Adjustment of the white balance to match the light source is essential to ensure correct color rendering. The color of a light source is indicated as a color temperature in kelvins (K). It is higher for bluish light, and lower for reddish light. When the camcorder is shipped it is adjusted for use with video lights (studio lamps with a color temperature of 3200 K). For use with other light sources, therefore, adjustment is required.
First use the FILTER control to set the approximate color temperature, then carry out white balance adjustment.
The following table shows typical color temperature values for different light sources.
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| Natural | Artificial |
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| Clear sky |
| M | 10,000 |
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| Light cloud |
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| 8,000 |
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| Cloudy or rainy |
| Blue light | 7,000 |
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| skies |
| M | 6,000 |
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| Fluorescent light |
| 5,000 |
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| (daylight white) |
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| Direct sunlight, | Mercury lighting | m |
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| noon | Fluorescent light | White light |
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| (white) | M |
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| sunrise or |
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| One hour after |
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5 |
| before sunset | Fluorescent light |
| 4,000 |
Adjustments |
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| (warm white) |
| 3,500 |
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| Studio lighting | m | 3,200 |
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| Halogen lamps | Yellow light | 3,000 |
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| and video lights | M | 2,500 | |
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| Thirty minutes | Incandescent | ||
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| after sunrise or | lighting |
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| before sunset | Sodium street- |
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| lighting | m |
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| Sunrise or | Candlelight | Red light | 2,000 |
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| sunset |
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The ATW function continuously adjusts the white balance automatically to adapt to changes in lighting conditions.
Note
Depending on the shooting conditions, automatic adjustment may not necessarily give optimum results. For the best possible results, use the W. BAL switch.
To use the ATW function
Press the ATW button turning the indicator on. This activates the ATW function, and the ATW indication appears in the viewfinder.
To disable the ATW function, press the ATW button again, turning the indicator off.
If the ATW function does not operate correctly A warning message appears in the viewfinder as shown in the table below.
Message | Meaning and correction to be made |
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:C.TEMP.LOW | If the FILTER control is in position 2, 3 or |
| 4, change it to position 1, then retry the |
| ATW operation. |
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:C.TEMP.HIGH | If the FILTER control is in position 1, |
| change it to position 2, 3 or 4, then retry |
| the ATW operation. |
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128 | Chapter 5 Adjustments and Settings |