to get some of them dark, so the sun -subject- stands out), nor too dark - unless I want it that way. I've a friend in IT; I'll see if he can come up with something for me. I will install the latest firmware and hope for the best. Thanks, again.

[stevet1]

Precious2,

I was going to ask you if you were using a negative exposure compensation.

One thing you could experiment with:

Instead of using one of the WB presets like Daylight or Cloudy, point your camera at a blue sky, and move your WB selection dial over to the K (for Kelvin) setting. Pick a color setting of about 3900, and take a picture. That should tell you if your camera is rendering blue or not.

If you want to emphasize blues and yellows, pick a cooler temperature in your White Balance settings. If you want to emphasize reds and greens, choose a warmer temperature. That's why you would use a Cloudy or Shade preset if your subject is in the shade. It helps bring out their warmer skin tones set against that cool flat backdrop.

On my T8i, Daylight WB uses a default Kelvin temperature of 5200. Cloudy WB uses a temperature of 6000. Other cameras have slightly different default temperatures. Personally, I split the difference and do most of my shooting at 5600K, but that's just me.

Steve Thomas

[Precious2]

Thank you, Steve. The camera reads blue just fine. If I turn away from the sunrise, there is blue sky and all photo sources show blue sky: subject, camera, and monitor - all show the same colors. For the other folks suggesting I need to spend $$$ to recalibrate the monitor, I don't see that it is necessary, since all 3 sources of the image show exactly the same colors and brightness. I have a strong hunch the sensor cannot handle the brightness intensity that the sunrise gives the sky - no, I do not focus on the sun. The 4 images I provided, all focal points were on the sailboats in the foreground. So, Steve, the information you gave me, I will save. Thank you for that. I just received an email on setting/using Custom White Balance, so all this information may be useful at some point. What I question is... at sunrise/sunset, the earth continues to turn, the light is continually changing. By the time I get a Custom White Balance set, the photo op is gone - yes? Thank you to everyone for your time, thoughts and expertise.