Nikon D2X - DNG vs NEF White Balance Mismatch

Folks, I was hoping someone might be able to help me with a frustrating White Balance issue. Specifically, I have found that my photos often have very different White Balance values -- for both Color Temperature as well as Tint -- when comparing the original NEF and a DNG created by Adobe DNG Converter. (And the images' appearance is reflected by the difference.) If I proceed to correct the White Balance values in the DNG, so that they exactly match the NEF, the images are identical.
You might ask, "Why do you want to convert your images to DNG?" The key reason is that DNG provides lossless compression, which makes a HUGE difference on storage requirements. (Unfortunately, Nikon's RAW compression is lossy, and I cannot afford any image quality degradation -- no matter how slight.)
As far as pertinent info: Camera: Nikon D2X. Platform: Mac OS X 10.4.8, with all updates installed (including the Camera RAW update released a month or so ago). Hardware: MacBook Pro 17" 2.16 (CoreDuo) and PowerMac G5 2.7. Software: Lightroom 1.0 and Adobe DNG Converter 3.7. (DNG Converter 3.6 provides same results.)
In terms of the NEFs, they are uncompressed. (I also took a couple of test shots with compressed NEF, but the results are the same.) In terms of color settings on my camera: Color Mode II, Color Space AdobeRGB. (I know these things theoretically have no impact on RAW files, but I thought I should mention it anyway.)
When searching the Adobe forums, the only directly-comparable issue I found was related to Sony's Alpha camera, using a much older version of the DNG Converter. However, this issue was corrected in later versions. URL of message thread: http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbf7680/7
Has anyone else encountered an issue like this? And please tell me that what I am experiencing is not a "feature" of either Lightroom and/or DNG? :-P

Even the professionals are divided on this one, which is why I provided the link I did. It actually supports your statement.
However, my _only_ point was that converting your lossy compressed NEF format photos to DNG will not recover those bits. They are gone forever as a result of the in-camera processing.
Different post-production workflow issues are a completely different thing, and a good reason to switch to DNG (along with the arguments for long-term archival storage).
You did state that your key reason for going to DNG was to take advantage of lossless compression. Ok, but you are taking a lossy compressed original (probably, but this depends on your camera) and converting it to a new format. Regardless of whether that new format is losslessly compressed or not, the original is missing that information. Again, converting to DNG will not recover those bits.
Unless, of course, you have a camera that offers lossless NEFs, in which case conversion and compression might save you quite a bit, as long as you did not save the original NEF inside the DNG.
If you, like me, are stuck with a Nikon that only makes compressed NEFs, then you are stuck accepting lossy compressed NEFs -- NEFs that are quantized in-camera.

Similar Messages

Nikon NEF White Balance encryption

Hi,
I've read quite a bit about the encryption of white balance information in NEF files. I'm in the market for a D50 but this seems to be a problem for me. I'v shot with a 350D and the CR2 files are fine. I got my hands on a D200 and I can only open them with Lighroom.
Any D50 users out there using iPhoto? Does iPhoto decrypt the WB information or do you need to send the NEFs through Nikons software before imporing?
I'd hate to get an overpriced Canaon simply because of an encryption problem...
Thanks!
Matt

Hi Matt,
I use the Nikon D70 and I just shot a bunch of
pictures using Raw format (NEF). Yes, indeed the
white balance in the adjustment panel started off in
non-zero value.
You're talking about iphoto here, right? If iphoto can open the files, so could preview, for example.
I guess your analogy is correct that
iPhoto is able to read the picture information from
NEF. In fact, I think the quality of the adjusted NEF
picture is much better than if you adjust a similar
image shot in JPG. I'll go home and test this tonight.
Yeah, I bet they are! That's a main reason I want a dslr. Sure there are some point and shooters that do some kind of RAW, but if I go 'advanced amateur' I'm gonna go all the way!
btw, what's the rest of your photo-gear?
Thanks for writing!
Matt

White balance values for NEF file

Hello
I'm using Ligthroom 1.2 with nikon raw files (NEF) taken with D80 camera (firmware 1.01).
The white balance is most of the time set to 5300K on my camera. But in LR, it always shows 4950K, with tint set to -1.
I know there is some compatibility problems between LR and NEF files, but does anyone know if there is a solution (except of course applying systematically the right temperature in LR during import.)?
Thanks
Erwann

I believe the issue is actually that Nikon encrypts the white balance in NEF files of recent cameras. If you
google for it you'll find lots of links to all the problems this caused. Adobe and other RAW software developers have had to reengineer the encryption of this value in order to get a reasonable value and in order to not break the DMCA (draconian US anti-piracy law). Apparently, for some cameras the algorithm is not so good. The alternative for Adobe would have been to use Nikon's RAW rendering library, which for obvious reasons will never happen. The only software I am aware of that correctly reads NEF white balance for cameras after the D2X without using Nikon's libraries is dcraw/ufraw, but they can get away with cracking the encryption. This really is one of the dumber things Nikon ever did.

