Off Topic digital question

[remrf]

I attended my company's Christmas party yesterday and a co-worker brought her new Cannon Powershot camera. I did not get the model number but it is a very small unit thinner than a pack of cigarettes and not quite as tall. We were inside with shaded windows and some incandescent lighting. A little darker actually than your average daytime restaurant setting. She got up to take a picture of our table and as she was taking her shot a bright amber colored light came from the front of her camera. I asked what it was and she said it was some sort of a non flash indoor lighting mode. She showed me the results and I was impressed. Not as bright as your average indoor flash but certainly bright enough and very even with good color balance and no blowout. I used her camera and took a shot of her from across the table with this setting and it too came out much better than the same shot would have been with an on camera flash. Does anyone know what this type of light is?

I know this is not rf related but I also know there is a lot of photo knowledge within the rf community.

My first thought was that the amber light was part of a light sensing feedback system that bumped up the sensitivity when needed but I did not see any additional noise in the images. Or loss of detail.

If not that then perhaps it is actually an alternate form of lighting that the camera re-color balances after the shot is taken.

This seems more likely but I have not heard of this technology.

Anybody know what this is? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[jtzordon]

Interesting. I've seen the amber AF-assist light, but never an amber "flash".

 

[Kin Lau]

Auto-focus assist light.

 

[remrf]

Interesting. I've seen the amber AF-assist light, but never an amber "flash".

Perhaps I was not clear. This was an assist light and did not go off as a "flash" but was on for about a second before and then during the exposure.