Question: White Balance "Duration?"

D

Denniscasey

Well-known member
When I manually set white balance in A channel or B channel is that setting "locked" or "stored" until next time I do a white balance no matter how many times I turn camera off/on? In other words, when I am shooting in outdoor location and turn camera off momentarily does it retain white balance setting when I turn camera back on to continue shooting or do I need to re-do white balance each time I turn camera off/on (assume light does not change)?

Also, on page 42 of HMC40 PDF file item 2 part of instructions for setting white balance says "set the shutter speed" before doing a white balance which makes me wonder if I need to do a white balance if I change shutter speed during a shoot?

Easy enough to do white balance, but just trying to minimize steps I need to do when shooting since sometimes I need to turn camera on and start shooting quickly.
 
Hi Dennis

On my HMC82's (which have identical menus) you can (in manual mode) select ATW, the two presets and then also the manual specifically states that the value can be stored in either Ach or BCh .... So yes, if you go outside and do a manual WB with the menu set to Ach and set the balance and then go inside and set the balance to BCh, you can later use the function button to select either ACh or BCh depending on where you are shooting it will be stored even if you turn the cam off and will stay there until you change it....What I have never tried yet is if you have the function set to say, BCh and you turn the camera off, will it always default to BCh ...I simply go "function" and "BCh" .... the setting IS stored but I'm not sure on a reboot if it's applied or not!!

You might need to try the shutter speed thing as I'm lazy and use autoiris which changes shutter from 1/50 right up to 1/2000 but it certainly doesn't seem to affect the WB!!

Something quite useful with our cameras is if you are say, indoors, with either mixed lighting or an on-camera light, you can do a "semi-auto" WB!!! Keep the camera in auto WB and simply zoom into a white object as if you are doing a manual WB but just watch the image and in around 15 secs it will do the balance for you and keep it accurate too, but only until you turn the camera off....I find it really useful at weddings when I suddenly find I need to turn on the on-camera LED light...I just zoom right into a white tablecloth and wait for the cam to do the WB automatically and I'm done without any controls being operated.

Chris
 
Thank you, Chris. If I understand your comment (...not sure on a reboot it it's applied or not!!) I may try following experiment: Set ACh outside, turn camera off, go inside to basement (incandescent lighting only), turn camera on, select BCh do white balance, turn camera off. Then still in basement turn camera on and see what white balance looks like--should be able to tell from that whether camera selects BCh by default (last selected Channel when camera was turned off)? What do you think?

So much of literature is written around a controlled studio environment that it is helpful to understand more about what happens when you need to adjust quickly to changing lighting and take shot quickly. Dennis
 
Hi, Chris.. sounds like the HMC82's have a "function" access to ACh/BCh as opposed to a mechanical switch as on the AC160 - I much prefer to have two settings that you can lock into a switch. If you are at position ACh and shut the camera, they you come back to ACh.
 
Hi Chris, thought I would mention I also occasionally use the "semi-auto" white balance you mention but then I use ATW Lock to keep that white balance locked--I have found if I leave camera in ATW it seems to sometimes change white balance if there is some slight change in light and then I get changes in color cast. Dennis
 
Hey Walter
I have always preferred physical controls to electronic ones!! I hate my Smart Phone cos the virtual buttons don't work sometimes...then again a switch is also something you can accidentially leave on!!

Thanks Dennis
I always meant to test the function to see if the channels default..it is the first item on the Funct/Exec menu anyway so it will be nice to know....these cameras have a brilliant manual fuction anyway where you never get thrown into "all manual" when you flick the switch .... I love the way you can stay manual but if things get hectic you have the ability to switch just one fuction to auto so you don't have to worry about it...Panasonic have never produced an imformative manual that actually explains what each function does!! Does Barry's book cover the WB channels????
Let me know the results of your tests in the basement If you set Channel A to bright sun outdoors and B to the indoor basement you will instantly see which channel defaults ....then again check it VERY carefully..it might not default to either A or B but auto which is the normal setting for WB....if auto is quick you may not notice that it's gone back to auto!!! Remember with the manual/auto switch in manual, I have an idea that it automatically defaults to mostly auto when you start up the camera again...Very strange that you have functions you never bother to use and therefore know little about....I've had these for 3 years now and still find out things I never knew (my third pair of cameras too!!)

Chris
 
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