hd100u color saturation help

[Joe Ferralli]

I'm having the worst problems trying to get my hd100 color balanced. When I bought the camera new a couple of months back the color was beautiful and the saturation level was perfect. The last time I took the camera out the saturation looked extremely dull and I anything I did to get it back failed. I ended up sending it back to JVC service for the firmware upgrade and asked them to also check the color balance. It still looks terrible even in full auto. If I shoot something like green grass outside it looks very muted and almost grey. It doesn't matter what I white balance to , it still looks very color-less. Im still fairly new to this camera so I'm assuming it' s probably just a setting I'm missing. I did also turn off the cine-look setting. Any ideas? Im going nuts here.
Thanks
Joe

[Werner Wesp]

Play around with the color matrix and gamma levels. If it is balanced well but without enough saturation to your taste: go to the menu and boost 'color gain' somewhat (that is actually the saturation). That should work...

[Carl Hicks]

Originally Posted by Joe Ferralli

I'm having the worst problems trying to get my hd100 color balanced. When I bought the camera new a couple of months back the color was beautiful and the saturation level was perfect. The last time I took the camera out the saturation looked extremely dull and I anything I did to get it back failed. I ended up sending it back to JVC service for the firmware upgrade and asked them to also check the color balance. It still looks terrible even in full auto. If I shoot something like green grass outside it looks very muted and almost grey. It doesn't matter what I white balance to , it still looks very color-less. Im still fairly new to this camera so I'm assuming it' s probably just a setting I'm missing. I did also turn off the cine-look setting. Any ideas? Im going nuts here.
Thanks
Joe

Hi Joe,

Try this:

1. Turn "Full-Auto" to off

2. Go back to default factory settings by performing a "Menu All Reset". This is found on page 2/2 of the "Others" menu.

3. Make sure that your ND filter is set according to your lighting. 0 for indoor, and 1 or 2 for outdoor typically.

4. In a well-lit setting, do a manual white balance on a pure white target. (Best results are achieved when the camera has been on for several minutes prior to white balancing)

This should give you good results. If it does not, then call our tech support line for additional help. 1-800-582-5825, Monday-Friday, 9AM to 5PM Eastern Time.

[Joe Ferralli]

Wow...thanks for the quick replies. I'll try these this afternoon.
Thanks again
joe

[Shawn Kessler]

thanks Carl! was just going to ask were the default settings were in the menu.

[Gary Morris McBeath]

A problem I've been having white balancing that might be related to this thread: If the lens is open (anywhere from f2.8 or wider), there will be enough chromatic aberation to affect the white balance: I end up with a kind of sick blue desaturated look. I don't get good results unless the lens is closed to at least f4 to eliminate the CA. (that's where I do most of my shooting anyway).

Another thing: In the past, with other cameras, I have occasionally used white cards with some 1/8 or 1/4 CTB gel over the card or the lens to create a warmer look. On the HD-100U it seems to have minimal effect. Not sure why. Perhaps the 100 has limits to what it considers "white" in its processing. Anyone else noticed this?

Love this forum.

Gary