GH4 Not Too Happy With The GH4 So Far...

From the GH4 Guide

Unlike with a raw still the white balance colour cast is baked into video files on the GH4 and can only be
corrected in post to a finite degree. For most circumstances it is ok to use the auto-white balance setting
on the GH4 but if your lighting changes too much during a shot you can avoid electronically controlled tint
changes made unpredictably by the camera by setting white balance manually.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
They should make an extra page in the beginning of the manual that says "all functions should be kept on auto at all times because....admit it....learning how to use a camera is just too hard."

If a camera manual says you should leave the AWB on...its like your GPS system telling you to drive into a lake....and then you do it.
 
I did my first WB with grey card today shot a room with a lot of wooden furniture in it. First with AWB and the same scene with MWB the difference was incredible !with the AWB the wooden furniture had a orange tinge to it, but after MWB the woods looked so natural and so did the rest of the colours i was amazed.
WB manually from now on and in time hopefully it will become a habit.
 
nathannguyen59 said:
Instead of using a grey card, I've been trying to use custom white balance with a white piece of paper. Is this wrong?
Click to expand...

I think that 'professional' white balancing is done with a decent grey card at 18%. I've done it off white walls and white paper before (when running and gunning) but you're likely to get dodgy colours. Safer to carry a tiny pop up 18% grey card around and put it in front of your talent just before shooting.
 
Pearstone sells a 18% grey lens cloth. It works well enough and fits in any camera bag (plus can clean gak off your lens)
 
next question: if I shot about 6 different angles to cover a similar shot, some close ups, some wider etc... Should I be WB again with each camera location move? Or set once and forget as the lighting is all the same (just totally different angles) for all 6 shots?
 
The most accurate way to set WB is to use the ExpoDisk. You simply hold it over the lens aimed AT the light source lighting your subject and set a custom WB. At the same time you can set your exposure manually as the ExpoDisck is a true 18% grey.
 
I have never been a fan of that expo disk thing. You are reading ambient light at the camera position. Not necessarily the correct white balance you would select for the subject position.
 
In a controlled environment, such as narrative work or interviews, a grey card positioned under your key light is definitely the best tool for white balance. But, there are certainly scenarios where this is impractical or not even advisable (a concert, for example.) The ExpoDisk is a nice to have in your toolbox for such occasions.
 

Hey guys,

I got rid of the grain effect which I think was making the video much noisier than it should have been. The white balance is still off since I didn't reshoot it to me the images look much better than before. I have replaced the old video with new video so you will not be able to see what it looked like before. Let me know what you guys think now. Thanks again for all your help. I'll make to custom white balance each time and not fiddle around with master pedestal which is causing much more harm than intended. For all you guys who are color grading novices like me, don't lower contrast too much because it makes it harder to gauge exposure and will most likely result in a noisier image in post.
 
I have always used white paper for white balance. Gets good results usually, but now that you guys mention it maybe I should try out a gray card as well.
Anybody have comparisons with the gh4 if the difference is worth it ?
 
CustomerGH4 said:
I have always used white paper for white balance. Gets good results usually, but now that you guys mention it maybe I should try out a gray card as well.
Anybody have comparisons with the gh4 if the difference is worth it ?
Click to expand...

I've had good results with white paper. The danger is if the white is overexposed, but the GH4 will alert you if it is and force you to redo it until the exposure is correct.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top