Nikon D2Xs RAW problems

Surely I'm not the only person on the planet to own a Nikon D2Xs, shoot RAW NEF files and not be able to process them through Aperture?
A very nice chap at tech support informed me that, at the moment, Aperture can not support RAW files from the flagship Nikon camera. My D2X and D1X never had any problems, I don't understand?
Anyone have any idea when this problem might be rectified?

I'm not the only person on the planet to own a Leica D-Lux 2 , shoot RAW files and not be able to process them through Aperture?
A very nice chap at tech support informed me that, at the moment, Aperture can not support RAW files from the flagship Leica D-Lux 2 . had any problems whit photoshop CS2 before, I don't understand is especial settings in Aperture instalation or what?
Anyone have any idea when this problem might be rectified?

Adobe DNG converter is corrupting NEF files. The color is way off and it's not the camera white balance.

I was using the converter for a few months and it was working fine. Now it will convert the files, but the color is really messed. I know it is not the white balance, because the same files convert fine to TIF files through Nikon's software. I am using this converter for Nikon d610 NEF files. Here's a sample DNG and the same image in TIF. Can anyone help? Thanks!

When you use the DNG Converter to make a DNG from an NEF, the DNG Converter applies the default Camera Raw settings. When I open your DNG it looks fine, but when you open it, it looks off. That is because you've some how set your Camera Raw defaults to have a bunch of customized settings specific to a particular picture, instead of having them all be normal settings. Below you'll see what Photoshop is saying the settings of the DNG-Converted-JPG are, with the non-defaults marked in bold. The main problems are the WB being custom and a bunch of HSL setting changes.
Here is what Photoshop reports that the JPG was created using:
      <rdf:Description rdf:about=""
            xmlns:crs="http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-settings/1.0/">
         <crs:RawFileName>hug_8290_0215_1.dng</crs:RawFileName>
         <crs:Version>6.0</crs:Version>
         <crs:ProcessVersion>5.7</crs:ProcessVersion>
         <crs:WhiteBalance>Custom</crs:WhiteBalance>
         <crs:Temperature>5732</crs:Temperature>
         <crs:Tint>+26</crs:Tint>
         <crs:Exposure>0.00</crs:Exposure>
         <crs:Shadows>5</crs:Shadows>
         <crs:Brightness>+50</crs:Brightness>
         <crs:Contrast>+25</crs:Contrast>
         <crs:Saturation>-4</crs:Saturation>
         <crs:Sharpness>90</crs:Sharpness>
         <crs:LuminanceSmoothing>0</crs:LuminanceSmoothing>
         <crs:ColorNoiseReduction>25</crs:ColorNoiseReduction>
         <crs:ChromaticAberrationR>0</crs:ChromaticAberrationR>
         <crs:ChromaticAberrationB>0</crs:ChromaticAberrationB>
         <crs:VignetteAmount>0</crs:VignetteAmount>
         <crs:ShadowTint>0</crs:ShadowTint>
         <crs:RedHue>0</crs:RedHue>
         <crs:RedSaturation>+11</crs:RedSaturation>
         <crs:GreenHue>0</crs:GreenHue>
         <crs:GreenSaturation>0</crs:GreenSaturation>
         <crs:BlueHue>+12</crs:BlueHue>
         <crs:BlueSaturation>+2</crs:BlueSaturation>
         <crs:FillLight>0</crs:FillLight>
         <crs:Vibrance>-6</crs:Vibrance>
         <crs:HighlightRecovery>0</crs:HighlightRecovery>
         <crs:Clarity>0</crs:Clarity>
         <crs:Defringe>0</crs:Defringe>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentRed>0</crs:HueAdjustmentRed>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentOrange>0</crs:HueAdjustmentOrange>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentYellow>+1</crs:HueAdjustmentYellow>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentGreen>+5</crs:HueAdjustmentGreen>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentAqua>0</crs:HueAdjustmentAqua>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentBlue>-9</crs:HueAdjustmentBlue>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:HueAdjustmentPurple>
         <crs:HueAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:HueAdjustmentMagenta>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentRed>-2</crs:SaturationAdjustmentRed>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentOrange>+14</crs:SaturationAdjustmentOrange>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentYellow>+25</crs:SaturationAdjustmentYellow>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentGreen>+26</crs:SaturationAdjustmentGreen>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentAqua>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentAqua>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentBlue>+32</crs:SaturationAdjustmentBlue>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentPurple>
