XZ-1 and white balance

[MadBeaverDK]

Hi there

I bought a XZ-1 and a PT-050 housing a couple of months back and I’ve been quite happy with them, besides from one thing – The ”one-touch white balance”.

I use the camera with a strobe most of the time, but sometimes it nice to shoot ambient lighting using manual white balance. On my previous setup, a Canon S90 in Canon housing, there was a brilliant shortcut button that could be programmed to adjust white balance. When diving, I would point the camera at the palm of my hand, press the shortcut button, and all was well.

Now on the XZ-1 I have to:

1. Press OK
2. Navigate to the WB menu using the arrow keys.
3. Navigate to the One-touch setting using the arrow keys.
4. Press info.
5. Point the camera at something white and press the shutter.

Olympus advertises the camera as having a One-touch white balance setting. Unless I’m doing it all wrong (please let me know if that’s the case), there’s absolutely nothing “One-touch” about the custom white balance. I ask again, am I doing it all wrong? I surely hope so.

On my S90 I could use the palm of my hand for custom white balance on every dive I made with the camera whatever the depth. With the XZ-1 I can only do custom white balance using the palm of my hand when I’m shallower than 10 m, 33 ft. When I’m deeper, the camera goes “WB Error, try again”. This is diving in the red sea in the middle of the day with lots of ambient light. Would it help using a white balance slate or a white writing slate?

It sure was frustrating diving the Thistlegorm and not being able to do custom white balance.

Yes, I shoot RAW, but I still think it makes a difference getting the white balance right when shooting.

 

[CheddarChick]

Great Question. My Oly E-pl2 did the same thing while we were drift diving in Cozumel. Made me crazy. I wondered if it had to do with the motion.. with my Oly SP-350 it was super easy and made a ton of difference in my videos...

 

[smoore]

I don't know about the XZ-1 but on the EPL-2 there is an easier method to do white balance. Program the function button for one touch wb. However it really isn't really one touch. After touching the function button you then need to press the info button, then the shutter and finally select "yes". For movies you have to set the white balance in a photo mode and switch to movie mode. This method is easier but not much easier.

 

[CheddarChick]

I know my SP350 had the ability to set the function button for a specific task...I haven't gotten that far with the E-PL2 yet.. I have been able to use the Super Control panel feature with good results....

 

[Wisnu]

once you set to manual WB, next you only need 3 buttons, ie. OK, Info and shutter.
but you'll need 4-5 steps if you wanto change to another preset WB.
re. depth, almost similar never success for deeper than 15m with sunlight from my back.

 

[CheddarChick]

I've never used a preset WB.. hmmmmmm...What would the reason be to use a preset and not just do a manual WB?

 

[Wisnu]

I meant another WB setting. The XZ-1 will keep the last WB set. Once you select Manual WB, all other camera setting (A, S, M, P) will use manual WB. Say, you want to you use your strobe for macro and choose cloudy to warm color. It will take 6 steps button.

 

[CheddarChick]

ahhhh....Does the X have a super control setting?

 

[staggsSevin]

I was in roatan and ran into the exact same issue as you describe here with the manual white balance, did you ever figure this out? (sorry to bring up a older topic)

 

[MadBeaverDK]

I was in roatan and ran into the exact same issue as you describe here with the manual white balance, did you ever figure this out? (sorry to bring up a older topic)

No, unfortunately not.

I’ve found no way around the “5-touch” white balance, which is annoying, but you can get used to it.

The real problem is not being able to adjust manual white balance when diving deeper than 10-15 meters. I’ve found no way around this. I tried using a white slate with no luck. I tried fiddling with iso, shutter speed, aperture – still no luck. It seems to be a limitation with the camera. I believe it to be a software limitation, because older and less advanced cameras are able to do the trick at 30 meters with very little ambient light.

I briefly thought about writing Olympus suggesting a firmware fix, but then again, why would they bother. The camera’s more than a year old, and a successor is probably already in the works.

I think we just have to accept this as a limitation with the camera.