Should I buy warm cards for the HMC150 to help white balance.

L

LampoFilm

Member
Hello
I admit, I am beginning to learn more about white balance. Should I invest in a set of warm cards? Or is there cheaper ways to get the result.
I would use this more for interviews.
And if anyone is kind to walk me through the process how you set up your white balance.
Thanks a bunch.
 
I actually made my own warm cards by printing various shades of very light blue onto glossy paper, then adhering it to a piece of foam core. You can experiment with different shades of blue to see what the effect is on your image. To set the white balance, zoom into the card so it fills the screen then push the white balance button in the front of the camera.
 
I like your idea. You would think someone out there would have some jpegs and then you could print them out at Walgreens or some store and find the one that works best.
Cheaper then spending 80 dollars.
thanks again
 
LampoFilm said:
I like your idea. You would think someone out there would have some jpegs and then you could print them out at Walgreens or some store and find the one that works best. Cheaper then spending 80 dollars.
thanks again
Click to expand...

The problem with that idea is every printer will render colors differently. And throw in the banding that can come from printing large solid areas on an inkjet. And also that inks will fade over time (so your favorite card could shift eventually).

Probably easiest to find out what RGB mixes people are having success with, print out several variants, and test. You could also send files to any photo finish place that allows you to choose matte paper (for smoother prints that may be more time-stable on really nice paper). When I make storyboards, I just upload JPEGs to the nearby drug store chain outlet (CVS in my town) and in an hour or two I have nice 4x6 prints that are slicker than my home printer can produce (and I don't print color often so the damn thing is often gummed up). They're something like 30 cents a print. (I scan pencil sketches and colorize them in Photoshop with a stylus, it's very fast and gives you really deep, dramatic look).
 
Yes, Michael, I agree about various printers...print color correction is a science in itself. That's why I suggested trying different shades of blue to find one that gets results you like. As far as the banding goes, I haven't had that problem when printing one solid color.
 
I use a Lastolite EZ Balance 20 inch pop-up balance disc ( 8 inches diameter closed, grey card on one size, white balance on the other ) to do a normal white balance, and always do my final white balance in post. I generally find that camera white balance is not accurate enough when shooting under different lighting conditions at different locations, and if you want to mix your footage with video from other cameras you must know how to properly tune color and contrast in post.

For this reason, I don't bother with warm cards, as it's a 2 second correction to apply a warmer balance to a shot in post.
 
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