         <crs:SaturationAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentMagenta>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentRed>+40</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentRed>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentOrange>+13</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentOrange>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentYellow>+3</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentYellow>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentGreen>+15</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentGreen>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentAqua>+3</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentAqua>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentBlue>+4</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentBlue>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentPurple>
         <crs:LuminanceAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentMagenta>
         <crs:SplitToningShadowHue>231</crs:SplitToningShadowHue>
         <crs:SplitToningShadowSaturation>32</crs:SplitToningShadowSaturation>
         <crs:SplitToningHighlightHue>45</crs:SplitToningHighlightHue>
         <crs:SplitToningHighlightSaturation>33</crs:SplitToningHighlightSaturation>
         <crs:SplitToningBalance>+74</crs:SplitToningBalance>
         <crs:ParametricShadows>-39</crs:ParametricShadows>
         <crs:ParametricDarks>-7</crs:ParametricDarks>
         <crs:ParametricLights>-15</crs:ParametricLights>
         <crs:ParametricHighlights>+14</crs:ParametricHighlights>
         <crs:ParametricShadowSplit>25</crs:ParametricShadowSplit>
         <crs:ParametricMidtoneSplit>50</crs:ParametricMidtoneSplit>
         <crs:ParametricHighlightSplit>75</crs:ParametricHighlightSplit>
         <crs:SharpenRadius>+1.0</crs:SharpenRadius>
         <crs:SharpenDetail>25</crs:SharpenDetail>
         <crs:SharpenEdgeMasking>0</crs:SharpenEdgeMasking>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteAmount>-24</crs:PostCropVignetteAmount>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteMidpoint>50</crs:PostCropVignetteMidpoint>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteFeather>97</crs:PostCropVignetteFeather>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteRoundness>0</crs:PostCropVignetteRoundness>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteStyle>1</crs:PostCropVignetteStyle>
         <crs:PostCropVignetteHighlightContrast>0</crs:PostCropVignetteHighlightContrast>
         <crs:GrainAmount>0</crs:GrainAmount>
         <crs:ColorNoiseReductionDetail>50</crs:ColorNoiseReductionDetail>
         <crs:ConvertToGrayscale>False</crs:ConvertToGrayscale>
         <crs:ToneCurveName>Medium Contrast</crs:ToneCurveName>
         <crs:CameraProfile>Adobe Standard</crs:CameraProfile>
         <crs:CameraProfileDigest>51B4314CF8312BA027EF3FC60481FB35</crs:CameraProfileDigest>
         <crs:HasSettings>True</crs:HasSettings>
To fix the problem you're gonna need to reset your camera raw defaults:
And then be careful when saving new camera raw defaults with the menu item just above, that your image has the camera raw defaults applied to it, except whatever small change you want to be the new default.

Aperture - Nikon D2X White Balance

Apologies for posting in this forum but couldn't find one dedicated to Aperture yet.
Does anyone know if Aperture will actually decode the encrypted white balance information in Nikon NEF files from my D2X or will it make a 'best guess' for the balance based on the image contents ?
aTdHvAaNnKcSe
[email protected]

It is my understanding that Nikon will continue to keep their NEF WB data proprietary. It will probably take a hacker (not Apple) to take care of this problem.

Bug report: Wrong As Shot White Balance for Nikon D50 NEF in Camera Raw 7, Lightroom 4

For Nikon D50 cameras Adobe Creative Suite 6 does not read "As Shot" white balance data whether it's specified or not. It defaults to "Automatic". We have the problem only for Nikon D50 and only in Photoshop CS6, Adobe Camera Raw 7.3 and Photoshop Lightroom 4. (Not in CS5. Not for Nikon D5100 or D7000 or Canon S95) .
There is a more detailed posting at photoshop.com.
Lightroom 4.2 / ACR 7.2: WB "as shot" does not read the WB of Nikon D50 NEF, defaults to "automatic"
http://phtshp.us/10utPuk
phtshp.us/10utPuk

