black balance

There is a lot of debate on whether it is necessary to do the black balance every time.

Unlike white balance, black balance is not adjusted every time.

Amateur handycam users need not worry about black balance.

Most cameramen never touch the black balance.

Black balance can be done if the colours do not seem to be truly represented even after doing the white balance.

Conditions under which black balance are typically done are when the camera experiences a large change in operating temperature, especially from colder to warmer.

Panasonic 102 XB camera operating instructions manual suggests that black balance be performed when:

The main purpose of black balance is to eliminate any residual current being output from the pixel sites under conditions of complete darkness, often referred to as thermal noise.

In the Panasonic 102 3ccd series, the white balance switch when pressed just once triggers white balancing and when depressed and held for a few seconds completes the black balance.

Video cameras can possess a function called black balance which calibrates the signal for no light, just as they have a "white balance" function which gives reference to true white to the CCDs.

Controls that need quick access are on hard physical switches, all in the same general place on the camera, irrespective of the camera manufacturer, such as Gain Select, White/Black balance, color bar select, and record start controls and not in menu selection.