New to digital, How does the White Balance thing work?

[ka_ho_wong]

I have been shoot film for years. Just got my hand on a D70 (my first

digital cam ever) recently. Any good article on the net about how does

this white balance deal work?

 

thanks

[Ed_Ingold]

White balance is basically the red/blue balance at constant luminosity. It is a method to compensate for the color temperature of ambient light other than sunlight (5500K) so that colors look the same as in daylight. Color temperature refers to the light emitted by a black body (qv. black body radiation) at that temperature.

 

The manual that comes with your camera explains how to use white balance, and what to expect from common scenarios -- incandescent light, flash, cloudy, open shade and daylight.

[lex_jenkins]

The Nikon manual does only a mediocre job of explaining certain features.

 

Try this website for a clear, concise explanation as well as some specific suggestions for white balance, custom curves, etc.

 

http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/digital.html

[alexdi]

White balance isn't exclusive to digital. Most films are intolerant of mixed lighting, but you rarely see it in prints because the lab color corrects for you.

 

It's a problem of adaption. Your eyes automatically adjust to color casts; if the whole world is blue, bluish white looks plain white. Cameras must instead be told in what way the lighting is tinted so they can neutralize the picture.

 

Most will do this for you with auto-WB, with varying degrees of accuracy.

 

DI

[digitmstr]

Think of film: Daylight & Tungsten... The two most frequently used wavelenght. However, even with film, those who wanted ABSOLUT control over color would use CC filters to shift the temperature one way or the other and/or to compensate for different ligthing situations (early morning, shade, different locations, sunset, etc...). With DSRL you can have the same fine control once given by CC filters. Some DSRL, not all, will even give you the choice of MANUAL settings (from 2500k to 10000k).

 

Virtually ALL DSRL will have an AUTO WB which allows you to shoot a WHITE card which the camera will use to set the WB for that particular lighting situation. They usually also have pre-sets such DAYLIGHT, TUNGSTEN, SHADE, FLUORESCENT, etc...