# What Did I Do To My Camera? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161 "2007-03-30T21:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/1 "2007-03-30T21:14:03Z")
[Olympus SP-500 UZ](http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1189&fl=4) Like most digital cameras, the SP-500 has a bewildering variety of menu options. I was messing with them a couple weeks ago, and apparently tweaked something without noticing. Took a series of outdoor shots last weekend, and found they all had a uniform bluish cast, and looked overexposed. The bluing was severe enough that Photoshop (curves or color balance) could _not_ correct. It’s as if the red and green channels were hardly there. A shot of a red book in front of a yellow backdrop on green grass in full sun, came out looking like B&W with a blue tint. 😕 I fixed the problem by resetting the camera to its default state, it’s a menu option, but that left me with no idea what I’d done to mess it up. Can White Balance cause an effect like that, or was it something else? ---
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/2 "2007-03-30T21:16:01Z")
Does it have an option to shoot at night? My cameraphone (hardly the same quality, but I digress) has this option… I’ve noticed that pics taken in this mode during the day seem to be washed out and blue-tinted. I’ve never actually used to take pictures at night, oddly enough… I’ll have to try it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/3 "2007-03-30T21:33:28Z")
Sounds like you changed the white balance for expected light source. If outdoor shots look blue, I’m betting you set it for “tungsten”, the setting used indoors under incandescent lights without a flash. Look for “white balance” in your menu of settings, or perhaps “light source” Set it to “auto”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/4 "2007-03-30T21:40:02Z")
Here is a [PDF manual for the SP-500](http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/SP500UZAdvancedman.pdf). The instructions for setting the white balance are on page 59. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/5 "2007-03-31T01:04:06Z")
Sounds like a change of white balance to me, as others have suggested. I think it is a great idea to read the manual and learn a bit more about your camera beyond the point and shoot settings. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/6 "2007-03-31T01:42:03Z")
[QUOTE=SofaSpud] Does it have an option to shoot at night? [/QUOTE] Nope, although it will pick up the light from a TV remote. Just taking the F down, ISO up, and upping the exposure has worked for me so far. I’ve got some nice shots of Orion and the moon with the camera. [QUOTE=Fear Itself] Sounds like you changed the white balance… [/QUOTE] That _was_ it. Selecting the bluest of the white point presets gave me a good imitation of those earlier funky pictures. But I’d swear I hadn’t messed with that setting earlier. Oh well. :rolleyes: [QUOTE=Mighty\_Girl] I think it is a great idea to read the manual and learn a bit more about your camera beyond the point and shoot settings. [/QUOTE] It sure is! However, the manual in this case is 188 pages long, and bits of it slip out of the mind while messing with all the menu options. -Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/7 "2007-03-31T11:12:08Z")
you **should** be able to (approximately) correct for the colour cast produced by the incorrect WB setting - I have done this before (after I got a new olympus UZ-2100). I found that you needed to severely drop the blue channel and amplify the red (and just a bit on the green) to get something that _approximated_ natural tones. I saved a GIMP filter to do it, but had to modify it depending on the actual lighting conditions of the photo. I leave WB on auto now :smack: Si ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-do-to-my-camera/398161/8 "2007-03-31T12:36:41Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] (approximately) [/QUOTE] My best approximation still ended up looking like an [old time color tint](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h90000/h90545k.jpg). Nice in it’s own way, and I may try shooting a bunch for the effect, but it wasn’t something I wanted for pix of the first little green sprouts of spring. :smack: