White Balance (preset question)

[HueyFilms]

Hi guys, just wondering if it is best to always use presets, and in what situations should I use 3.2 or 5.6? I was recently helping as a p.a. on an HVX film and I noticed the d.p. was using the 5600k preset in the indoor shots giving it this yellow look, and I was curious if thats because you want all your shots balanced in post or not?

thanks

[Mark A. Beal]

3.2 = incandescent lights, 5.6 = daylight. If you're shooting indoors, you'll want to set the camera to 3.2 (unless the scene is primarily illuminated by sunlight such as light streaming through a window). The DP may have left it on 5.6 unintenionally, or he may have been doing it for effect.

[THoff]

Daylight-balanced interior lights are becoming more common as well, so it may in fact be appropriate to use that settings.

If you want accurate white balance, don't rely on the presets and use a proper whitebalance target and do a manual whitebalance with it.

[carlone]

Plus - when using the white balance presets the camera ignors some of the other scene file settings.

[HueyFilms]

ok cool thanks for the help!

[cici]

It is unnatural to whitebalance an indoor situation where you have some yellowish light bulbs because the human eye doesn't see white as white then either...

E.g. if you look at a white paper sheet, it looks yellowish under light bulbs or even outside when the sun goes down. You wouldn't correct the sunset, so why should you "destroy" the indoor-situation?

What I prefer is a MIX between yellowish and white for indoor with yellowish bulbs, because the brain corrects ALSO a little bit the whites: you are only aware of the yellowish paper sheet if you think about it... And to leave the scene COMPLETELY yellow seems to me to hard, because the brain wouldn't either. So it's about the atmosphere that you want to create. And in a night club you would certainly not want to correct the red lamps, would you?