mikedent Loc: Florida

Hi all- next week we're going on a Rhine river cruise in Germany and will be seeing lots of old museums and churches. These generally are fairly dark inside, no flash allowed. Lighting a mix of natural thru stained glass windows, candles, some light bulbs. I know I'll need to crank up ISO (D7100) but what would be a good all-round white balance setting? We will be with tour walking groups so I can't stop for custom setting. Use Auto or Incandescent or what? Thanks for your help. Happy Thanksgiving!

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

If you have time, just take some test shots in all the WB modes. You may find that something not available in the edifice, like fluorescent may be a mode that will give you truest color.
As far as lenses go, see if you can get as larger an aperture as possible, like f.1.4, f/1.8, or f/2.8.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Mike, auto WB, auto ISO, nifty fifty or preferably wider and faster! ;-)
SS.

BullMoose Loc: Southwest Michigan

Perfect reason to shoot in RAW. Even RAW and JPEG if you're not comfortable with just RAW for now.
Leave it in auto WB and change it later to adjust to each and every lighting condition. This will let you have fun shooting and not worry about changing for each condition.

frjack Loc: Boston, MA

I spent June and July shooting in old churches in Lyon, France. Because of stained glass, artificial lighting, candles, and even natural daylight coming in through doors, auto WB is not happy. I shot everything in RAW and manual then adjusted back home. I tried to keep the ISO about 800 (Olympus E-30). Shot some in auto WB but was never happy with the result. Adjusted the RAW image to my satisfaction.

AntonioReyna Loc: Los Angeles, California

Shoot in JPEG and RAW as with RAW you don't need to concern yourself about the white balance, you can fix that all later. Get a wide lens.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Raw, auto WB, auto ISO with a maximum set at what you know is the last acceptable ISO for your camera or a bit lower than that. Use highlight/shadow warning if you have it. There is a good likelihood that you will exceed the camera range on both ends because the sunlight coming through the glass is sometimes as bright as the sun itself, and the deep interiors are very dark. Be prepared to do some fairly serious editing. One of the hardest things is dealing with hordes of tourists, so it's important to assess your situation quickly as you enter each one to find an angle that minimizes distractions and makes the most of existing light. If it's too crowded to get an open shot, capture details: the elaborate altars, statues, paintings, the windows, the ceilings. Be aware that many don't allow flash or tripods and some forbid photos or certain types of cameras or photographing on certain days. It can help to look the cathedrals up now to learn about specific rules. If photos don't work out, just enjoy their beauty, but with a little planning you can get some very nice images.
I ended up using ETTR exposure methods which resulted in fairly serious under exposure of parts of images because of the highlights. I did that because keeping color and detail in the glass was important to me and it also let me keep my shutter speed up. I dealt with the under exposed parts in post.

mikedent Loc: Florida

Thanks all- gosh, a lot of ideas I hadn't thought of ie use RAW then adjust later. Not the way I normally shoot, being lazy, but perhaps raw+jpeg would make it easier after I get home. I've got the Nikon 10-24 for this situation, it will have to do. I could also try the auto iso function, have not used that yet, always have set individual isos as needed. I am bringing a lot of memory cards!

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

be sure to chimp a few of the photos while shooting to make sure they are sharp. Are you allowed a monopod? that may help.

Chris F. Loc: San Francisco

:thumbup: :thumbup: Yes, my thoughts are the same.

Thanks SS,

Chris

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Shoot raw - assign white balance in post during conversion. You'll have better results and you can "focus" on taking pictures. Raw + jpeg is fine for subjects of average brightness, but when you need to expose for expanded contrast, the raw file will look like crap but will have far more information to create an excellent jpeg, than the out of camera jpeg will provide. You set your camera differently under those circumstances. Exposing to the right often results in underexposed images, but the extra bit depth and dynamic range of raw will still record excellent information in the shadows, which is why you don't want to waste your time worrying about getting your jpegs to look right.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

Do a custom white balance. I do it all the time it's easy. Practice it a few times.

mrjcall Loc: Woodfin, NC

Do yourself a favor and take along a tripod and USE IT!! Even a lightweight is better than trying handheld. Use your lowest ISO, set the f stop at your lens sweet spot between f/8 and f/11 and use the camera meter to determine shutter speed. Probably will be multiple seconds so use a cable release. I know, too much to take along and mess with right? Wrong!! You have the opportunity of a life time to shoot the church interiors so do it right and you won't regret it. As everyone else is indicating, shoot RAW and primarily for the highlights. Then recover shadow details in PP. The following was taken using the above techniques.....

(Download)

frjack Loc: Boston, MA

Where was this taken? Beautiful.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

You are on an APS-C, so an ultra-wide lens is a good idea. A 10-20 or 10-24 would be great.