How to Adjust White Balance on DJI Drone
Peter Leslie
22 May 2026
If the footage off a DJI drone keeps shifting colour between clips or the whites in the shot look too blue or too orange, the control you are looking for is the white balance setting inside DJI Fly. It lives in the camera parameters panel on the right of the camera view on every current drone in the line-up, and the path to it is the same on each one — provided the camera is in Pro mode.
Drones this applies to
DJI Neo 2, DJI Mini 5 Pro, DJI Avata 2, DJI Air 3 Pro, DJI Mavic 4 Pro. The same procedure works on any drone running DJI Fly v1.21.2 or later — only the Kelvin slider range and the exact preset wording vary very slightly between models.
Quick guide
To adjust white balance on DJI Drone, go to DJI Fly → Camera View → switch to Pro mode → camera parameters panel → turn Auto WB off. Pick Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, or Fluorescent from the preset row, or drag the Kelvin slider for a custom value.
Step-by-step: How to Adjust White Balance on DJI Drone
Follow these top to bottom the first time, and you will know the path off by heart the second time. The labels and order are identical on every drone in the callout above.
Open DJI Fly and enter the camera view from the home screen
With the drone powered on and the remote controller connected, launch DJI Fly and tap Go Fly to drop into the camera view. The live feed fills the screen with the shooting controls stacked in a column down the right-hand edge.
Switch the camera mode from Auto to Pro using the bottom-right icon
Tap the camera mode icon at the very foot of the right-hand control column. The label flips from Auto to Pro, and a new row of manual exposure controls appears above it. White balance is only adjustable from Pro, so this switch has to happen before the next step works.
Tap the camera parameters icon in the right-hand control column
The camera parameters icon is the one with the three short horizontal lines stacked on top of each other. Tap it once and a panel slides out from the right edge with the manual exposure rows on the left side and the white balance section grouped along the top.
Select the first section of the parameters panel where white balance lives
The parameters panel is split into sections along the top edge. The first section holds the white balance controls — Auto WB, the preset row, and the Kelvin slider. If a different section is showing, tap the first tab on the panel header to bring the white balance group back into view.
Tap the Auto WB toggle to switch automatic white balance off
Auto WB sits at the top of the white balance section as a single toggle. Tap it once to switch it off. The preset row and the Kelvin slider below it light up and become tappable, where before they were greyed out.
Pick a preset from the white balance row — Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, or Fluorescent
Four preset buttons run across the row underneath the toggle. Sunny is the warmest of the daylight options, Cloudy adds a touch more warmth for overcast skies, Incandescent shifts the balance cool to counter the orange cast of indoor bulbs, and Fluorescent shifts it cool to counter the green cast of strip lighting. Tap whichever one matches the light the drone is flying in.
Drag the Kelvin slider for a custom colour temperature if no preset fits
The custom slider runs from roughly 2000 K at the warm end to 10000 K at the cool end. Drag the indicator left for warmer, right for cooler, in steps of around 100 K. The live feed updates as you drag, so you can settle on the exact value that makes the whites in the scene look neutral.
Confirm the live feed and close the parameters panel
Look at the camera view behind the panel — the whites in the frame should now read neutral, and the overall colour should match the scene the way your eye sees it. Tap anywhere outside the panel to close it. The white balance value sticks for the rest of the session until you change it again or power-cycle the drone.
Peter's tip
I almost never use the presets — I jump straight to the Kelvin slider and set 5600 K for outdoor work, then nudge it warmer to 6200 K if the sky is heavy overcast. Locking a single Kelvin number across the whole shoot is what stops the colour drifting between clips when I come to grade, and it is the one habit that has made the biggest difference to how the drone footage cuts into the rest of the timeline.
White balance options compared
Five rows, five very different colour casts on the live feed. Use this table to pick the option that matches the light before the drone takes off.
| Option | Approximate Kelvin | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Auto WB | Variable | Casual or grab-and-fly footage where you do not need clip-to-clip colour consistency. The drone re-meters every frame, which is convenient but causes mid-flight colour drift. |
| Sunny | ~5500 K | Clear-sky daylight flying, direct sun on the subject, no significant cloud cover. The closest match for a clean midday shoot. |
| Cloudy | ~6500 K | Overcast skies, light haze, or any UK day where the sun is hidden behind cloud. Warms the image back up against the cool cast of grey light. |
| Incandescent | ~3200 K | Indoor flying under tungsten or halogen bulbs. Counters the warm orange cast that bulb-lit rooms add to the feed. |
| Fluorescent | ~4000 K | Indoor flying under strip lights, office lighting, or warehouse fluorescents. Counters the green cast that fluorescent tubes add to the image. |
| Custom Kelvin | 2000 K – 10000 K | Any scene where the presets miss — mixed lighting, sunrise, sunset, or any shoot where the drone has to match a fixed Kelvin value from another camera. |
Frequently asked questions
Why is the white balance toggle greyed out on my DJI drone?