Moving the discussion to PS Forums

Wrong white balance in NEF files (Nikon D70 RAW)

Hi
I have a problem with NEF files: I shoot them with white balance set to Cloudy (6500K), however, in lightroom the white balance is shown as 5450K.
There is a color shift because of this:
When I leave the white balance at "As shoot" the image appears OK, however, changing white balance to "cloudy" which is supposed to do nothing, makes the image warmer, obviously because Lightroom believes that the image is shot at 5450K and converts it to 6500K, e.g. makes it warmer, while the image is already 6500K. Changing the setting to, say, "shadow", makes it even warmer.
Of course I may try to correct the WB "blindly", disregarding the temperature value, but that's annoying.
The camera is Nikon D70, unpatched.
Did anyone have the same symphtom?
Is there any fix or a workaround?
Thank you,
Gennady

When the camera was set to "Cloudy" (6500K) then switching to "daylight" (5200K) makes the picture cooler, switching to "Shadow" (7500K) makes the picture warmer. This is how the camera behaves and this is how Nikon's NEF convertor behaves. Obviously, when the camera was set to "Cloudy", then switching between "As shot" and "Cloudy" should make no change, because "As shot" means "Cloudy", because the camera was set to "Cloudy".
Now, for some reason, Lightroom believes that the picture was shot with a manual settings of 5450K. I don't know why it believes so.
And thus, switching from "As shot" to "Cloudy" makes the picture warmer (although it should leave it unchanged), and switching to "Shadow" makes it even more warmer, far warmer that it should be at "cloudy" setting.
What I expect is that switching from "As shot" to "Cloudy" in the Lightroom would give the same colors as switching from "As shot" to "Cloudy" in Nikon's NEF convertor. And apparently it does not work this way.

Nikon RAW NEF files have white balance blown out (iPhoto 7.1.4)

I had no problems opening my Nikon D200 RAW NEF files in iPhoto until about a month ago. I think I downloaded a patch for compatibility of camera files? After that when ever I open A raw file, the colors and white balance are blown out.

I was unable to get my images to appear as I shot them. I shoot with a Nikon D80 and shoot with a Vivid setting. Now after shooting a wedding of more than 1500 images I have to find a way to color correct them all. I have attempted the downgrade to the previous version, unsuccessful. I have forwarded on my comments to apple and find that this issue effects tens of thousands of photos. As a MFA student at a major university, and studying color management and workflow, I feel I need to look elsewhere for file management as iPhoto is not able to do the job and the fact that it affects my entire library system of photos... simply unacceptable. I have always found the discussion groups extremely helpful, but this issue has effected so many of us and is such a huge integral part of the photographic process that I need to look to other programs to effectively handle my color management.
Disappointing.
Daryn

Nikon D800 Flash White Balance

When RAW files (either NEF or DNG) taken with the setting Flash White Balance, they are imported into either Lightroom(4) or Photoshop(CS6) with a temperature of 6150K. This does not coincide with the Nikon default of 5400K. If the Nikon Software (View NX2) is used, the white balance shows that the Flash setting was used and the image appears identical when their 5400 default is applied. In Lightroom, or in CS6, if the temperature number is changed to reflect the Nikon default number of 5400K, the color of the image dramatically changes. If the temperature is left at 6150K, the image appears virtually identical to what Nikon calls 5400K.
The issue, a minor one, seems to be that the Adobe products are applying an incorrect Kelving Temperature number to the files. It is disconcerting to see the wrong temperature displayed in the software, but the number can be ignored without any negative effects; and the number can be modified to produce a more pleasing balance.
I am writing only because it took some experimentation and time to come to these conclusions. I wasn't clear, at first whether the camera was at fault, or if the software was producing the issue. It would be beneficial to have the issue addressed and corrected.
Incidentally, all the other White Balance settings from the camera seem to translate accurately into the Adobe Software.

Nikon's white balance numbers are confusing. Nikon list Direct Sunlight as 5200 degrees and Flash as 5400 degrees - no values are listed for tint. If you open an NEF file with Nikon Capture NX2 and select Direct Sunlight for the white balance it will list 5200 degrees with tint of 0 for the white balance, and if you select Flash it will list 5400 degrees and a tint of 0. You can adjust these values with sliders, and if you adjust the Flash values to 5200 degrees with a tint of 0 you do not get the same colors in the image as you get with Direct Sunlight selected which has the identical temperature and tint values.
I don't find any agreement between Nikon's white balance values and what you get with Adobe RAW processing software. I don't find the presets in Adobe Software (Daylight, Flash, etc) very useful because they don't appear correct for the camera's I have. I shot images (NEF Files) with every preset available in the camera selected and saved the white balance values as presets in Adobe Camera RAW. I also find the Camera profiles more useful than Adobe Standard.

