Interesting older article about WB and ISO. Alister Chapman

[webrunner5]

https://www.xdcam-user.com/2020/06/raw-myths-you-cant-change-the-white-balance-of-the-camera-or-iso-in-post/?amp=1

 

The comments are as interesting as the article.

[KnightsFan]

He's being obtusely literal in my opinion.

So obviously you can't change the camera's analog gain after the fact. But most people don't judge image or workflow based on counting which photons and voltages flowed through their equipment, they care about whether the end result is accurate to their expectation. So when people say you can change WB in post, it means that the NLE is performing a mathematically correct operation to emulate a different white balance, based on accurate metadata. Not too long ago, there was no such thing as a color managed workflow in consumer NLE's, which meant that the WB sliders and gain adjustments--outside of not changing analog camera circuitry's native WB in post--ALSO produced mathematically incorrect results compared. So when we got accurate WB and ISO adjustments in raw processors, it was truly revolutionary. Nowadays, as long as its color managed and the files have sufficient data, you can get the same result even without raw. Neither one is technically changing the camera's WB, but they produce the correct results and that's all that matters.

I'll also point out that I suspect that most (all?) sensors don't actually change their analog gain levels based on WB setting. I bet it's almost always digital adjustment. In that case, Alister would have to also argue that changing WB on the camera doesn't actually change WB. Maybe he wants to argue that shooting at anything other than identical gain on each pixel isn't true white balancing, but I am not sure that is a useful description of the process. That is why I say it's obtusely literal.

 

Everything I said also applies to ISO on cameras that have a fixed amount of gain.

[webrunner5]

Pretty much since the Nikon D7100 we have had "ISO less" cameras. You can pretty much leave them at ISO 100 and just crank up the exposure, gain, whatever you call it and call it a day in post. Sensors have such crazy latitude today it amazing. 

So, I tend to agree that most of the stuff is baked in, even in Raw, BRaw particularly. The camera is doing the heavy lifting with it. Every camera brand has a certain "look" to it. So to imply Raw is Really Lossless is well, pushing it. 

And then people bitch about noise and then add it in post. It is all voodoo science at best. It is just like it has been for over a 100 years, getting it right in camera is the way to go, not trying to recover something that was never there to start with is a hard way to make a buck.