Manual White Balance Settings (MWB)

[Adrian Vargas]

Hi Steve,

I ended up buying the handbook, not the guide, for the extra technical information, and I loved it! Great book, and major kudos on helping people to leverage the full potential of the camera.

One comment/question/feedback

I finally got through how to select MWB - It is not really clear from the manual, nor your book, about leaving the joystick depressed until you hear teh two beeps. The manual refers to something blinking and it took me a while to realize it was the green bar blinking, not an icon on the screen.

Also, the manual refers to filling the screen with a white sheet of paper while selecting this option. You did not refer to this in the handbook. Is this necessary? And if so, do you have to "re-calibrate" or "re-select" teh MWB (and do the white page, if applicable) every time you the lighting condition changes?

I hope this makes sense...

Again tahnk you for your help and writting the handbook.

[Ray Grizzle]

You put a white sheet paper in front of the camera while you white balance it to 'tell' the camera what white is. And yes, it's a good idea to white balance whenever the lighting changes.

You can also get some interesting results by white balancing with something that isn't white. For example, if you white balance using a blue sheet of paper, things look very yellow and dream like.

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Adrian Vargas

I finally got through how to select MWB - It is not really clear from the manual, nor your book, about leaving the joystick depressed until you hear teh two beeps. The manual refers to something blinking and it took me a while to realize it was the green bar blinking, not an icon on the screen.

I don't see anything about "blinking" but tonight I did add:
* Focus on a white sheet of paper illuminated by key lighting.
THANK YOU -- some might not know about the need for a white object.

To set white balance:
* Press the F button
* Use the joystick to choose WB. (To select, press the joystick.)
* Use the joystick to choose Auto, MWB (Manual), Fine, Cloudy, or Halogen.
* After you select a white balance setting, press the F button again.

After selecting MWB:
* Focus on a white sheet of paper illuminated by key lighting.
* Press and hold the joystick until you hear two beeps.
* Only then, press the F button. It can take several seconds before the second beep is heard. Wait for this beep.

[Adrian Vargas]

OK, I think I finally got it... I think I was misreading your instructions and trying this as a two-step process, when in reality is a one-step process;
What I was doing was... Selecting MWB as any other setting (by just clicking on the joystick, then the F button, exiting all the menus), and until then (once my screen/viewfinder was back to normal with the MWB icon displayed), I pressed the joystick button for extended periods of time, but nothing happened.

As opposed to the one-step process, something like:

To set white balance and calibrate (only when using MWB):
* Press the F button
* Use the joystick to select/highlight WB (green bar).
* Push the joystick to the right to enter the WB submenu
* Use the joystick to select/highlight MWB (second option from the top)
* Focus on a white sheet of paper illuminated by key lighting.
* Press and hold the joystick until you hear two beeps. After the first beep, the green bar highlighting MWB will blink a couple of times. After the second beep the menu will return to the upper level - highlighting WB, and MWB will be shown as the option selected to the right.
* Press the F button again to exit.

Cheers!