D2X auto white balance handling?

How does Aperture get on with NEFs shot with auto white balance on a D2X? It was a problem in CS2.
And...when I saw the demo at the Nikon show in London, they were running it on a Quad. I loved the ability to zoom in on the thumbnails, but how fast is that on something lowlier than a Quad, like a dual 2.5?
(Thinks: can I go on finding enough queries to hold myself back until the first update?)
Nick

Nick,
I generally shoot in auto white balance and I have not noticed any problems with my D2X images. I actually expected some issues based on all the bashing over the encrypted NEFs with the newer Nikons.
With now just shy of 10,000 images in my library, Aperture runs very nice on my Dual 2.5.
Sam

Raw Update 2.3 + Nikon D90 = Wrong White Balance Temperature

Hi folks. Wonder if someone has had a similar issue and/or has any insights.
Here's the background:
- Aperture 2.1.2 on OS 10.4.11
- Downloaded/installed Raw Update 2.3
- Imported ~800 NEFs from a D90
- On ~15-20 NEFs, pictures show up blue (white balance at ~2500)
- The affected NEFs are semi-randomly distributed among the ~800
Here's why it's weird:
- NEF displays correctly in Nikon View (the thumbnail and full picture)
- NEF displays correctly in the Finder (the thumbnail)
- NEF displays correctly in the preview and thumbnail *in Aperture* but only until the preview and thumbnail processing completes at which point they turn blue (this is why it's especially weird)
- Peeking into the Aperture package, the NEF thumbnail shows up correctly but the preview and thumbnail files show up blue.
If I delete the NEFs from Aperture, close down, and repeat I get the exact same problem on the exact same NEFs. This leads me to believe that there's something specific to the NEFs but it must also be linked to Aperture and more specifically, it's thumbnail/preview process since they show up fine in Nikon View, the finder and Aperture before the thumbnail/preview processing takes place.
Obviously I can't downgrade to Raw Converter 2.1 or 2.2 since my files are from a D90, and I shoot in raw (not raw + jpeg) only so have been limping along with Nikon's software.
Any ideas out there?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: rbhansen57

Hi,
I simply can't see the NEFs.
OS X 10.5.5
Aperture 2.1.2
Nikon D90
Import runs fine, and the thumbs are there, but when opening a NEF a big thumb (7x4.5cm on the 24" screen) is displayed in the middle for a second, and then it turns into a dark red message "Unsupported Image Format".
It's general - no NEFs work for me.
I import directly into Aperture - do you import via the Nikon Software?
Previously I had an Olympus E400 - the RAWs worked fine in Aperture (directly imported).
My strange observations are:
With the Olympus E400 (10MB) the size of the JPG files were 6-7MB and the RAW files (called .ORF) were 21MB.
With the Nikon D90 (12.3MB) the size of the JPGs are around 6.5MB (4288x2848 pixels), but the size of the NEFs are just around 11MB (I did expect over 21MB) and the pixels are 256x170 (although the picture says 4288x2848 on the camera itself).
I'm new to this support site - do Apple supporters take time to read our questions and join these discussions?

LR4 White Balance Numbers Differ w/ Nikon D4 and D3s

I've noticed that LR interprets the white balance settings differently for my raw .nef files coming from my Nikon D3s and D4 bodies; even when a specific kelvin temp is chosen in camera.
Here's a few examples:
D4 flash WB, LR shows as 6150, +2
D3s flash WB, LR shows as 6400, +9
D4 WB set to 5k, LR reads as 4750, +1
D3s WB set to 5k, LR reads as 4900, +10
Any thoughts on why this is happening, and what (if anything) I should do to get xxxx kelvin temp in camera to import as xxxx kelvin temp in LR?

