Proper White Balance method?

DammitJanet

DammitJanet

Well-known member
I'm about to start shooting a narrative feature, and I don't quite "get" white balancing yet. Do I need to have a white card in front of the camera and hold the White Balance button before each shot, or is there a better method for maintaining balance throughout shooting? Can using the White Balance presets be useful? If so, how do I set those presets? This has been bugging me for a while, so I'd be happy to nail down a tried and true method for the A1.

:dankk2:
 
Easy way, use a gray card (not a white card, in fact I think they make specific ones for todays digital video cameras), fill the viewfinder with the just gray and use the button as described in the manual. Obviously make sure the gray card is actually under the lighting that the final subject will be under.

Its not like you have to keep redoing it if you are in a studio situation using the same lights for each shot. If you are in a studio situation with the same lights being used over and over again, wb will not change and you dont need to do it for every shot.

If you shoot outside, it's a good idea to start doing it before each shot as outdoor conditions change quite a bit. Sunrise and sunset are drasitcally different than noon, or shade, or an overcast day.

Honestly, it only takes about 10 seconds to do, and it can save a lot of time in post. I'm sure you've seen footage that was shot at the completely wrong wb. It can be an interesting effect if used properly, but I'd rather shoot flat and grade in post.

If you do a search on google for White Balance the first two or three results describe it better than I ever could.
 
What Todd says is true, especially if you are trying to shoot a single scene or sequence that is supposed to be happening all at one time.

But remember that in some cases you may not want to WB to a neutral colour. For example, I would prefer not to WB out the glorious colour of a sunset. I'd usually use a preset WB and deliberately shoot with a colour caste.
 
There's another method invented by George Wallace, a student of Ansel Adams, using prismatic diffusers, explained here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/expodisc.htm

or just type "Expodisc" in the search box of DVXUSER. Many DVX and HVX users are using it.

If you are an experimenter type, you can just make one yourself with a piece of flourescent light diffuser or a Pringles lid.
 
why would you spend $120 for what a $9 card will do?

A true white card is color neutral; a true gray card is color neutral. To the camera, a white card is nothing but a gray card that must be under bright light.

A gray card is more versatile--it's easier to use for both exposure and color balance because it's not already at the edge of the envelope for exposure.

A number of people have run tests that indicate that even for color balance, cameras are more accurate with some shade of gray than with white. This includes tests with accurate materials like the MacBeth Color Checker. Again, it's probably a matter of the camera operating more in the center of its range than an extreme.

"Plain" white is almost never "plain." It often contains UV-activated brighteners than can appear considerably cooler to the camera, especially under flash. The white side of a Kodak gray card should be free of brighteners--but maybe not. The Kodak card was not actually designed for color balancing; some people report that the Kodak card's gray side doesn't respond properly in all kinds of lighting for color balance. However, if you include a Kodak gray card in the scene to determine color balance during editing, it's perfectly suitable.

This subject is actually WAY more complex than what I've included in this post that has to do with luminance and a bunch of tech stuff that I don't understand, and quite honestly don't care to understand.

Good Luck... (not bad for a first post huh?)
 
White Balance - auto?

White Balance - auto?

Guys, I too wonder why you need to manually white balance on a great camera like the XHA1. How bad can the auto function be? Cannot the camera deal with most outdoor scenes? Education please!

Russ
 
rwhb1 said:
Guys, I too wonder why you need to manually white balance on a great camera like the XHA1. How bad can the auto function be? Cannot the camera deal with most outdoor scenes? Education please!

Russ
Click to expand...

Auto white balance tries to "guess" the color temp to give you a neutral picture, and for the most part it works fine. The problem comes when you mix multiple light sources and then the camera gets really confused and comes out too warm or too cool

Manual white balance tells the camera what "white" looks like under a certain light condition. It can be used to set up a neutral look for tweaking or to create artistic effects. For example, by telling the camera that red is white the entire color range shift to blue; doing this with different colors can create interesting effects.
 
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