White Balance at DVinfo.net

Matthew Roddy · January 27th, 2009, 04:45 PM

EDIT: Disregard this note. After writing it, I finally remembered that here in the DVi forums is the full manual. I downloaded that and looked up what I was looking for.
It's an extra few steps to get a white balance, but you can indeed get one based on current field conditions. You just need to take a pic of your white object, then recall that into your settings. (pg 66).
Thanks all the same. Sure wish I could delete my posting here.

I was watching some of the videos and someone mentioned (I think it was here) that they white balanced their camera.
I know how to do that on just about any video camera (pro or prosumer, that is), but I thought you were not able to set a white balance in the field on the 5D (using field colour temps, say, from a white card).
I was under the impression that you should choose a preset, including dialing in a specific colour temp. Is that what they probably meant? They dialed in a colour temp from the "K" setting?
Or maybe they had several "whites" set in their camera's memory and used one of those?
I know we can't know what "they" did, so my real question is, can the 5D2 set a repeatable white balance based on what it's pointing at? A user setting that is.
Ugh... I'm not describing this well, but you probably get the idea.

Also, does white balance get lost along with exposure settings at the end of each take?

Thanks!

Toenis Liivamaegi · January 27th, 2009, 05:19 PM

If you work per scene with same lightning just make sure every take is at the same "K".
I use 5500 (HMI CFL) and 3200 (tungsten) as base values just to emulate the usual stocks but under those orange streetlights that contain no colors it might get tricky as sub K3000 the skintones will fall apart.
Be sure that the art directional colors stay about the same from scene to scene - I mean when if there's a yellow tone in each scene it must stay constant.

T

Jon Fairhurst · January 27th, 2009, 05:35 PM

One trick is to photograph the light *from the position of your subject* using a diffuser, such as an ExpoDisk. ExpoImaging - ExpoDisc That way you're balancing based on the light that reaches your subject, rather than the other colors in the scene.

For cheapskates there is also the "Melitta" product:
http://di1.shopping.com/images/di/53...77x150-0-0.jpg

Rather than one diffuser for about $100, you get hundreds of diffusers for a couple bucks! They are not weather resistant, but I've read that they are surprisingly accurate, colorwise.

One cool thing about the ExpoDisc is that it shows the light falloff from your lens at its given aperture. I hear that you can use the ExpoDisc photo to correct for the falloff effect, if desired.

January 27th, 2009, 04:45 PM	#1
Matthew Roddy Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Riverside, Ca Posts: 307	White Balance EDIT: Disregard this note. After writing it, I finally remembered that here in the DVi forums is the full manual. I downloaded that and looked up what I was looking for. It's an extra few steps to get a white balance, but you can indeed get one based on current field conditions. You just need to take a pic of your white object, then recall that into your settings. (pg 66). Thanks all the same. Sure wish I could delete my posting here. I was watching some of the videos and someone mentioned (I think it was here) that they white balanced their camera. I know how to do that on just about any video camera (pro or prosumer, that is), but I thought you were not able to set a white balance in the field on the 5D (using field colour temps, say, from a white card). I was under the impression that you should choose a preset, including dialing in a specific colour temp. Is that what they probably meant? They dialed in a colour temp from the "K" setting? Or maybe they had several "whites" set in their camera's memory and used one of those? I know we can't know what "they" did, so my real question is, can the 5D2 set a repeatable white balance based on what it's pointing at? A user setting that is. Ugh... I'm not describing this well, but you probably get the idea. Also, does white balance get lost along with exposure settings at the end of each take? Thanks!

January 27th, 2009, 05:35 PM	#3
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	One trick is to photograph the light from the position of your subject using a diffuser, such as an ExpoDisk. ExpoImaging - ExpoDisc That way you're balancing based on the light that reaches your subject, rather than the other colors in the scene. For cheapskates there is also the "Melitta" product: http://di1.shopping.com/images/di/53...77x150-0-0.jpg Rather than one diffuser for about $100, you get hundreds of diffusers for a couple bucks! They are not weather resistant, but I've read that they are surprisingly accurate, colorwise. One cool thing about the ExpoDisc is that it shows the light falloff from your lens at its given aperture. I hear that you can use the ExpoDisc photo to correct for the falloff effect, if desired. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

January 27th, 2009, 05:19 PM	#2
Toenis Liivamaegi Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tartu, Estonia Posts: 579	If you work per scene with same lightning just make sure every take is at the same "K". I use 5500 (HMI CFL) and 3200 (tungsten) as base values just to emulate the usual stocks but under those orange streetlights that contain no colors it might get tricky as sub K3000 the skintones will fall apart. Be sure that the art directional colors stay about the same from scene to scene - I mean when if there's a yellow tone in each scene it must stay constant. T