The camera is in Auto mode. White balance can only be adjusted manually once the drone is in Pro mode — Auto mode hides the Auto WB toggle and the preset row underneath it. Tap the camera mode icon at the bottom-right of the camera view to flip to Pro, then re-open the camera parameters panel and the toggle becomes active.
What white balance presets does DJI Fly offer on a DJI drone?
Four presets sit under the Auto WB toggle on every current DJI drone — Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, and Fluorescent. Each one locks the white balance to a fixed colour temperature that matches the lighting conditions on the label. A custom Kelvin slider sits alongside the presets if none of the four match the scene.
What Kelvin range does the DJI Fly white balance slider cover?
The custom slider on DJI Fly runs roughly from 2000 K at the warm end to 10000 K at the cool end. Step values are coarse — around 100 K per increment — which is plenty for matching the look of one DJI drone to another camera on the same shoot.
Does a DJI drone save the white balance setting between flights?
The value persists across the same session — closing and re-opening the camera view keeps the manual white balance where you set it. A full power-cycle of the drone resets the camera to Auto mode, which re-enables Auto WB, so you have to re-pick the preset or Kelvin value at the start of the next session.
Which white balance preset matches UK midday flying?
Sunny is the closest preset for clear-sky midday flying — it sits around 5500 K. UK weather rarely delivers a clean sunny day, so Cloudy at roughly 6500 K is the one most UK drone pilots reach for. If the sky is bright but overcast and Sunny looks too cool on the live feed, Cloudy will warm the image back up to a natural look.
Should I match white balance between my DJI drone and another camera on the same shoot?
Yes. Auto WB re-meters every frame, which means the colour shifts subtly as the drone moves between shaded and lit ground. If the DJI footage has to cut into a sequence shot on another camera, set both cameras to the same Kelvin value — the DJI drone to a custom Kelvin on the slider, the other camera to the same number — and the cut will grade as one shot.
Why does the colour of my DJI footage shift mid-flight in Auto?
Auto white balance re-evaluates the scene every frame based on the dominant colours in the field of view. Fly from a green field over a tarmac road and the drone re-balances against the new dominant colour, so the image warms or cools mid-clip. Switching to a manual preset or a fixed Kelvin value locks the colour temperature and removes the shift.
Can I adjust white balance in photo mode on a DJI drone?
Yes. The Auto WB toggle and the preset row work the same way whether the drone is in photo mode or video mode — the panel layout and the menu path are identical. The only difference is that the value applies to the next still you capture rather than to the next clip you record.
Auto white balance is fine for the casual flights, but the second the footage has to grade as one shot or cut into a sequence from another camera, a fixed Kelvin value is the only setting that gets you there. Pick a number, lock it for the whole flight, and the colour stops fighting you in post.
If the white balance on your DJI drone still will not settle the way you want, drop the details to peter@hiredronepilot.uk and I will come back to you directly. The video version of this walkthrough is on YouTube and the comments are open.
References
Primary source material for this article is the official DJI user documentation for each drone in the callout and DJI Fly. External links open in a new tab.
- DJI Fly — App download and release notes · The app where the camera view, Pro mode, and the white balance panel live across every current DJI drone. Release notes record any layout changes between app versions.
- DJI — UK consumer drone product line-up · Per-drone user manuals carry the camera parameters panel layout, the Pro mode behaviour, and the white balance section position.
- UK Civil Aviation Authority — The Drone and Model Aircraft Code (CAP2320) · The visual-line-of-sight framework that defines how UK drone pilots are expected to operate the camera while in flight.
Peter Leslie
Founder & GVC Drone Pilot
Peter is the founder of HireDronePilot. With thousands of logged commercial flight hours, he writes about drone technology, commercial surveying tactics, and UK aviation compliance.
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