The following is from the instructions which came with my gray card:


The following is from my D70 instruction book regarding white balance. Procedures will vary from camera to camera:

I take this to mean that white balance is an extension of exposure. A "next step" that film could not achieve. Where exposure deals with the amount of light, white balance deals with the color, or temperature, of that light.

Some films were better adapted to certain types and temperatures of light than others, and if you didn't do your homework to match your roll of film to the task at hand it just came out wrong. The same could be said for digital except that we can make our adjustments (much more precise adjustments than the range of film choices would offer) per image, not just per roll of film. Not unlike film speed, or ISO.

Thanks for the peek inside your manual.

Getting a gray card isn't tops on my list, but if I run into one, I'll pick it up. I'm having improved results just resetting my white balance for new situations. However, I would like to see what happens with the gray card, too.

As an aside, I'm becoming more and more impressed with these digitals, even my twinky little Konica Minolta. As you said, with the standard old 35 mm camera, if you got the wrong film, or forgot to crank in the correct ASA numbers, or any of the other things that could go wrong, you often has a batch of useless photos to throw in the trash. Now, however, with the more versatile digital cameras, and with something like Photoshop as a back up, some rather nice work can be achieved.

What I appreciate a lot is the ability to adjust on the fly, from one image to the next. With film you could shoot a roll of 36 and never know for sure. Also, I really like the ability to practice and test without spending a dime.