Native White Balance of Sensor

A

Andrew McCarrick

Carbonite Member
Looking to know if anybody knows the native white balance of the sensor on the F3? Looking to see if I need to filter when using Tungsten lights.
 
I see nothing in the manual to tell me one way or the other. I see the preset wb mode is 3200k, and there's a 5600k button. But that could easily be applying a 3200k correction to a 5600k native sensor, and when you hit the 5600k button, it just removes the artificial correction of the 3200k. Or it could be a native 3200k sensor.

I want to put the camera into the native color temp. of the sensor and shoot with filters, so I don't have to artificially white balance in the camera.
 
With the EX1/3 the setting with the least noise, and therefore probably having the least electronic alterations is/was 5600k.

The F3 is about 80% the same as the EX1/3. I've been shooting mostly at 5600k without seeing any introduced noise. I can't say for certain, but I think its likely the same.
 
Any Cmos sensor would be rather heavily biased towards blue since that's the shortest wave length and therefore penetrates the least(among other things like 3:1 green/blue ratio, etc.) Blue is also always the channel to watch since it is most noise prone for above reasons...
Bottom line the more blue- the happier the CMOS...
 
Silicon based sensors are the least sensitive to blue. They may not be 'naturally' balanced to daylight, but the lower the energy in blue, the more noise you get. But since filtering in the camera is only lowering light levels in the other channels, you don't gain much as long as the other channels were not clipping. You are better off using daylight sources, but OTOH the F3 is very low in noise.
 
Basically all three of us said the same thing. The blue of sunshine is ~5600k and up to ~6000k. Then you get into ultra violet and need a filter. Greenish colors are ~4800 to ~5400k. Redish ~3000 to ~4500k. With some blending on the endges of course.

BTW, that button doesn't just set it at 5600k, it adds 3400k to whatever your set at. It can be astronomical. FWIW
 
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I love Sony Products, but it’s a shame they don’t get their act together and have a liaison, like Jan Crittenden of Panasonic, to monitor the Sony Forums and come back with answers to a lot of these important questions and misconceptions.
 
banolan said:
I love Sony Products, but it’s a shame they don’t get their act together and have a liaison, like Jan Crittenden of Panasonic, to monitor the Sony Forums and come back with answers to a lot of these important questions and misconceptions.
Click to expand...

They don't have a monetary involvement with this website like Panasonic does.
 
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