White Balance Menus and Settings Familiarization - EOS R5/R6 Tip 71

This is part 2 of a multi-part series looking at white balancing on the EOS #R5 and it’s immediate siblings (specifically the EOS #R6). This time around we’re familiarizing ourselves with the camera’s interface for white balancing. We’ll start by looking at the iconography that Canon uses for indicating the white balance mode. Then we’ll move on to look at the various places where you can find, and change, the camera’s white balance settings.
🔗Customizing the camera's Displays - • Understanding Display ...
🔗Customizing the camera's buttons - • Customizing Buttons - ...
#CameraBasics
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Chapters
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00:00 Intro
00:57 Canon's White Balance Iconography
02:52 White Balance Display in Image Review
03:33 White Balance Status - When Shooting
04:15 White Balance Status in the LCD and EVF Overlays
05:01 Finding the White Balance on the Top LCD
05:56 Finding the White Balance on the #5 Shooting Info Screen
06:59 Changing the White Balance Modes
07:29 Changing the White Balance - Camera Menus
09:22 Changing the White Balance - Quick Control Menu
11:51 Changing the White Balance - Dial Function Menu
12:52 Bonus - White Balance Set though Register/Recall Shooting Func.
13:54 White Balance Shift and Bracket
16:43 Setting a Custom White Balance

[@Mike0193Azul]

All of your videos are absolutely fantastic! From the R5 ones that have been sooo helpful considering how much I use mine to all the other videos. I've learned so much from you 💚🎥📸

[@Twobarpsi]

This series on white balance, has been very informative!

[@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker]

The custom white balance and hit delete works just fine on my R7 in stills mode but not in movie mode. That is such a shame. Why do Canon make white balance so difficult in movie mode as I am sure it is only a software thing?

[@PointsInFocus]

It's absolutely only a software thing.
I have two guesses on the matter. One is that the code base is a mess and it's very difficult to implement new features in a sensible way or at least in a timely manner. The other is that they don't have the right management/decision structures in place to expand a narrowly defined idea in a way that makes sense.
Either way, we end up with neat features that get partially implemented.

[@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker]

@@PointsInFocus My feeling is that the people who design and do the software for these cameras do not use them therefore have little idea as to what is needed in the field. My first example of this was going way back when I was involved in U-Matic video (yes I am that old). The second generation Umaic SP designed for broadcast had on the a buzzer on the recorder that some engineer had decided would be a good idea to tell you when the tape was running out. The only problem was it was so loud you could hear it during an interview. So what did we have to do well we had to take the machine to bits and disable it. They also added a limiter which even worked when the limiter switch was switched to off because they did not seem to think a professional sound recordist was capable of avoiding overloading the sound.

[@PointsInFocus]

Obviously... The people who design the cameras (as well as the engineers that write the actual code) aren't professional photographers or cinematographers. They rely on design review boards (think the members of Canon's Exploerer's of Light program, as well as Hollywood cinematographers) to generate the ideas/requirements. If they work like any other engineering company, those ideas/requirements are written up into a spec that's handed to the engineers.
Granted, some of the engineers/managers may be interested in photography or videography, but that's not their jobs either. And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them weren't interested in photography at all.
On top of that it's not a given that the engineers doing the implementation have all that much say in the design of the feature either. They might, but they just as well might not.
Honest, I tend not to blame the engineers that much. More often the problem lies in the hands of the advisory boards (and the management that selects them). Most pro photographers and cinematographers are strongly adverse to change (and why wouldn't they be, when that change could potentially impact their lively-hood). As an example, I've always had an interest in UI design, and would talk to Nikon users about the fact that the ISO button on their cameras (prior to the D810/D4 era) was objectively poorly located. They had every excuse and reason as to why it wasn't a problem. Along comes the D4 and you can put the ISO button right next to the shutter release where it belongs, and every one of them acted like Nikon just created the most amazing design ever. This includes some that told me that they couldn't understand why Canon didn't do this, only to be told that that's how Canon's cameras have been for more than 5 years.
Unless you're looking for problems (which I kind of am in these videos), it's sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees. Especially when the people you're asking for feedback are saying that they don't need or want this new feature.
And yes, sometimes the management and engineers just do things with good intent but don't actually understand the environment that their product is going into.

[@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker]

@@PointsInFocus Maybe the main problem is that I should live by what I deep down believe which is stills cameras are for stills and video cameras are for video although having this view has got me into very hot water at times with people.