Sony PDX10 Workshop Handbook page 26

APPENDIX A (cont)
To make white objects appear white to the camera we do a WHITE BALANCE. To do a manual white
balance the camera must be shown something white (usually a piece of paper) lit by the light source
you will be working in. Beware of white balancing in the wrong light source e.g. by a window and
then shooting the interview in a corner of the room lit by tungsten light. Whatever light falls on your
subject should also fall on the white paper you use to perform a white balance.
WHEN SHOULD YOU PERFORM AMANUALWHITE BALANCE?
• In mixed light (e.g. in a tungsten lit room with daylight coming through a window).
• When shooting subjects lit by fluorescent light.
• If light conditions are changing quickly (i.e. at sunrise and sunset when you want the shots to match).
• Every time you move from one source of light (e.g. outdoors) to another source (i.e.indoors).
HOW TO DO A MANUAL WHITE BALANCE
1. Set the AUTO LOCK switch to the middle position.
2. Press the WHITE BAL. button.
3. Turn the SEL/PUSH EXEC dial until this
symbol appears in the LCD/viewfinder screen.
4. Point the camera at a white piece of paper and this time press the SEL/PUSH EXEC dial. The
symbol will flash rapidly while the camera is calculating the correct white balance.
5. When the symbol stops flashing the white balance is complete.
6. If the symbol continues to flash slowly - try again - try again in auto iris mode - or go to auto white
balance mode.
WHITE BALANCE TROUBLE SHOOTING - HELP!
The camera won't white balance manually!
There are several possible reasons why your camera won't white balance:
1. Are the surroundings too bright or too dark?
If it is very bright the camera is getting too much information - if it is dark, not enough. Change
lighting, if you have control of it. Otherwise try auto exposure and then a manual white balance.
2. Under or overexposed in decent lighting conditions?
Similar to the above - try auto exposure and then a manual white balance
3. Ambient color temperature is too high or too low for the electronics to work with...
To make a decent attempt at a white balance the camera needs light that has a smattering of all the
colors in the visible spectrum. Again try auto white balance.
WHITE BALANCE QUESTIONS
Q- Should a white card be pure white ? I shot the card and it appears to have a slight blue tint to it.
A- It should be as white as possible. But, grey will do too - because grey is just "dark white".
If you want to do some cheap effects you can white balance on almost any colour.. Just experiment
and see what results you get.
SONY PDX10 Handbook page 26