ATW (auto tracking white) pulses

A

averan

Well-known member
just discovered that the ATW tends to pulse or rhythmically change white balance when shooting indoors under fluorescent lighting. :embarasse

i was shooting an online Yellow Pages commercial and was under a crunch for time.....i thought i could make things easy by letting the ATW handle white balance. the colors were looking pretty good so i thought i was ok.

but then when i started reviewing my shots and while editing i noticed a regular pulsing of the color of the white walls in my shots! i'm guessing this is the result of some sort of interference pattern of the frequency of the fluorescent ceiling lights and the ATW. anyone know?

well, moral of the story, freaking just manual white balance and be done with it!

won't make that mistake again.
 
It's not the ATW, that is what fluorescent lights do, how they work, that causes the pulsating change in color. we'll atleast the old ballast still do that, the newer elecronic ballast makes use of high frequency AC, so you won't notice the change.

BTW using ATW is never, never good, rather use the two presets then atleast it's constant, and if it's off correct it in post.

- Derrick
 
Last edited:
I don't know if ATW was to blame, but I guarantee you'll get this effect if you use a high shutter speed (like 1/250). Make sure you're using 1/60 under fluos.
 
ah...shutter speeds. will make sure to test that out. thanks for the tip barry.

as for it being due to the nature of fluorescent lights, i'm not sure. i've shot lots and lots and lots under fluorescent lighting, my entire studio lighting is fluorescent, and i've never ever seen this happen before with my other cameras.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top