ATW - How does it work?

M

mushyosh

Active member
Can someone please explain how to use ATW?

I need to shoot a live performance with no time to white balance every time there is a light change.

Thanks for any help.
 
I don't think you'll want to change the wb constantly for a situation like that. If you did, the color effects of the stage lights would be negated. Usually the stage lights will all be around 3200k (occasionally closer to 5600k). The color temperature of the fixtures should be constant (with different color gels for color effects) Go with preset 3200k and see what looks best on your monitor. If the overall white looks too bluish, try 5600k preset. ATW would make something like this look funky and is usually used more for stuff like news where you have to go from indoor lighting to outdoor lighting quickly.
-Ryan
 
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I'll second hybridcreations, DO NOT use ATW in this situation. Your footage will constantly be shifting colors in a very unpleasant way.

Come to think of it, when would you want to use ATW?
 
I really think fast-paced news coverage is the only time you'd want it. When you're inside a courthouse and you've got to follow the defendant outside as he's being brought out, ATW will help significantly so you don't miss the shot while you're busy whitebalancing. We don't have the luxury of a filterwheel like a betacam has, so unless you have an indoor balance and an outdoor balance saved as A and B, and toggle between them, you'd be SOL.
 
Good point, Hybrid. Luckily, though, the DVX can toggle between 32K and 56K. Might not be perfect at all times (especially the 32K indoor), but I would still prefer that to ATW.
 
Agreed.....ok how bout an outdoor press conference with the Governor on a partly cloudy day? :) There's got to be a use somewhere out there even though I hate it and have never even considered using it.
 
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nope it doesnt correct istelf. it just does nothing. or suddenly turns BRIGHT orance and noisy. i just turn it off.
 
mushyosh said:
Can someone please explain how to use ATW?

I need to shoot a live performance with no time to white balance every time there is a light change.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

My opinion on this is that in general you don't want to white balance for every lighting change. After all, the idea of theatrical lighting is to set a mood and white balancing can kill that. What you want is to white balance to whatever lighting is meant to be normal 'white' lighting for the production. If you can, arrange to do this with the lighting director before the performance or during a rehearsal. If you can't, then go with the DVX presets as Hybrid suggested.

I definitely agree with the advice to not use ATW. I tried it a couple of times when I first got the cam and quickly turned it off. Just walking around the interior of my house during the day caused really ugly color shifts.

-Dan
 
TeleDan said:
Just walking around the interior of my house during the day caused really ugly color shifts.
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Yes, my house turned light blue. But it was actually very pleasing, and looked as if you were in the middle of an iceberg.
 
I tried the ATW on my DVX100A once. I was doing a wedding and the church had tons of windows and indoor lights, causing a mishmash of color temperature. The ATW did not perform as I expected; it only seems to pick either 3200 or 5600 and nothing inbetween. It looked like I was on preset WB and was randomly switching between 3200 and 5600.

Needless to say, I quickly shut it off, and have never used it since. I've had good luck using preset WB and just doing a little CC in post.
 
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