165
A
The Information Display
During viewfinder photography, you can
press the
U
button to adjust white balance
settings in the information display. Rotate
the main command dial to choose the white
balance mode and rotate the sub-command
dial to choose the color temperature (mode
K
, “choose color temperature”) or white
balance preset (preset manual mode), or use the multi-selector to fine-
tune white balance on the amber (A)–blue (B) and green (G)–magenta
(M) axes (other white balance modes).
A
White Balance Fine-Tuning
The colors on the fine-tuning axes are relative, not absolute. For
example, moving the cursor to
B
(blue) when a “warm” setting such as
J
(
Incandescent
) is selected for white balance will make
photographs slightly “colder” but will not actually make them blue.
A
“Mired”
Any given change in color temperature produces a greater difference
in color at low color temperatures than it would at higher color
temperatures. For example, a change of 1000 K produces a much
greater change in color at 3000 K than at 6000 K. Mired, calculated by
multiplying the inverse of the color temperature by 10
6
, is a measure of
color temperature that takes such variation into account, and as such is
the unit used in color-temperature compensation filters. E.g.:
•
4000 K–3000 K (a difference of 1000 K)=83 mired
•
7000 K–6000 K (a difference of 1000 K)=24 mired
