Matching the Camera Settings to the Light Source (What is White Balance?)

The human eye captures white as white, red as red and blue as blue, regardless of whether you are outside under the sun or inside under incandescent lighting. Although this is something that we take for granted, the human eye actually adapts to correct the changes in color under different light sources.

In reality, when light sources vary, colors caught as the reflection of those light sources also vary. For instance, films for cameras that use film are designed to capture the most appropriate coloring outside under the sun. Thus when you take pictures under incandescent or fluorescent lighting without using a flash, the colors in the resulting picture may seem strange.

This camera is equipped with a handy feature called "White Balance" that corrects the changes in color under different light sources, just like the human eye.

This camera is equipped with a feature called "White Balance". This feature corrects the changes in color under different light sources, just like the human eye. One of the white balance settings, "Auto White Balance" (AWB) automatically adjusts to correct the changes in color under different light sources.

The function adjusting the color tone so that white objects look white in the picture is called white balance (WB). Normally, the ⋖AWB⋗ (Auto) setting will obtain the correct white balance.

If natural-looking colors cannot be obtained with ⋖AWB⋗, you can select the white balance to match the light source or set it manually. For example, when shooting a landscape in sunset, if the color tone is not natural in the ⋖AWB⋗ setting, you may obtain more natural colors by selecting the ⋖ ⋗ (Cloudy, twilight, sunset) setting.

Caution

White Balance

Display	Mode	Color Temperature (Approx. K: Kelvin) *1
	Auto	3000 - 7000
	Daylight	5200
	Shade	7000
	Cloudy, twilight, sunset	6000
	Tungsten light	3200
	White fluorescent light	4000
	Flash use	Automatically set *2
	Custom	2000 - 10000
	Color temperature	2500-10000 *3

[ ] (Custom White Balance) enables you to manually set the white balance for a specific light source for better accuracy. Do this procedure under the actual light source to be used. For more information on registering custom white balance, please refer to the instruction manual that came with your camera.

Caution