False color
Live Zone System color map over the preview.
Where to find it
Viewfinder Layers icon False color
Summary
Replaces the live preview with a Zone System color map. Each pixel is tinted by which zone it would land on at the current exposure, so you can see clipping, shadow crush, and skin-tone placement at a glance.
Detail
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How it works
What it does
Replaces the live preview with a Zone System color map. Each pixel is tinted by which zone it would land on at the current exposure. Red marks pixels at Zone IX or above (about to clip to white), blue marks pixels at Zone I or below (crushed to black), and the midtones are a smooth gradient between them. Skin tone lands around Zone VI, which the map renders as a warm beige.
How it tracks exposure
The color map is anchored to the most recent metered EV. As you ride the EV-comp dial, every zone shifts in real time so you can see how much latitude the scene has at the current setting. Re-meter at a new spot and the whole map re-anchors around that reading.
When to turn this on
Pre-visualizing exposure before metering. At a glance you can see which parts of the scene are at risk of clipping, where shadow detail would crush, and how the scene's contrast range compares to the latitude of the stock you're loading. Especially useful for scenes with extreme contrast (sun and shade in one frame) where a single-spot reading is not telling you the full story.
When to turn this off
When you want to compose the actual frame. The color map replaces the natural preview, so it's harder to judge composition, color, or focus while it's on. Standard workflow is to flip it on while metering, make any EV-comp adjustments based on what you see, then flip it off to compose and take the shot.
Note
The map is computed from the live preview frames, which are 8-bit JPEGs. Specular highlights that exceed the preview's range may already be saturated to white in the input frame, so the false-color map can't tell Zone IX from Zone XII at those spots. For the most honest reading on hot specular highlights, pair False color with Professional metering or Auto-pro on clipped readings (in the Metering Mode modal).