How does white balance work with film photography?

Question

So I just got into film and I realized that there is no way to set a white balance, so wouldnt my pictures be totally off and bad if some are indoors and some outdoors. I heard that there are some films meant for indoor shooting, and that there are some filters to use. But I never see this being used, so is white balance an issue or does it just work out? I don't understand.

Answer 1

Yes it does matter and it is an issue. Most consumer films are colour balanced for daylight. So if you use them indoors under tungsten (incandescent) lighting, your images will be very yellow/orangey because tungsten light has a predominance of yellow wavelengths compared with a more colour-neutral 'daylight'.



You need to correct for this by using a blue filter on the lens - this 'counters' and corrects the yellow colour cast (because blue is the opposite colour to yellow).

Answer 2

I came to photography the other way round, in the 60s, when film was for 'daylight' or (as a rare purchase) foit 'tungsten'. Digital not even thought of! Thus no luxury of being able to white balance from scene to scene as you move around.



In daylight, with a daylight film, just stick with it, the lab which prints your film will probably make minor correctiions. Indoors you can use a correction filter, at the cost of losing a stop or more of apparent film speed. If you do not use a filter with tungsten light the pics will print orangey yellow. You might find it hard to buy 'tungsten' film, try a professional processing lab.

Answer 3

Color film is manufactured in daylight or tungsten balanced versions with dyes and chemicals. The color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin. Look it up.



Optical filters are used on the camera lens and sometimes in the darkroom enlarger to make corrections. And yes, software plays a major role in color correction.



Optical correction filters cut down the available light indoors so IT IS WORTH IT to shoot tungsten (3200K) film indoors under tungsten lighting conditions.



One remaining advantage to the color balance of film is that it is constant and does not float around like auto white balance. I often override the auto white balance when shooting digital. Early morning and late afternoon daylight are different than middle day. Preset color balance can make these times of day stand out if you know what you are after.



Lastly, do not use a flash with tungsten film. The image will look too blue because electronic flash is balanced for daylight.

Answer 4

It most certainly is an issue. Yes, you can get film designed for tungsten light, but it is not worth the effort. Yes, you use filters on the lens to correct for color. Any standard film is daylight balanced. You simply use a filter to correct for other lighting conditions. The 80B filter can be used to correct for light in tungsten situations. The FLD filter is used to correct for fluorescent light. These work very well to make the color correct with daylight balanced film. Also, since 99% of film is scanned after processing, you also can do fine tune tweaking in software to get the color just right.



steve



ADD: oops sorry, I originally had FLR instead of FLD. It's been a long time since I used these filters....

Answer 5

Some good answers here already and i will try to give you a practical answer. There is no white balance for film. There are films for daylight and tungsten. If you are using flash, HMI, some florescent, and i am guessing LEDS, or the sun(which can also be a range of color as you know) as your light source that is daylight film. Light source such as incandescent(light bulbs) and tungsten studio lights that is tungsten film. Some fluorescents are closer to tungsten and some are green. Then there is other light sources like mercury vapor which have to stabilize before a consistent color can be measured. This is applicable to get you close to appropriate color results on your film choice. From here you start to look at filters. There are filters for light sources and filters for use on the camera lens. So how do you know what filters to use? There are graphs and charts that available for different light sources that give you a filter to the right color balance(for the camera or the light source) to get you reasonably close but it is a bit of a crap shoot. If that is not good enough for you, then you can use a color meter which measures the color of a light source and gives you the exact filter(or filter combination) to use over your lens to get the right color balance. Did I lose you? The lens filters(wratten) are divided into 2 groups: LB(light balancing) which is the amber to blue range. CC(color correcting) which is cyan, yellow, green, magenta, red, blue. If your head isn't spinning yet, I will continue. So if you are using one type of light source(same color) for one of many lights, can measure the light falling on your subject and using the color meter you can get the filter(s) you need to use on your lens to match either your tungsten or daylight film. Filters reduce the amount of light reaching your film and effectively reduce the iso of your film which will probably influence the strength of your light source or the speed/aperture settings or both. But what if you have multiple light sources all producing different color? Then you filter each light source, individually using filters made for light sources(roscoe makes some) to a common Kelvin(and color if magenta or green) using the color meter and then filter(if necessary) on the lens to hit the color dead on. This takes practice and it is better if someone knowledgeable teaches you how to do it as it is difficult to figure out on your own. Understanding the basic of what color a light source is emitting and matching the right color temp(or type) of film to that color light source is the first step to get you close.You also need to understand how the colors work with one another. They work on 2 scales one being RGB(red,green,blue) and the other CYMK(cyan,yellow,magenta and black) Using a color wheel you can begin to see how the colors work with one another to balance the color of the light. To reduce green you add magenta or to reduce yellow you add blue, etc. Very important to know these basics and more to get a good result with your color balance. Hope this helped without discouraging you.

Answer 6

A film camera does not have a White Balance control.

You have to buy specific film for outdoor or indoor use. Or, you can buy filters to adjust for different lighting.

Answer 7

The previous posters have given you some great answers but they might be biting of more than you want to chew right now. My advice is to just shoot different films in different light situations and evaluate your results. What I've always loved about different films is how they have their way with your subjects. The results in color and density from different filters can vary with shutter speed, reflectance, competing light sources etc. My advise is to follow your eyes and learn how to deal with color biases as needed.

Answer 8

A good question!



Color film is basically 3 black & white films sandwiched onto the same film base. Black & white film in its natural state is only sensitive to violet and blue light. To make a color film it is necessity to force one of the film layers to become sensitive to green light and another to red light. The finished film records the three primary colors which are red, green, and blue. Films designed to operate under daylight conditions have reduced sensitivity to blue as daylight is fairly blue (5500K). Films designed to be exposed under studio lighting conditions have increased sensitivity to blue as tungsten lamps are high in red content and deficient in blue content. Studio tungsten lamps are basically ordinary tungsten light bulbs forced to operate at a higher than rated voltage. This higher voltage causes the lamps operate brighter and bluer at the cost of shortening their service life. Two types of photo lamps are produced, one operating at 3200K, and one at 3400K. Film designed to operate with the 3200K lamps is designated as type B and film for 3400K lamps is designated type A. Film designed to operate under daylight conditions is designated type D. Color negative films are all type D, however, during the printing cycle, filters are used to correct mismatched light conditions. Thus it is generally unnecessary to apply color correction filters when using color negative film.



Photographers are generally prepared to take pictures under various lighting conditions and many times they will have the wrong film in their camera. Color correction filters to the rescue. Our gadget bags are loaded with filters that match the film to the light sources.



Wratten filter number that convert:

80A 3200K to 5500K (bluish)

80B 3400K to 5500K (bluish)

85 5500K to 3400K (amber)

85B 500K to 3200K (amber)



The filter designations are from the firm of Wratten & Wainwright, master filter makes of London, were acquired by Kodak in 1912. The name Wratten was retained to honor Frederick Charles Wratten (1840-1926).



The color of light is measured using the Kelvin (K) temperature scale which is the Celsius scale -273⁰C. Potters, metal works and others were able to gauge the temperature of heated objects by observing the glowing color which starts out as cherry red, then red, then white, then blue white. Lamps with metal filaments obey this observation.



Sunlight 5500K

Skylight 12000K thru 18000K

500 watt photo lamp 3400K

500 watt photo lamp 3200K

100 watt general service lamp 2900K