White balance and colour
Image: The level of detail from the images is breathtaking, although raw files offer more potential with processing
For outdoor and general landscape shots, the auto white balance setting produces a rich set of colours that require no correction. In the studio, however, neither the auto nor the flash presets deliver neutral tones, coming up either too warm (with the flash setting) or too cool (AWB). That said, the custom white balance makes it very easy to set a manual white balance from a grey card and, once this is stored, images are much more neutral. Under tungsten lights the camera gives the option, via the menu, to neutralise or maintain the natural warmth. This can be very handy if you are trying to give your shots a certain atmosphere.
Colours from default JPEG images (the natural setting) are rich and punchy without being oversaturated. There is a range of colour modes to choose from depending on your preferences: bright punches up the saturation a little more, while landscape really boosts the blues and greens. There is also a portrait setting that optimises for skin tones, a muted setting for subtle colours, vibrant for even more punch, monotone for greyscale with eight filters and, interestingly, reversal film to give a vibrant colour transparency look.
