White Balance Issue

[Miguel Lombana]

Anyone have any instances where they could not white balance their GL2? I was shooting a Sweet 16 today that was partially indoor and partially outdoor so in my best interest I white balanced between the shots.

Inside everything was perfect, outside I couldn't get the camera to lock to my white card, the balance icon just kept blinking. I turned off the ND filter, switched from P-mode to green and back, shut off my zebras, even turned off the camera and back on again before it finally took.

Anyone else ever had an issue like this and did you figure out what was wrong?

Thanks in advance,
MIGUEL

[Alan McCormick]

Miguel,

I have found this happen on several occassions and eventually it has "locked" once you have set exposure and focus correctly (in Manual).

This may not be the answer but it does help.

Outside the preset is usually sufficient but indoors I like the manual WB if I have time.

If there is a more technical reason to combat this niggly problem I am interested to hear from others.

[Ken Tanaka]

I have not experienced this with either my GL2 or XL1s, per se. But I can recommend that, when manually white balancing, (a) make sure the white card (target) fills the frame, (b) keep the camera very steady (preferably mounted), and (c) set your exposure (iris) as if you were going to actually shoot the target.

[Alan McCormick]

Ken,

I had it with a colleagues XM2, it was on a tripod and fucosed/exposed on a full framed white card. It hunted for about 5 seperate tries then balanced itself. This happened several times.

[Gordon Briggs]

HI Guys,

May I respectfully draw your attention to page 78 of the Instruction Manual

(Quote)

Press the WHITE BALANCE SELECT button
(Icon) appears in the display

(Icon) flashes quickly in the display and then remains lit, to show that the camcorder has set the white balance.

Depending on the light source, the flashing may at times change to a slower speed, rather than remaining lit. The result will remain better than with the auto setting, and you can continue filming.

(Un-quote)

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gordon.

[Miguel Lombana]

Thanks Gordon and you may respectfully remind us! I found this out yesterday afternoon when I was scouring the manual in search of an answer. Again thanks!

<<<-- Originally posted by Gordon Briggs : HI Guys,

May I respectfully draw your attention to page 78 of the Instruction Manual

(Quote)

Press the WHITE BALANCE SELECT button
(Icon) appears in the display

(Icon) flashes quickly in the display and then remains lit, to show that the camcorder has set the white balance.

Depending on the light source, the flashing may at times change to a slower speed, rather than remaining lit. The result will remain better than with the auto setting, and you can continue filming.

(Un-quote)

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gordon. -->>>

[Gordon Briggs]

My pleasure Miguel, after all that is one of the benifits of this forum, we all help each other.

I wonder who thought the idea of forums up?, who ever is was, he/she gets my vote.

Thanks,

Gordon.

[Ken Tanaka]

Thanks very much for that highlight, Gordon. I do not recall my GL2's WB indicator continuing to blink beyond a few seconds. And I do not recall reading this in the manual.

BTW, that actual passage in my manual is on p.80. Since I bought the camera in 2002 the manual's pagination may have since changed.

[Alan McCormick]

Thanks from me too, maybe I should read more carefully ;)

What is frustrating is if you have 2 x XM2's set exactly the same, light etc 1 of them "will not set but blinks continuously.

I will now not worry too much