White Balancing on FS700

G

Gene Sung

Veteran
I find White Balancing on the FS700 to be really weird.

Using a card works great if it's daylight, but it seems like when shooting with Tungsten / mixed lights I can never get a good white balance on the FS700 when shooting with either a white or grey card. Everything comes out really green. Then I usually just rotate the wheel and eye ball the color temp on the LCD, which work pretty well most of the time (i tend to go a little warmer).

How do you guys white balance? What am I doing wrong?
 
I find it a bit pedestrian as well. Dialing in the temp numerically when in preset mode is fine. However, in manual it would be nice to see a read out instead of a simple color shift.
 
I sent my camera to Sony for a check up - and when it came back I saw that after a white balance it now told me the color temperature which is nice. Very similar to EX 1.
 
That's a big plus. Did you get the 4k upgrade/check up or just strictly routine maintenance?
 
gene_can_sing said:
I find White Balancing on the FS700 to be really weird.

Using a card works great if it's daylight, but it seems like when shooting with Tungsten / mixed lights I can never get a good white balance on the FS700 when shooting with either a white or grey card. Everything comes out really green. Then I usually just rotate the wheel and eye ball the color temp on the LCD, which work pretty well most of the time (i tend to go a little warmer).

How do you guys white balance? What am I doing wrong?
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I wonder why you get into problem.. I had not so good color with FS-100, but since I've got FS-700 WB / COLOR is so much BETTER and I get is almost perfect :

Scr_02.jpg



Coloring_2s.jpg



SirCharles_01.jpg



SirCharles_03.jpg


and getting after 4K update and with Slog-2 even better:

4KUpdate_06.jpg


... to get it perfect you must to set exposure very precise and than use the set of white balance cards... I have this set of "White", "Warm-1", "Warm-2", "Warm-3", "Gray", "Cool-1", "Cool-2" and "Minus Green" cards very ofter,

when I shoot uder tungsten light I use "Warm-1" or "Warm-2" card instead of "White" card.. if you would like to print that cards I can give it to anyone :)

--> http://www.sergecinema.com/temp/cool.tif and http://www.sergecinema.com/temp/warm.tif

.. that is a TIFF files, so when you print them on simple inkjet printer it's good... than you cut them and save in small package ... :)
 
I sent it in a couple of months ago before the upgrade was available. Wanted to get it checked out before the warranty was over. I complained about the WB to service. I was surprised to see the kelvin readout. I am thinking about the upgrade but I will wait a bit. I am more interested in 10 bit using DNxHD - at least for now.
 
LDV20 said:
I am thinking about the upgrade but I will wait a bit. I am more interested in 10 bit using DNxHD - at least for now.
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....but you cannot get 10bit out from FS-700 without 4K update! - signal from HD-SDI is NO more then 8 bit, untill you update it ...
 
Right - I know I need the upgrade. I was just saying that as of now that is where my interest is (10Bit DNxHD).
 
gene_can_sing said:
Everything comes out really green.
Click to expand...

This is what i find! It's been kind of a struggle for me, to be honest. I've changed most of my picture profile color depth settings to increase certain colors while keeping green at -1 (depending on the profile). I'll usually sit down to edit the footage and find it's coming out rather green. We'll shoot indoors often, under 5100k lights. I'll use absolutely no other light, and set the temp of the camera to exactly 5100k. I think i'd get the proper result. I should try to white balance with cards, sounds like you're not having much luck with that however.

I've had this with Cine1, 3, and 4. All Cine-color. I may try Pro soon.
 
SergeSmArt said:
....but you cannot get 10bit out from FS-700 without 4K update! - signal from HD-SDI is NO more then 8 bit, untill you update it ...
Click to expand...

no! even with the update it stays 8bit. the raw bitstream will have 16(14bit) but u cant use the sdi output to capture video in 10bit, only raw. it stays 8bit.
 
SKYLIKE said:
no! even with the update it stays 8bit. the raw bitstream will have 16(14bit) but u cant use the sdi output to capture video in 10bit, only raw. it stays 8bit.
Click to expand...

but that's exactly what I mean! .. why did you say "no!" ? FS-700 actually do not produuce even 14 bits .. only 12.... English is not my original language .. so - what? :Drogar-Shock(DBG):
 
SergeSmArt said:
but that's exactly what I mean! .. why did you say "no!"
Click to expand...

You said: - signal from HD-SDI is NO more then 8 bit, untill you update it ...
True: - signal from HD-SDI is NO more then 8 bit, always for FS700 ...

FS700 dont used HD-SDI at full power neither before nor after update, sorry
 
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Maybe I'm manually White balancing wrong. Here's my steps and please let me know if I'm wrong.

1) Have the talent hold the grey or white card in place where he or she is being lit ideally.
2) Punch in so the card is full frame
3) Have it set to either the A or B switch and hit the button directly to the right of the A / B switch

I'm sure I'm doing it right and like I said, it seems to balance great in daylight, but under artificial lighting it always looks off. I guess it's not a huge deal since I usually just use the wheel to dial it in, but it would be nice to know if I'm being a total knob when balancing with a card.
 
How are you punching in Gene? Variable Lens or expanded Focus? Im pretty sure the expanded focus does not focus what the camera reads for white balance.
 
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