How to Measure a Custom White Balance on Your Nikon Z

In this video I show you how to measure a custom white balance on your Nikon Z camera. A Nikon Z9 is used to demonstrate, but I cover the basics that can be applied to all Z bodies. If you have any questions please leave them down in the comments. Thanks!
Video on customizing Nikon Z
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Camera Equipment Used:
Nikon Z9
Video/Audio Equipment Used:
Fuji X-H2S
Platypod
DJI Mic
Rode Lavalier Mic
Software Used:
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Photoshop
Final Cut Pro
Music & SFX Credits:
- Intro:
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
[uppbeat.io/t/o...](uppbeat.io/t/o...)
Hashtags:
#nikonz9 #nikonzcameras #whitebalance

[@wolfy7531]

Very well done. You explain this topic as if you were talking to a friend.

[@TomReplogle]

Thanks Wolfgang! I appreciate that!

[@bailey.nt86]

I find just carrying a crumpled up white paper works pretty darn well, too. It's literally free. Just uncruble it , take your reading, crumple it back up, and off you go. If you lose it, it won't be the end of the world 😂 this works, i promise.

[@oc2phish07]

Hi Tom. I recently bought a couple of Nikon Zfs and was unsure about how to set a White Balance. Your video really sorted it for me. Many thanks, excellent little Tutorial.

[@TomReplogle]

"a couple Zfs" I'm jealous!!! lol! I really want to get my hands on that camera. Glad the video helped and thanks for watching!

[@Sooch900]

Wow! I’ve owned the Z9 for 9 months and didn’t know you could measure the scene for white balance. I’ve been using presets and customs one this whole time (which works good) but measuring would be easier in many cases. Thanks so much!

[@TomReplogle]

You bet! I'm glad the video helped! Thanks for watching!!

[@FTC_20022]

Hello. Good video but how do you get white balance with studio flashes? You need to take a photo and then get white balance.

[@TomReplogle]

I typically shoot a pic with a grey card or color checker in the frame and then set white balance for the images in post from that first image. Always shoot in raw of course. Thanks for the question!

[@dance2jam]

Tom, while you demonstrated several ways to "measure" the WB, once acquired, you did not reveal how to find what value was given (other than importing the file into LR/PS). Is there a way to know what degree K the camera is using once you performed this operation? Also, when you say "then you can go ahead and take the shot", I assume once your WB is set, you can take the rest of the shots using that PRE value in the similar light and circumstance, not a shot of the grey card. Yes?

[@TomReplogle]

You can see the Custom WB K value once you take a shot and review the image (screen with the RGB histogram). As to your second question, I believe it says "data acquired" once the custom WB has been set and of course you will see the WB change on screen. You may need to exit out of the Custom WB capture screen before shooting (there should be a prompt) and then you can go ahead and shoot away and won't need to change a thing unless the light changes. I don't have my camera with me so this is from memory. I hope that makes sense.

[@dance2jam]

@@TomReplogle No worries. Thanks for taking the question on. I'll try it tonight and if there is a more specific issue, I'll ring you up once more.

[@Mark-rn6tt]

Thanks for the info, has been helpful. How would you set a Custom White Balance in a studio environment......using flash ???. In other words, you want to set a custom white balance of the flash.

[@TomReplogle]

I think the best way with flash in studio is to set you WB to flash, shoot in RAW, and have your model hold a white balance card for the first frame. In post you can correct for white balance on the first frame and then correct the rest of the images. The Flash preset WB should be very close unless you are using mixed lighting.

[@thibaud_juin]

Very helpful, thnaks! Is there any way to know the white balance measured value?

[@TomReplogle]

Glad it was helpful! There’s not a direct way to know the actual Kelvin. The way I do it is to snap a pic and then check it on the RGB histogram screen. Thanks for watching!!

[@thibaud_juin]

@@TomReplogle I don't have this value when checking on the RGB histogram on my Z6, it shows only the wb mode, thus pre1...

[@TomReplogle]

Bummer! When I’m in playback it has it in parentheses right next to the WB. It must be just a Z8/Z9 thing.

[@thibaud_juin]

@@TomReplogle maybe it will come to Z6 with a future update 🤞

[@TomReplogle]

@@thibaud_juin I hope so!

[@FreelanceRoad]

Thank you! So helpful!

[@TomReplogle]

You are very welcome! I'm glad the video helped. Thanks for watching!!

[@wolfy7531]

Thanks!

[@TomReplogle]

Thank you so much Wolfgang! That is very nice of you!

[@RemyOrtiz]

I have the Z6 II and Z7 II. Going from the D5300, D5600, and D7500, the white balance swings are ANNOYING, to say the least! I couldn't believe how much of a swing it would do it a 2 second burst in even H+! I have no idea how auto white balance works on other systems but there needs to be some hard reworking to that algorithm on Z cameras.

[@TomReplogle]

That’s a bummer! I haven’t experienced that with my Z9. Seems like it should be able to be fixed in firmware. Perhaps give NPS a call and see what they say. Thanks for watching!