C100: Correct WB

G

guerriglia

Active member
Hi.
If I let my C100 Mark II do the AWB, I get a certain color temperature. If then I manually choose that same temperature, I get a different white balance, a little warmer. Why?
Thanks.
 
AWB works on both Temperature (Blue-Yellow) and Tint (Green-Magenta). Same with presents like Daylight - they also compensate for Tint.

Setting a Kelvin number manually only influences the Temperature.

I don't know if this answers your question.
 
I try and always stick to either the daylight or tungsten presets.

If I have to work in very mixed lighting then I go for AWB.
 
Thanks. In your opinion, is the color and image quality of the LCD screen reliable to decide if the AWB is good enough? I find the LCD image kind of mushy.
 
I believe you can also set a manual white balance by shooting a white/gray card on the A/B presets, and that should also set temperature and tint. I think sometimes people on this board use the terms "AWB" and "manual white balance" interchangeably.

The LCD on the C100 Mk 1 is not very reliable for setting color. It has a blue cast. So if you're trying to set a truly neutral WB on the Mk1, the LCD should look at least a little blue.

Lots of people praise the Atomos Ninja Blade monitor for being truly color accurate with the C100.

EDITED TO ADD:

I see you're talking about the MKII. The LCD on that is much better than the Mk1, but I still like the Ninja Blade for better color monitoring.
 
You can use the white balance shift option within the custom picture profiles for more color adjustability. I find the C100 to be a bit on the green side, so I always leave it at -2 green, and when shooting under florescent or other odd color environments, I often take out more green, add in more red, etc., to achieve the desired colors I want, along with setting the Kevlin manually.

I use AWB as a guide to quickly check where the camera thinks I should be, but I don't typically leave it on AWB when actually shooting. I don't find the LCD on the C100 Mark I and Mark II to be very color accurate in terms of white balance, but it's good enough to help you get an idea of where you should be.
 
AWB is auto-white balance. A for auto.

Yes, if you don't use the white balance shift to negate the green then the C100 tends to have a green tint to it even if you set the regular white balance to an appropriate Kelvin since the Kelvin does not affect how much green is in the image.

I'm surprised more people don't use the white balance shift. It can make a big difference in getting proper colors in camera, and if you try to correct things in post, it often ends up looking washed out and can be impossible to fully correct. I'm also surprised that both C100 models have white balance shift while both C300 models do not.
 
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