jaziey.g

I have a new Sony a7RIII and an f4 24-105 lens and I still use my Nikon d500. I've sold all but my Nikon f2.8 70-200, f4-5.6 18-105, and macro f2.8 100 lens. For my job I shoot portraits and high school sports. For the portraits I am required to create a custom white balance. On my Nikon I use custom memory setup for my settings, and recall sports or portraits memory cells for my work.
With the Sony I can also create custom memory for my settings but after creating them I can't set a custom white balance! I get a not allowed with memory settings error! That's a bummer to say the least. I'm not paid for retouching. So I don't intend to to redo the AWB in photoshop. This is a bug, at the least an oversight.

Also, I haven't done extensive tests, ( I'm not a pixel peeper) but If I shoot raw my shots from either camera are pretty good at high ISO, say 20000 (High School gyms are notoriously known for bad lighting). But if I shoot jpeg fine, the Sony pics look awful when reviewing in camera. I only tried this once and will investigate more closely. I'm hoping I have some setting wrong.

Has anyone had any issues/growing pains with any camera type or make transitioning?

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I can’t help you with your Sony, but my Olympus cameras have 4 custom white balance options. While possible, I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t have that option in your Sony. I’m sure any of the Sony experts will help you.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

My only issue recently is learning the few new menu features and their locations. Otherwise, my transition has been rather smooth. Additionally, those menu items are for features I rarely use.
--Bob

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Can’t you use an xrite color checker to get WB in the first of a series of shots?

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

Re: "extra fine" jpgs, my night/moon shots had extreme pixel clumping in dark areas luckily I shot raw+jpg and that saved the shots. Haven't messed with color balance.

Jeffcs Loc: Myrtle Beach South Carolina

The issue I’ve had is that the gym lighting seems to oscillate so white uniforms are a light pink and the next shot are white even when I’ve sed Color checker
My remedy is to over shoot and trash can the pink ones

Low Budget Dave

Under the White Balance menu, it should give you the choice to prioritize AWB with standard, ambient priority, or white priority. If you have it set to priority AWB, then it will prioritize "warmth" and (give you images that are too yellow in my opinion).

If you leave it on white priority, then it will start each setting with neutral white, and you don't have to assign that to a "custom" menu. If it doesn't let you do that, then you may have a software bug in your camera, and might want to check if you have the newest firmware, or if your camera needs repair.

I think you are also correct that high ISO shots in JPEG are not as clean as Nikon, although I was comparing them to a D750 rather than a D500. I usually turned the noise reduction off in the A7Riii, which left the files very grainy, but saved the color. You can then use a pre-set in lightroom (or whatever) to get the mix of resolution and grain that you prefer. I personally left a LOT of grain, and liked the results better than the "smooth" look.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Just perhaps you jumped into the deep end of the pool without all the facts. I do believe there is a mirrorless in my future, most likely this year, but I have no plans to abandon my present gear until the new stuff is fully vetted. Personally, I see a Nikon mirrorless body as an extension of the glass I already own and an easy way to transition when the time is right. Best of luck.

sbohne

I rarely white balance. I include a "Zebra Card" in the first shot of any series taken under the same lighting. A Zebra card has 3 equal sections of Gray, Black, and White. I pull up the first frame with a zebra card, open Curves, click on the black stripe with the black eyedropper, the gray stripe using the gray eyedropper, and then the white stripe with the white eyedropper. There you have it: color corrected and exposure corrected. If you want to go a step further, Gary Box developed a card that had corners that you could click on to remove color casts. Oh, yes...this is all done while working with jpg files.

gwilliams6

First of all your A7RIII has much greater resolution than your D500 and will always show more image details, including in any noise . A lower resolution camera and screen will hide image problems. How is your high ISO Noise reduction set in A7RIII's camera's menu? Also how do those A7RIII jpegs look in post, NOT when reviewing on the rear screen. On your computer is really the place to tell and compare the jpeg image quality. I have an A7RIII and love the jpegs I get from it at high ISO, straight out of the camera. The D500 is an excellent high ISO camera also. Here is a high iso shot made with the A7RII, same sensor as the A7RIII (which i also own) . This is the jpeg, straight out of the camera. You will need to click on "Download" here to see the image in full resolution and colors here in UHH. The photo is from Loch Shiel in the Scottish Highlands, the scene of many scenes shot for the Harry Potter movies. It was very dark and rainy day and I pushed the ISO way up (BTW that famous Highlands steam train runs past here, behind where I was standing)

I have no problems setting a custom white balance and recalling it on my A7RIII, no matter what other custom settings I have made, it doesnt lock you out from making and utilizing other settings.

(Download)

sbohne

In order: Zebra Card which I made, Gary Box's Ultimate Gray Card, and an example of how the gray card is used (photo copyright Gary Box).

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

The method you are touting sounds a lot like making a White Balance to me. Perhaps you are not using what's built into the camera, and there a plenty of reasons not to, but you are making a White Balance. I find that there are situations where 'going down your own road' just makes a lot of sense and is, in fact, both a lot simpler and a lot better. Best of luck.

sbohne

I'm not "touting" anything. Simply relaying what I do. I find making a custom white balance a little cumbersome. This system simply made things easy and using Gary's Ultimate Gray card lets you remove color casts as well. You can fix one image, then apply the fix to all of the same images using the same lighting in a single folder. Not saying my way is better, or anyone else's is wrong. This is just what I do.

That is all.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

For the custom WB, try saving your custom settings to the SD card. It's odd, but the latest Sony cameras not only allow this, but they allow you to save almost any setting to a custom settings mode on an SD card while limiting your choices for the in-body saves.

For the high ISO noise, there's a setting in a-mount bodies to overcome this, but I don't know if it's in the e-mounts and I don't recall what it was. It's not high ISO noise reduction I'm thinking of (although that might help), but something else. Perhaps another Hogger will chime in.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Going from the D850 and D500 to the Sony A7R3 was a bit awkward in the beginning until I optimized the settings to my shooting preferences. It took awhile to learn the camera and unlearn my muscle memory acquired over many years with Nikon cameras.

I shot a 3 day wedding event about 6 weeks after getting the camera and I was completely satisfied with the shoot.