White Balance

Peter C.

Peter C.

Veteran
I was watching Camera Conspiracies video testing white balance with a few mirrorless cameras. I'm struck by how off they are. He filmed first with auto, then fixed kelvin, and finally with custom off a white target. I thought the custom or fixed would be better but didn't seem the case. It almost seems like these cameras are warming the skin tones in camera.
https://youtu.be/A0ycPd1p2jg?t=284

I know in the past when I filmed outdoors sometimes when setting a custom wb it would be something very high like 6800 and I'd have to decide whether it was right or should I disregard and use 5600k...
 
Last edited:
FWIW I prefer a considerably cooler white balance relative to what a custom WB from a grey card offers 90% of the time. So in that sense, correct WB is too warm for me.

Will check out the video, that guy is always good for a few chuckles.
 
hyalinejim said:
FWIW I prefer a considerably cooler white balance relative to what a custom WB from a grey card offers 90% of the time. So in that sense, correct WB is too warm for me.

Will check out the video, that guy is always good for a few chuckles.
Click to expand...

His struggle to find the perfect camera is what entertains. :2vrolijk_08:
 
I got to give him credit for coming up with videos every day and walking around his neighborhood talking to a camera about the "Toney", the "stabe"
 
I find with the current crop of Sony mirrorless cameras, the auto white balance varies quite dramatically depending on which of the white modes are selected under the "Priority Set in AWB" menu. The "whitest" whites seem to come from the third setting "White". The "Ambience" setting does definitely push the WB to the warm side of town. I've been surprised how many A7 users haven't ever experimented with these settings under different lighting scenarios. I find the "White" setting gives me the most neutral and generally preferred cooler setting overall. Seems to require less adjustment in post. There again I mainly "dial" in my Kelvin for the location and if necessary re-dial if lighting changes. At least then, most things in a given location look similar. Whereas I find, auto WB can sometimes return some odd values in a given location depending on if there was or wasn't a suitable white reference in the scene.

Chris Young

https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1720/v1/en/contents/TP0001661950.html
 
cyvideo said:
odd values in a given location depending on if there was or wasn't a suitable white reference in the scene.]
Click to expand...

I rarely use auto WB, but I thought that current sony cameras had a color temperature sensor for metering ambient light and didn't rely on a white reference?
 
ahalpert said:
I rarely use auto WB, but I thought that current sony cameras had a color temperature sensor for metering ambient light and didn't rely on a white reference?
Click to expand...

Hmm! I wasn't aware of that. Sounds like it would be a great idea. You got me curious now. Well, if they do have an ambient metering setup, I don't think it is working too well in certain circumstances. Try shooting in an environment where you have large screens or blue light sources. Like the floor of a casino with a lot of gaming machines and LED screens. The color temp of those screens and one armed bandits dominates the WB when using auto WB. As you pan away from a shot with a machines and screens in it, you see the rest of the scene slowly change overall color as it looks for a new WB. I would much rather manually WB for my overall scene and let any screens that come into shot remain on the bluish side.

Chris Young
 
Imamacuser said:
Don't the newish Sonys have an auto WB lock so that it doesn't shift once you pan away from a white/gray card?
Click to expand...

As I said in reply to Abe's observations on WB I find in certain situations where you have a good white reference things remain pretty stable but no, even after having a good white reference in screen if it disappears the WB will change. If you do a manual WB on a card white/grey card then yes it holds that, obviously. It's nice that you can actually store three balances in memory for quick recall. Along with any color bias offsets that you dialled into them.

Chris Young
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top