If you read my blog regularly, my favorite way to set my white balance is to do a custom white balance setting using ExpoDisc. So here is a quick reminder–skip down if you want to see another way to set your white balance.

Remember under fluorescent and mercury vapor to set the white balance at shutter speeds of 1/100 or slower. Then, after custom white balancing the camera, you can later shoot under a faster shutter speed.

ExposDisc goes in front of the lens, and then you use it to get an incident reading rather than a reflective reading of the light.

Notice the direction of the light hitting the subject. Next, you move to the same position to get the light reading below.

Point the camera toward the direction of the light falling on the subject.

The latest upgraded version has introduced the warming filters you place before the ExpoDisc. They are light blue, and since the camera tries to neutralize the colors will add yellow to your photos, thus warming them up. The actual color blends cyan and blue, adding red/yellow to your photos. Depending on your taste, they come in different densities to allow you to add just a little or more.

Presets in Nikon D4

Check your manual for your camera because this is for the Nikon D4. Then, somewhere in your menu, you can adjust using presets for white balance.

On my Nikon D4, in the menu for White Balance, you can choose up to seven different presets for fluorescent. However, I have found a significant problem trying this method; it isn’t easy to pick the right color because the monitor on the back of the camera isn’t that easy to see color in all situations.

Fluorescent lamps are manufactured to alter the mixture of phosphors inside the tube. Warm-white fluorescents have a color spectrum of 2700 K and are famous for residential lighting. Neutral-white fluorescents have a color spectrum of 3000 K or 3500 K. Cool-white fluorescents have a color spectrum of 4100 K and are renowned for office lighting. Finally, daylight fluorescents have a color spectrum of 5000 K to 6500 K, bluish-white.

Note that on the Nikon D4, you also have a preset for those awful Mercury-Vapor lights. Sometimes I have found that I prefer one of the fluorescent settings under some of the newer mercury-vapor lights when using this system instead of the custom white balance.