Vincent:

I guess I'm confused. The Canon guy's shirt, indeed, appears to be brown. But the camera in his hand, several signs behind him, the lavalliere mic against his shirt, the railings and the ornamental bracing in the rafters are all black. How's that happen?

Also... I've had an EX3 since June of this year and I have never seen the problem.

Yes, now you're getting the problem: different materials will exhibit different shades of yuk instead of black. The camera is paint on metal which, in this instance, did not exhibit the problem but the synthetic shirt did. Not all blacks exhibit this problem, and some exhibit the problem worse than others. I have had a subject wear a jacket made of two different types of material, both appearing black to the naked eye, but show up on my one-year-old EX3 as completely different shades of yuk - it made his jacket look ludicrous and the footage was useless.

This is why it's nearly impossible to fix in post.

I got my EX3 in July of the year and it still has the same problem my Dec '07 EX1 had with IR. That's why I have a 486 filter on it all the time.

Brooks, I've never seen anything like this that can't be fixed in post. I use Avid, but FCP3's Color has even better color correction tools than Avid does.

Some things are close to impossible, but I don't think this is one of them.

I've come across brown blacks with my EX3 a number of times, and if anyone wants proof I've got the footage to show it. It isn't lighting because I was shooting with the EX as a B camera white balanced to the same white balance card as the A camera under the same lighting. My Nottingham Buggies thing I shot the other week suffers from it too with the centres owners black fleece coming out brown. The EX3 might be improved, but the issue is most definitely still there in a big way.

It is hard to fix in post because even with secondary correction you might end up colour correcting objects that are supposed to be brown and look the same to the camera. Which means you have to use vignettes and tracking. Far more trouble than it is worth for simple edits. I don't mind doing grading for clients who pay for it. But otherwise I shouldn't have to touch the likes of Apple Color.

bought my EX-3 this March '09 and I get plenty of red in black clothing. Just saw it last week again. I see it in indoor ambient daylight, pure quartz tungsten lighting and also in mixed commercial interior lighting, mostly flourescents. I've dialed down the chroma in my picture profile and that helps a LITTLE bit.

From an EX1, just wanted to share. Late 2008 model. Impossible for me to correct in FCP because of very similar background colors. Maybe a pro could have fixed it but no budget for that. Bought the 486 after this :(

Warehouse: Sunlight
Bedroom: Tungsten
Liquor Store: Fluorescent

My EX3 is 10 months old. First thing tested was IR contamination and yes, very obvious problem. To this point I've been using the Schneider 486 filter to manage Sony's vaunted "design feature."

Hello to everyone,
I purchased my EX3 in late August 09 and I have had major issues with IR. Most of my work is with corporate and live stage event where we have plenty of black dinner suites and artificial lights. I could not use my camera for my production work until the ir issue was fixed. Our local Sony service centre said they have never had a complaint about this problem and they checked the Sony service web site with no report about this issue. I have now made a written complaint with the Sony service centre and they are making enquiries direct with Sony. I was told this was a slow process it can take months to get results. ( Gee they took my money pretty quick)

In desperation I ordered a Tiffen 1ir filter and it arrived yesterday and after some quick testing I can confirmed the ir problem has gone. The downside is the extra cost and I have lost 1 fstop. I am not sure what effect the filter will have if left on the camera permanently, I use 4x4 filters so it’s no big deal to remove it. When you work low light conditions losing 1 fstop really effects your depth of field on 20’ deep stage. If Sony had the right filter in place I believe that at the worst I may lose up to ½ fstop or at the best not lose nothing. I refuse to believe that Sony are not aware of this problem.

To Sony I say it’s time for you to be a good corporate citizen and repair the camera’s that have this fault.

Perhaps I have over simplified "fixing in post". I use Color (well I attempt to) to tweak the image to get rid of the Yuk. It works to a degree but there are drawbacks as other colours are affected.

Last night I picked up the IR T1 filter off Ebay for £45 and it should be with me tomorrow. Reports say its the problem solver so I will know this weekend as I am filming a wedding with lots of black suits.

Lance,
I've been shooting stage shows since the EX1 first came out. Despite the extra cost I think you'll find the 486 better suited to your needs. We're never shooting wide enough for the downside of the 486 to be a problem.

Hi Barry, thats what i did, I bought the 486 filter before I bought my EX3. During my first wedding recorded with the Ex3 I had to fit the filter and I've kept it on since, seams to have fixed the problem.

I wonder if this is fixed in the new EX1r.

Apparantly it is!

I see the far red problem on my EX-3 which was one of the very first batch in the UK.

Does your source say exactly when this was supposed to have happened Alister? We invested in brand new, boxed EX3's about 4 months ago, and have had to buy an add-on IR filter for each one.