GH5 GH5 and manual WB with a small size grey card. help!

FoxAdriano said:
Hi, I never made manual white balance with the G5. I'd like to buy this gray card:
https://www.amazon.it/Kaavie-bilanc...&keywords=cartoncino+bilanciamento+del+bianco
I will use it in my trips in Africa but it seems really a small size. But have I use it in my hand or can I put it on the ground? How can I use it if I'm always alone? Thank you.
Click to expand...

13x10 cm is really small.

Conventional practice is that you fill your frame with the gray card, in the lighting that you'll be using. So typically that means perpendicular to the ground, unless you are actually shooting something lying on the ground. Then, fill your frame with nothing but the gray card, then set your manual white balance.

This implies a considerably bigger gray card, or a heck of a zoom lens, or getting the camera really close to the card. What I use is a much larger Lastolite EzyBalance. Mine is the middle size, they list it here as 20", but it measures about 52.5 cm diagonally on the gray area. Edge to edge including the frame is 58.5 cm. I find it to be a nice convenient size, and my talent is usually perfectly happy to hold it in front of their face for a few moments while I white balance a couple of cameras. Done this way, under the lights we're using for the shoot, it gives a very accurate white balance. I find that I don't need to color correct the resulting footage at all (although I sometimes do some color grading for effect, but that's not what white balance is for).

These Lastolite EzyBalance devices fold up for storage/transport to about 1/3 their extended size, so mine measures about 25 cm in diameter when folded and in its case. And it's fairly light weight also.

If you're alone and shooting landscapes or wildlife, you can always either put the camera on a tripod and turn the screen toward the front so you can hold the gray card sufficiently far out front but still see the screen so you can see what the camera sees (being careful not to throw a shadow or reflect onto the card). Alternatively you could perhaps prop the card up at the base of a tree, log, wall, etc. when hand holding.
 
The white portion of your card used for manual WB just have to be big enough to fill the frame and with enough room between the camera and the card, that the camera does not block the prevailing light....the WB card does not have to be in focus...if working with an AC or focus puller a bigger card is better, but for travel shooting and if you're alone, you can make do with smaller....factor that into the gear you take, how you are going to position the card while you WB as you may have to frequently as the light changes and depending how much you shoot per day...perhaps a very light collapsible stand or tripod that can do double duty...easier to take than find there...
 
Friends, I thank you for your suggestions. I can't always walking with a big grey card or a tripod for all the time. It would be impossible. Sometime I need to walk for many kms before shootings.
I need to be more precise on the description.

I am a lonely traveller and nobody can help me to make the WB. I make only UHD videos with GH5 and Leica 12-60, I don't make photos. I usually reach remote areas and I make shots about indigenous peoples in their villages. I film their daily life. I usually shoot in the village (outside) but inside their huts too without electricity. All my places have usually the red ground like fire. If I shot with a videocamera (Sony AX100) in automatic automatic WB, it goes crazy and looks drunk. All the clips all have bad dominants and the chromatism isn't good.

I only make videos, I has always used videocameras and now I'd like to use GH5. I will travel with it for the first time. Do you think its automatic WB works better than my Sony AX100 videocamera?

Anyway I'm thinking also of ExpoDisc Professional White Balance Filter. What is your thought please?

PS: I think I will shoot in "Natural mode" but with contrast -2 and definition -2.
 
Last edited:
FoxAdriano said:
Anyway I'm thinking also of ExpoDisc Professional White Balance Filter. What is your thought please?.
Click to expand...

As I was reading your post, the ExpoDisc was the first thing to come to my mind for what you require.

May not be perfect, but for your type of shooting it would be the most convenient. I use one and think its a good solution.
 
Good news. I thank you. Can you tell me how can I use ExpoDisc precisely? For example outdoor I can I can point it towards the sun and inside the hut I can point it towards the windows or towards the open door. Is it right?
 
The GH5 uses the central 1/3 of the image for WB, and seems to ignore any colours outside of this box. So a target that is 13cm wide will easily fill this area of the frame at arms length at 60mm.
 
