RGB CCD's equal strength?

[d-mac]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if the chips of the HVX could possibly favor one color over the other?
I shot some footage and it came out consistently on the (slightly) blue side. It was easily fixed in color correction, but I was just wondering if this is a trend with the HVX or if it was a color balancing problem to begin with.

I assume that if the camera somehow has a weaker red sensitivity, it'd run blue.....anyone know more about the inner workings of this thing? Are all CCD's created equal?

[dregenthal]

Please forgive any misplaced implacation but if you forgot to white balance (or more accurately) had the WB switch on PRST and it was set at 3200k that would surely give you a blue cast if you were shooting daylight.

[Barry_Green]

The CCDs are identical, but the wavelengths of light aren't, and the amount of any given wavelength of light in any given lighting condition is subject to vary.

CCDs are typically balanced so that they deliver equal output under tungsten (3200k) lighting conditions. If the light you're shooting under contains a color spectrum equivalent to what's emitted by a burning tungsten filament, then the CCDs will output equivalent-strength signals such that a white object is output as white.

If your lighting conditions vary (such as you're shooting under blue light) then you have to white balance, which makes some of the CCDs output stronger signals than others, to bring the image back into balance and render white as "white."

So, depending on how the colors are balanced in the spectrum of light you're shooting under, the CCDs will output different levels of signal in order to render the same object the same color.

[d-mac]

thanks guys, that clears things up a bit. I could have sworn I had the preset on 5600 or whatever the daylight one is, but I was also shooting in a graveyard (doc piece about cemetaries in Japan) and there was a lot of light reflecting off the gravestones.

the footage cleaned up perfectly in CC though, and I got some beautiful shots there.

thanks for the information!
-david

[Barry_Green]

Could be -- daylight isn't always 5600k! If it's an overcast day, daylight can easily top 8000k or more, which would make all your footage look blue.

[d-mac]

Thanks, as always, Barry!