Question about White Balance

[Monday Isa]

Hi, I own a PD170, and have enjoyed using it for the last 3 months, but just wondering what type of white cards or paper or whatever white, some of you guys use to WB your cameras. Where could I purchase them if they're specially made? Thanks

[Nick Weeks]

I got one when I ordered my PortaBrace case for my XL1s, the Portabrace CTC-3. I think PortaBrace gives white balance cards with all their cases, but you should be able to find these cards anywhere, like B&H.

You can get pure white, or even get "warm" and "cool" cards to trick the camera into changing the tone of the image

[Mike Rehmus]

Almost anything white will do, even a T-shirt. I carry some stiff card stock around with me but it isn't anything special. In the studio I use white gaterboard just because it is large and stiff so it stands up in a chair or wherever I need it.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Mike Rehmus

Almost anything white will do, even a T-shirt. I carry some stiff card stock around with me but it isn't anything special. In the studio I use white gaterboard just because it is large and stiff so it stands up in a chair or wherever I need it.

I have a Canon A-1 Digital from 15 years back, that I still use for a few occasions. Unlike most models, that take their white-balance sampling through the lens, it has a separate, white-colored sensor for it. I trick it into giving a cooler image, by drawing a red ink patch on about 1/10th of its area.
This affects both its auto and manual white-balance settings. If you had a white card with some amount of either red or blue drawn on it, you might be able to coax the camera into producing either warmer or cooler images. The balance should come out to be just the opposite of the color you show it.

[Monday Isa]

Thanks guys for your inputs. Helps alot

[Daniel Melius]

I've got a question on the VX2100 cameras concerning white balance. I like to use manual white balance when the lighting is not going to change alot. However, I've been looking into the custom preset option alot lately and am confused on one subject. Say I set the camera for manual white balance but would like to get it a little bit warmer than what it shows. If I also turn on custom presets and turn the white balance up one notch while leaving the manual white balance on, will I be able to maniputate the manual white balance in this way? I know that the AE shift for exposure on custom presets is greyed out if I have the camera set for manual exposure. Yet I have set the manual white balance and the shift for white balance is not greyed out when I turn custom presets on and I am able to shift it in one direction or another. At this point I do not think it is now in automatic white balance mode as the manual white balance icon is still shown on the screen but I could be wrong.

[Tom Hardwick]

Daniel - if I understand your question correctly you're asking if a custom preset tweak of the w'bal alters the camera's normal 'sun 'n' bulb' presets, right? The answer's yes.

Mike - I think a lot of 'whiteners' used in modern fabrics (tee shirts etc) is rather blue-cold, so I'm not in favour of using those to w'balance on.

Why not use a Kodak grey card? With one of these in your kit bag you cover two bases - expposure and white balance. Remember you can white balance on anything from pure white to jet black - all you're looking for is an absence of colour.

tom.

[Daniel Melius]

Actually, I was trying to figure out if using the custom preset in the warmer direction keeps the camera in manual white balance (if already set to manual mode before switching) or if by using the custom preset it automatically cancels out the manual white balance and sets it in automatic white balance mode. I want to use manual white balance. I do not want automatic white balance, but I do want to be able to tweak the manual white balance mode.

For example, I use a white card to set white balance. I look at the picture on my camera and decide that I want warmer colors than what manual is giving me. I want to keep it in manual mode and only want to turn it up a notch or two using custom presets but am worried that it will automatically go into automatic mode simply by having the custom presets turned on.

[Mike Rehmus]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

Mike - I think a lot of 'whiteners' used in modern fabrics (tee shirts etc) is rather blue-cold, so I'm not in favour of using those to w'balance on.

Why not use a Kodak grey card? With one of these in your kit bag you cover two bases - expposure and white balance. Remember you can white balance on anything from pure white to jet black - all you're looking for is an absence of colour.

tom.

Yes, modern fabrics tend to go a bit blue and wash detergents have that effect too. But that is exactly in the direction that our cameras are least sensitive plus, if I'm going to get a color shift off of clothing (one way or another, the camera sees the shift) then I'd want the blance to go warmer, not colder. That way the whites are neutral or tend to warm assuming I find the most blue 'white.'

Remember, in almost all but scientific work, we aren't interested in true colors, we are interested in presenting colors that subjectively look correct. We don't perceive the T-shirt as a blue-white, we see it as white because our minds 'know' that is the color it is.

There is nothing worse than doing a white balance on a pure white card and then having the bride's dress go this terrible blue in the video. Been there, fought that.

Gray cards are acceptable 'white' cards as long as you have enough light to allow the balance operation to take place. Lots of places don't so you have to carry a white card anyway. Understand you want something with the quality of a Kodak card. Just any gray card may have a significant color cast as can black.

I always do the final white balance in POST anyway, even going so far as to mask out a single element for white balancing.