Highly recommend the Expodisc for setting white balance on the run: https://www.expodisc.com/

Expodisc is easy. Stick it on the end of your lens. Point in the general direction you are shooting. Click to white balance. Done. It comes in a nice cases with a belt clip. I've taken it on three trips to Kenya.
 
Joe, do you use a GH5 camera? Have you used both Expodisc and grey card? Which is more precise of both for WB? Anoter problem is it difficulty to find a 62mm Expodisc.

Good words if GH5 uses the central 1/3 of the image for WB. It is very good.
Thanks
 
Last edited:
The Expodisc you can just hold over your lends and take a reading, you don't need to screw it in. the sizing is mainly to cover the lens.

Don't over think it. Which way is the camera pointing? Just stick the Expodisc in front, white balance and go. :)
 
Have you used both Expodisc grey card? If you used both, can you tell me which is more precise for WB? Thanks
 
I've got both an Expodisc and also a selection of white balance slates (X-rite Video Passport being the most recent I've purchased)

I've had the expo disc for probably 8yrs+, since I own the original Olympus E-1 (2005?) and I find it works really well for when I cannot stage the grey card, I do prefer the video passport now for the calibration aspects, but means it needs to be sat in the scene you are videoing before hand. The expo disc is always with me. If anything the expo disc is the most simplest way to MWB one handed.

Results I couldn't tell them apart.
 
FoxAdriano said:
Joe, do you use a GH5 camera? Have you use both as Expodisc as gry card? Which is more precise of both for WB? Anoter problem is it difficulty to find a 62mm Expodisc.

Good words if GH5 uses the central 1/3 of the image for WB. It is very good.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I do use the GH5. I use both the Expodisc and grey cards (Spydercheckr to be exact) depending on the situation. I'm most likely to use charts in a controlled environment, and most likely to use the Expodisc in the field. The reason to use the Expodisc is convenience.

Don't worry about the size of the Expodisc. I've never actually attached it. I just hold it in front and then put it back on my hip.

Which is more accurate? The grey card. Does the difference matter? Not generally. Think of shooting the grey card as similar to using a spot meter - it measures the color of that spot directly. Think of shooting the Expodisc like an incidence meter - it measures the average of the color in the entire field of view.

One final comment based on your description of what you are shooting: you may not always want neutral white balance. If you are shooting by firelight, you probably want that to look warm, not neutral. That would actually look quite strange. Just something to keep in mind.
 
I also recommend the Expodisc, & own several. For documentary work they are great, especially when working with lights that may have a color cast.

That said I don’t feel you need to be Custom White Balancing the GH5 for the lighting scenarios you’ll be encountering. When working with natural light the WB presets work well, & if filming interiors lit by candles, or fires, I’d set the CT to the lowest setting the GH5 allows, which is 2500*. The image will still look warm, but that’s what you want when working with this type of lighting, & a completely neutral color balance provided by a Custom WB would look strange.
 
joe12south said:
One final comment based on your description of what you are shooting: you may not always want neutral white balance. If you are shooting by firelight, you probably want that to look warm, not neutral. That would actually look quite strange. Just something to keep in mind.
Click to expand...

Just fully read your post, & could have just given it a “+1” instead of blabbing on. Interesting that we both used the word “strange”.
 
FoxAdriano said:
Sorry, I don't understand well. When I work in natural light but with african sun and in the bush with red ground, would you use the white preset or the Expodisc with GH5?
Click to expand...

You should get decent results with the daylight preset. Depending on time of day, weather, etc., the Expodisc will dial it in even closer.
 
I'm very worried because I'm getting some strange problems. I hope it's a GH5 settings problem. I started making the first video editing with Edius 9 and I noticed that all the clips on the timeline have the initial part no audio tracks (less than half a second). There are no waves and you don't hear any sound (completely silent).Then as far as audio is concerned, I sometimes hear a crunching sound like it is due to an electric shock. and I also see it on the audio wave. I'm shooting in UHD at 59.94p and 150mps. What could be my problem? Do I have to be worried?
 
The audio issue has been present on the GH3, GH4, & GH5. Imagine it was also on the GH1, & GH2.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top