F35 Black Balancing

rbirnbaum

rbirnbaum

Well-known member
Had a funny exchange with a great (young) DP who rented my camera. Found a hot pixel. Asked him if he had done a Black Balance. He said he did during camera prep before the shoot. I told him, better to do it a few minutes after you start the camera every day you shoot.

Here is his response...

does-the-camera.jpg
 
I finally accepted it's a part of the camera routine but admit I miss it occasionally on fast paced shoots. I've noticed it's only a problem on my camera when I shoot low light and starve the sensor. Davinci's dead pixel fixer is amazing when I see one. Super easy to use and can fix em during the grade.
 
We have it good, but there is still so much farther to go!

We have left the lo fi world, and now we are in the uncanny valley. Not great for image making, but totally awesome for career making.
 
rbirnbaum said:
Asked him if he had done a Black Balance. He said he did during camera prep before the shoot.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the following from the manual:

"During adjustment, "ABB: EXECUTING" is displayed on the viewfinder screen. When the adjustment process is completed successfully, the message "ABB: OK" is displayed. White flecks (Phenomena Specific to CCD Image Sensors, page 127) [My quote: This refers to cosmic radiation] This camera has a function to automatically compensate for white flecks during automatic black balance (ABB) adjustments. The white-fleck automatic compensation function of this camera performs compensation for only one of three channels R, G, or B during a single execution of ABB adjustment. Therefore, repeating ABB adjustment three times achieves compensation for all three channels R, G, and B. The three channels are processed in a circumstantially determined order. The order and the compensation data will be maintained even if the camera is turned off. If the problem is not alleviated through the automatic compensation, consult a Sony service personnel."

If that fails and before you rush into your friendly expensive Sony tech you could try the long 10 second black balance. Go through the normal black balance but keep holding the button down after it's done and eventually you should see it go through a second much more serious series of deep black balances where you will witness major gain ups as it cycles through the R,G and B channels. Just keep the button down until you see this extended ABB finished. This is equivalent to the APR function you see on the later Sony F series cameras, FS7, F5, F55. If the pixel correctionn register isn't full it should map out the hot pixel... hopefully! If the pixel register is full then it needs to be manually fixed by a tech using a line by line and pixel by pixel tracking process using a WFM capable of image analysis line by line to track down the errant pixel/s. Then there is the a process of pixel mapping using the average values from the adjacent pixels that can be applied.

Chris Young
 
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