3.1 Section 3: Color & Frequency Analysis

Kelvin temperature

Color-temperature readout next to the EV chip.

Where to find it

Viewfinder Layers icon Kelvin temperature

Summary

Estimates the dominant color temperature of the metered area in Kelvin and shows it as a chip alongside the EV readout. Locks AWB to daylight while enabled so the reading reflects the scene rather than the camera's auto white balance.

Tap to zoom — actual screenshot from the app

Detail

How it works

What it does

Estimates the dominant color temperature of the metered area in Kelvin (tungsten reads around 2800K, daylight around 5500K, open shade around 8000K) and shows it as a chip alongside the metered EV readout after each measurement.

How it's measured

While the badge is on the app locks white balance to the daylight reference. That way the analyzer reads the scene's true chromaticity instead of the camera's auto white-balanced image, which would have neutralized the exact thing we're trying to measure. The lock releases as soon as you turn the badge off and your previous AWB preference is restored.

When to turn this on

When you want to dial in a precise color-correction filter for color film (an 80A for tungsten on daylight stock, an 81-series warm-up filter in shade), when balancing flash to ambient, or when you just want to know what color the light actually is in the scene you're about to shoot.

What's the trade-off

AWB is forced to daylight while the badge is on, so the live preview will look colder or warmer than it would with auto white balance. The numerical reading is more honest because of it, but compose-and-shoot workflows may prefer the badge off so the preview matches what you would see through a tungsten-balanced viewfinder.

Implementation notes (for developers)
Persisted as Profile.kelvinBadgeEnabled. AWB lock to CONTROL_AWB_MODE_DAYLIGHT applied while enabled; restored on disable. Color-temp estimation runs on the metered still capture, not the live preview.

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