white balance

White Balance

White balance is a camera control that adjusts the camera's color sensitivity to match the prevailing colour of outdoor light (cooler), indoor light (warmer).

How to perform a manual white balance:

Point your camera to a pure white subject, so that most of what you're seeing in the viewfinder is white. Opinions vary on just how much white needs to be in the frame - but we've found that about 50-80% of the frame should be fine. The subject should be fairly matte, that is, non-reflective. Set your exposure and focus. Activate the white balance by pressing the button or throwing the switch. The camera may take a few seconds to complete the operation, after which you should get a message (or icon) in the viewfinder. Hopefully this will be telling you that the white balance has succeeded - in this case, the camera will retain it's current colour balance until another white balance is performed.

Correct colour balance

Colour balance too blue

Colour balance too yellow