Been a while since I posted here.
Experimenting with a Nikon D810.
Under the Setup Menu, there is a "Monitor Color Balance" option.
I thought, naively, that this "thing" can be calibrated in a "device-independent" way.
For those of you who are familiar with the D810 and this option, the procedure is simple.
It will default to the last image taken but any image in the memory card can be selected.
I thought I'd use some kind of neutral gray card but I ended up using the GretagMacbeth White Balance card.
So I shot the card by a window in the house.
Sky was overcast. I thought "blue"?
Next thing I did is to measure the "White Balance Card" as displayed on the camera.
I got : 6709 K (x 0.3102 y 0.3219) at 64.56 cd/m2.
I thought, wow! Close to D65?
So I continued my little experiment.
This morning, the sky was clear and I was able to photograph the card under Direct Sunlight.
I got: 6546 K (0.3108 0.3408) at 81 cd/m2.
Odd?
10 minutes ago, I decided to make a last attempt under Tungsten light.
I got: 3991 K at 75 cd/m2.
Ideally, I'd like to set the Monitor Balance one way and leave it that way.
I don't intend to use the Monitor to judge color but the human spirit is what it is...
I was thinking, perhaps, to set it for "Direct Sunlight", close to D50, the more "natural" condition for photography.
But I could equally set it on D65.
What bugs me is that it seems to be "contextual"?
If the "Color Balance" in the selected image is close to D65, it will use its estimated white point to display the image.
Same reasoning for a "Warm balance" such as that used in my humble Tungsten test above.
The D50 experiment remains inconclusive. If my "theory" is right, I should have observed more variation.
The color temperature should have been way lower than 6546 K.
I made extra sure only direct sunlight was illuminating the white card...
Any ideas?