Marcin 3M wrote:
> Hi all.
> Inspired by one of threads I've made a test comparing WB to filter
> ballance effects for the final image. I wanted to find, how (if at
> all) compensation of WB affects noise of image.
>
> Test conditions.
>
> 1. Test was performed with D200, 1600 ISO, constant 1/13sec.
> 2. The white card was shot in tungsten light with and without filter.
> To get almost identical images some bracketing was done using EV
> compensation. IMO this is not a bias, because EV compensation
> affected exposure, not the parameters of camera A/D converters.
> 3. Images was converted with NC with "everything off" - NR too. Two
> most similiar images from filtered and unfiltered sets was transferred
> to PS and cropped to 100% (simmiliarity means similiar lightness).
>
> The results.
>
> Unfiltered image:
> http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/355870717_8ef085c3bb_o.jpg;
>
> Filtered image:
> http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/355870715_29fe0422ef_o.jpg;
>
> Conclusion:
> WB can affect noise performance of camera. I expected this, because
> circuitry is probably optimized for some particular WB (daylight?).
> Therefore, in some situations, light compensating filters can still
> be usefull.
> It would be intersting to check is it worth to use LC filters and
> longer time, or shorter time and in-camera WB.

Nicely done. I convinced myself of this with similar tests years ago, and have long been an advocate of white balancing filters.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1014&message=19945903
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=14584671

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Ciao! Joe

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