Canon XL 1A Instruction Manual page 49

The camera's auto white balance system
compensates for a wide range of lighting
conditions. Although slight variations are
unavoidable, colors will appear natural in virtually
every situation.
In some cases, you will get better results by setting
the white balance manually.
The XL1 has two modes other than flflly auto (A) and manual ( _,11_):
:_r Indoor mode (3200°K light)
-,?,_ Outdoor mode (5600°K sunlight)
1. Turn the POWER dial to any recording program (except the E] Easy Recording
program).
2. Press the white balance selector knob so that it pops out. You can now turn it to choose
;o
between A for auto white balance, :,_: for indoor lighting, _-'- for outdoor lighting, or turn
it to the right to set the white balance manually.
• :_ / $'- appears in the viewfinder when you set the white balance to the indoor/outdoor modes. 5'
After turning the knob to the right, you can go on to set the white balance manually:
a) Point the camera at a white object (such as a sheet of paper) and if you are using a zoom lens, zoom in
until it fills the display.
b) Press the WHITE BALANCE set button.
• t_ll._ flashes quickly in the viewfinder and then remains lit, to show that the camera has set the white
balance.
• Depending on the light source, the flashing may at times change to a slower speed, rather than remain
lit. The result will remain better than with the auto setting, and you can continue recording.
c) Turn the white balance selector knob back to A to remm to the auto setting. Push the knob back in when
you have finished making selections.
Setting the white balance manually will probably work better than auto white balance when shooting:
• Subjects with one dominant color, such as sky, sea or forest.
• Close-ups.
• In rapidly changing lighting conditions.
• In places lit by certain types of fluorescent or mercm T vapor lights.
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