What is White Balance Shift and how do you use it on your Fujifilm camera? White Balance Shift is one of my favorite JPEG tools that Fujifilm has included on their cameras. It can have a big impact on the aesthetic of an image, and it’s a critical component of my Film Simulation Recipes. It’s one of those things that’s easy to overlook. In this article I’ll explain what White Balance Shift is and how to use it.
White Balance is the adjustment of color temperature (measured in Kelvin) to account for various light conditions, so that white objects appear white, and not yellow or blue or some other color. White Balance Shift is a tool to precisely fine-tune the White Balance. The intention of White Balance and White Balance Shift is to achieve a natural color balance that matches what the eye sees. But you can give your photographs whatever color balance you’d like—this is art; there are no rules.
How do you adjust White Balance Shift on your Fujifilm camera? It’s not immediately obvious, but quite easy once you know where it is. In your camera’s Menu select White Balance. Once in the White Balance Menu, arrow up or down to whichever White Balance you’d like to use, and then arrow right to adjust the White Balance Shift for that particular White Balance. Select OK to set.
Easy, right?
Now that you know how to adjust the White Balance Shift, let’s take a look at what it does to a photograph. The image below demonstrates the dramatic impact White Balance Shift can have on a picture:
Those are examples of big White Balance Shifts, but what about subtle Shifts? Do they make a difference? Take a look at the picture below. The left image is without a Shift (0 Red & 0 Blue), and the right image is with a subtle Shift (+1 Red & -1 Blue). It’s not a huge change, but noticeable nonetheless.
Now let’s take a look at some less subtle White Balance Shifts and how it can change the aesthetic of a picture. The examples below are all Auto White Balance using various White Balance Shifts, which are prescribed in different Film Simulation Recipes. The specific Shifts and Recipes are listed under each picture.
As you can see, you can get many different color casts using White Balance Shift. In fact, Fujifilm gives you over 350 different options! You can get creative and mix a White Balance Shift with a White Balance that’s other than Auto. Below you’ll find some examples of this. The specific White Balance, Shift, and Recipe are located under each picture.
White Balance and White Balance Shift affect black-and-white pictures, too! You can manipulate how grey tones are rendered in an image using these tools. The picture below was captured using Acros+R. The version on the left has Auto White Balance and no Shift (0 Red & 0 Blue), while the one on the right has a White Balance of 4200K and a Shift of 0 Red & +9 Blue. Otherwise these two dramatically different images have identical settings.
Below are a few more examples of combining White Balance and White Balance Shift in black-and-white pictures. The specific White Balance, Shift, and Recipe are located under each picture.
There’s one more application of White Balance Shift that I’d like to mention: Multiple Exposure photography. One example of White Balance Shift applied to Multiple Exposures, which is the first image below, is an exposure (the “main exposure”) made without a Shift, and then a second exposure of white paper or card-stock with a Shift applied. This gives the picture a faded color-cast aesthetic. Another example, which is the second picture below, is to capture two or more (for cameras capable of more than two) exposures, changing the Shift between exposures. This creates an abstract color rendering.
Most Fujifilm cameras do not have the ability to save White Balance Shifts within Custom Presets. Most of my Film Simulation Recipes require a Shift, yet you cannot save the Shift, so each time you change Recipes you must manually adjust the Shift. This is unfortunate, but thankfully Fujifilm has fixed this issue on the X100V (review here), X-Pro3 and X-T4! If you have one of those three cameras, you can save a White Balance Shift with each Custom Preset. As much as I love the new Clarity setting, Color Chrome Effect Blue, and the new Classic Negative film simulation, my absolute favorite new feature Fujifilm has added to their cameras is the ability to save White Balance Shifts. Thank you, Fujifilm!
White Balance Shift is an amazing tool on your Fujifilm camera! Found within the White Balance Menu, it allows you to fine-tune the color cast of your pictures. You can use this tool to customize your picture aesthetics. I use it extensively in my Film Simulation Recipes, both color and black-and-white, to achieve various looks. Without White Balance Shift many of my Recipes would not be possible. You can use it subtly or dramatically, with Auto White Balance or one of the other White Balance options.
Now you know what White Balance Shift is on your Fujifilm camera and how to use it. Now it’s time to get creative with it!
Hey there. Great article. I’m not sure if it is just me, but the first picture with the slider (tree and waterfall) the left side appears to be blurry.
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I just got an X-E3. Latest firmware installed. It appears WB Shift can’t be saved in custom presets. I hope Fuji adds this capability.
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Unfortunately, you cannot save the WB Shift with the presets, except for the latest cameras: X-Pro3 and newer. I, too, wish Fujifilm would add this capability to “older” cameras.
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Hey There, it looks like one of the images in the Tree and Waterfall pick comparison slider at the top of the article is blurry. Is the red/blue adjustment making it sharper? Or is that an issue with the image ? Or is it just me.
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I think it’s a combination of the low-resolution files used, Flickr compression, and the WordPress tool. The picture isn’t blurry, but it definitely does look soft in the comparison slider.
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Ok. I at first thought I was seeing things and you came up with some AWESOME science to make it sharper with changing the Red / Blue.
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That would be pretty awesome. It would be interesting to experiment with. Maybe there is truth to it? I’ll do some 200% crops and see.
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Richie, great explanation and demonstration through the photos. Although I have not tackled making my own film simulations yet I can definitely see how these minor adjustments can help achieve the desired look. Thanks again. Definitely worth a bookmark.
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I appreciate the feedback! I’m glad that you found it interesting.
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Hey there! There is actually a workaround to save the WB shifts on older Fuji cameras (at least it works on my XT-2).
How to do it: You need to set up your white balance in the main menu, before going into the “Edit custom preset” mode. Once there, use the first option “Save current settings” which will bring in your current camera settings including the WB shift. Then you can edit the rest of the preset and you’re done ✅
It confused me at first, I thought this button would be saving my current preset, not bringing in the camera settings. But it was key when I was discovering your blog because there was no way I would set up the white balance manually every time
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I’ve heard this a couple of times before, but when I have tried it on my cameras, it never worked. Not sure if it’s a quirk of the X-T2, or if I’m simply doing something wrong. I’m glad that it worked for you (and some others). Thank you for sharing!
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It does NOT work on my XT-3 even with new firmware 4.00
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I’ve never been able to get it to work for me, either.
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This is the way it works on my X-H1. Set the WB and other options (color, sharpness, film sim, etc.) on the main menu, then go into EDIT/SAVE CUSTOM SETTING, choose a custom # slot, and then SAVE CURRENT SETTINGS. This stores the current camera settings into the custom setting.
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But does it save the WB Shift (R & B)? In other words, if you have that same White Balance but with a different shift saved in another Custom slot, when you switch back-and-forth, does it remember the correct Shift?
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Hi! Thanks for the article.
Does the white balance shift affect the RAF files or is it just the JPEG´s? I know that white balance do
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The WB Shift should not affect the RAW file, it doesn’t seem that Capture One attempts to apply it, anyway. But in RAW you can change the WB to whatever you want.
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