White Balance for UV

Konica-Minolta is taking its sweet time to answer my question (one

weeking and counting) so I hope to get a clarification here. Is the

custom white balance function on a digital camera sufficient to

compensate for high altitude (12000 ft) UV effect? Thanks in advance.

Yogi, you might have better luck asking them about the Kelvin temperature range, rather than altitude. Many auto WB functions are limited to 8000K (e.g., Nikon), while the custom WB function will let you compensate for higher color temps. Each manufacturer should be able to specify the range that their camera/sensor will accommodate.

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When you get these specs from them (or your manual), compare it to common Kelvin temps at the altitude and conditions for your location. It's likely that at 12,000ft (where I shoot often) your daylight Kelvin temps will approach 8000K, increasing with clouds to 10,000K or higher. If 'Custom' won't work, there's usually a fixed setting for open shade that will work for up to 9000K (on Nikon, called "Daylight / Shade / -3" ).

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I found this site helpful in <a href="http://www.nikondigital.org/articles/white_balance.htm">estimating Kelvin temps</a> for different shooting conditions -- there's a table with 'typical' temperatures in the middle. (Most of the camera-specfic info is on the Nikon D-series.)

Chris:

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of a simple yes or no answer. Your reply is an eye-opener for me.