white-balance-and-color-temperature

name	white-balance-and-color-temperature
description	Use when matching camera to scene lighting. Wrong white balance = blue or orange cast.

White Balance and Color Temperature

White balance matches camera to light's color temperature. Daylight ~5500K, tungsten ~3200K, fluorescent ~4000K. Set manually for consistency.

Color temperature reference

Source	Kelvin
Candlelight	1900K
Tungsten/incandescent	3200K
Halogen	3200K
Fluorescent	4000-4500K
Daylight (sun)	5600K
Overcast	6500K
Shade	7500-9000K
LED (varies)	2700-6500K

Setting white balance

1. Auto WB — camera guesses (often wrong in mixed lighting)
2. Preset — daylight, tungsten, fluorescent
3. Custom WB — point at white card or grey card, set
4. Manual Kelvin — dial in exact value
5. Shoot RAW + adjust in post — flexibility (photo + some video)

Mixed lighting trap

Common scenario: window (daylight 5600K) + lamp (tungsten 3200K) in same scene. Camera can match one or other, but not both.

Solutions:

1. Match one light to the other (gel the tungsten with daylight-correction gel)
2. Close the curtains, control with lamps only
3. Wait for matching daylight (overcast)
4. Accept mixed light, color-correct in post

Where this fits in the X3 empire

WB discipline for CardPrepAI video shoots.