Eric Chan, senior designer of LR/ACR wrote:
Quote:
The white balance readout in terms of temperature & tint depends on the camera profile (more specifically, the translation between so-called "camera neutral" values and temperature/tint values). Different raw converters use different profiles. This results in different readouts, even if image appearance is the same.
The process of reporting white balance values is non-standardized.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/fo...2#msg411522%29
Raw converters, whether in the camera or in a computer, do not deal with color temperatures, they deal with multipliers applied to the red and blue channels. But because representing a WB as a pair of multiplier values would be mystifying for most users, the GUI translates those numbers into the corresponding color temperature that the WB will neutralize, a concept more familiar to most photograhers. When "As Shot" is set in the converter it reads from the image file metadata the mutipliers listed there and applies them. However, the WB multipliers are applied after the camera profile and since different converters use different profiles with differing renderings of the basic color values, the post-WB image values are different, even though the same multipliers are used, and the corresponding Kelvin temperature is different.
Now, what happens when you dial a temperature into your camera? The firmware calculates what multipliers will be needed in combination with the Nikon profile in order to neutralize light of that color. Then it records the multipliers in the metadata and, if outputting a jpg, applies them. But if you output a Raw, LR reads the multipliers and does the reverse calculation, "What temperature will be neutralized if these multipliers are used with an Adobe profile?" and does not come back to the same temperature that you set in the camera.
Different cameras = different profiles = different temperatures.

Does Lightroom read white balance settings in NEF files?

I have noticed an interesting difference in white balance color temp using Lightroom vs. Capture NX: In a Nikon D70 RAW shot (with camera white balance set at Direct Sunlight, no fine-tuning) Lightroom shows the "as shot" color temp to be 4850K. Capture NX reads the as shot color temp to be 5200. If Lightroom is reading the NEF w.b. settings, why isn't it reading the K temp as 5200?

Fred Felder:
I still have not been able to find the original post (the links I tried to follow appear to be broken) by Thomas Knoll but I found another message which contains the relevant quote:
Ramón G Castañeda, "D200 White Balance Issue" #13, 30 Aug 2006 3:52 am
which says...
>Thomas Knoll - 10:47am Sep 25, 05 PST (#1 of 101) Edited: 25-Sep-2005 at 12:57pm
>This is the normal and expected result of Adobe Camera Raw and Nikon using different camera profiles and algorithms, and is not a bug.
>Because of the different camera profiles being used, when matching white balance values Camera Raw can either match the white balance appearance (which colors are exactly neutral) or the white balance numbers (exact Kelvin/Tint numbers). In these cases, Camera Raw chose to match the appearance, not the numbers.
>Even if the white balance matches, I don't expect an exact overall appearance match since Camera Raw and Nikon software use a different tone curve and rendering algorithms for non-neutral colors.

Lightroom & Nikon D800e White Balance

I've set my white balance in the camera (D800e) to afixed temperature; 5500K.
When I bring the .NEF file into Lightroom 4.1, the "As Shot" white balance is called out as 5300K, with a +6 Tint.
I get this same reading with any of the six camera profiles listed in the LR Camera Callibration frame.
If LR is reading the metadata in the .NEF file, the numbers ought to match.
Why don't they?

So on import you want all your photos so have a 5500K 0 WB in LR like you did with your old camera? Then all you have to do is set LR to have that as it’s default WB, or create a Develop preset with WB 5500K0 and use that as your import preset. The only reason it matters what your camera is set to is that you are using the LR factory default of As Shot so LR interprets the camera’s gray-point values into a WB. The only thing that is affected by your camera’s setting is the WB of the embedded JPG preview that the camera shows as you review your photos, or that you see when you import photos before LR re-renders things.
If seeing this spectrum of colors on your camera’s display and on the Import grid is important, then so you need your camera’s custom WB to show up in LR as 5500K +0 then take a sequence of shots where you vary the WB slightly in your camera maybe by 50K on each one, and keeping track of what you set it to for each one, and find the one that LR interprets most closely as 5500K +0.
I used to do what I think you’re saying you do, have my camera set to the same custom WB for everything and have the tungsten shots look very orange and my twilight shots look very blue and other outdoor shots vary between orange and blue, and then adjust my WB in LR to how I wanted it. Since I always was needing to adjust my WB in LR, I decided to get a little help from my camera, and now I have it set to AWB so I have the added benefit of the camera’s intelligence in guessing what looks good. I still synchronize my various photos in a particular lighting scenario to the same WB after deciding what looks best, but sometimes I find the camera does a better job of guessing than I did and I sync to a custom-WB that is equivalent to what it picked for its AWB of one of the shots instead of always having to play with the WB to figure out what I want. Having my camera set to AWB doesn’t preclude me from having the same WB for all my photos in LR and seeing which ones are warmer or cooler than others, but not having my camera set to AWB removes the camera’s intelligence as a suggested WB.

Nikon D2X - DNG vs NEF White Balance Mismatch

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