With that warning in mind, follow these steps to use the fine-tuning feature:
- Set the Mode dial to P, Tv, Av, or M.
- Display Shooting Menu 2 and highlight WB Shift/Bkt, as shown on the left.
The first two numbers next to the option name indicate the current amount of fine-tuning, or shift, and the second value represents the amount of White Balance Bracketing enabled.
- Press Set to display the screen you see on the right. The screen contains a grid that’s oriented around two color pairs: green and magenta (represented by the G and M labels) and blue and amber (represented by B and A). The little white square indicates the amount of White Balance Shift. When the square is dead center in the grid, as it is initially, no shift is applied.
- Use the cross keys to move the shift indicator marker in the direction of the shift you want to achieve. As you do, the Shift area of the display tells the amount of color bias you’ve selected. For example, in the image above, the shift is two levels toward amber and two toward magenta. If you’re familiar with traditional lens filters, you may know that the density of a filter, which determines the degree of color correction it provides, is measured in mireds (pronounced “my-reds”). The White Balance grid is designed around this system: Moving the marker one level is the equivalent of adding a filter with a density of 5 mireds.
- Press Set to apply the change and return to the menu.
After you apply White Balance Correction, the shift amount appears alongside the WB Shift/Bkt setting on Shooting Menu 2, as shown on the left below. You also see a +/– sign next to the White Balance symbol in the Shooting Settings display, as shown on the right. The same symbol appears in the viewfinder, right next to the ISO value. The Live View display offers no such symbol to indicate that the shift is in force, but the onscreen colors update to show you the impact of your change.
You can see the exact shift values in the Camera Settings display. To activate that display, display any menu and then press the DISP button.
Your adjustment remains in force for all advanced exposure modes until you change it. And again, remember that the correction is applied no matter which White Balance setting you choose. Check the monitor or viewfinder before your next shoot; otherwise, you may forget to adjust the white balance for the current light.
- To cancel White Balance Correction, repeat the steps, set the marker to the center of the grid, and then press Set. After you get to the screen shown on the right, you can press the DISP button to clear your settings. However, doing so also cancels White Balance Bracketing.
Before leaving the grid screen, be sure to press Set to lock in your change.