what are the color temperatures corresponding to the different 'white balance' settings for the mx-700. the standard is 5500K, corresponding to the 'outdoor', fine weather setting. i have been unable to find any info re the flourescent I and II settings. the hints given are 'bluish' and 'reddish' for I and II, presumably for high and low color temps. however, the spectra for flourescent light can be difficult. i suppose that incandescent light is yellowish, around 3000 deg K?

any comment on this matter would be most appreciated. the fiji website is not very helpful, nor is the fuji cd --it is mostly PR.

also, since the eye adapts to the ambient light, how to tell which setting to use? thanks,

dct's

-- don c. teas (dcteas@dynastat.com), February 10, 1999

Answers

Unfortunately, I have no data at all on the MX-700, but can make the following observations: In our experience, the "incandescent" setting on different cameras ranges all over the map. Some will completely balance-out the household tungsten lighting we use in the indoor model shot, others leave it horribly yellow. (Household tungsten is typically ~2700K, which is very yellow. Professional quartz photo lights are typically 3200K.) What the settings are for fluorescent lighting is anybody's guess, as there's so much variability between different fluorescent tubes. Actually, fluorescent maps pretty poorly to a blackbody temperature, because it has huge spikes and valleys in its output spectrum. You're right, the eye does adapt a lot. Still, I can usually tell whether it's a cool white or warm white fluorescent bulb, although the modern phosphor mixes are getting pretty random. I'd say just take your best stab at which it is - incandescent, cool or warm fluorescent, and plan to fix things up in Photoshop, etc later. Not much help I know, but white balance in digicams is unfortunately pretty non-standard...

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), February 13, 1999.