Too much white colour?

[kb1985]

Hi,
here is a screencap from first video made by my brand new Sony DV camcorder. Somthing is wrong with it. Why there is so much white colour on the outdoor footage?

1. How can I fix it in the camera so the new videos will be ok?
2. How can I fix the already captured footage?

thanx for help

[unclebud]

Does the video look that way in the camera?
Could you have had a filter on and not known it.
It looks washed out and in Black & White.

[daamon]

Hi kb1985,

What type of Sony DV camcorder? This'll help those "in the know" to recommend what to do / not to do on the cam with regards to settings etc.

It looks over-exposed - The exposure (or apeture) setting needs to be adjusted so less light is coming in - if this can be adjusted on your cam. It might also be that you needed the neutral density filter on, if the cam has one.

If the cam has a "zebra bars" function, turn that on and it'll highlight over-exposed areas in the viewer, but they don't appear in the footage.

To help you set the brightness of the viewer, use the "colour bars" function - again, if the cam has it.

As for correcting the already captured footage, there may be filters in something simple like VirtualDub to darken / restore colour.

Or you'll have to resort to something more complicated / expensive like a dedicated editing tool (I only know Premiere) to try to fix it. I've not need to do this, so can't say how it's done.

There are forums specifically for Premiere over at www.wrigleyvideo.com - Even if you don't have the tool, it might give you an insight into what needs to be / can be done.

Hope that helps a little. Good luck...

[winifreid]

If it looks okay in the camera, but looks this way after capture on your computer, then I suspect it will lool fine aftr you encode it and author it to dvd and watch it on TV. My video always looks like this on my compter but looks fine on TV.

[edDV]

Usually well exposed DV material will look dark on the computer.

kb1985 needs to explain the steps used to get that still.

I suspect the transfer was not made by IEEE-1394. Probably a cheap capture card or usb (streaming) transfer was used.

[kb1985]

Hi,
the camcorder is Sony DCR-HC30. It has the "zebra" feature but I haven't used it while making that video. I haven't change any settings, all of them are set as they were at the beginning. Maybe somthing is set on AUTO and is working improperly (eg. some exposure options, as you mentioned) ?

The screen cap is from the footage compressed to xvid. It was transfered by firewire and compressed.


2. There are no filters installed at the camcorder. I don't even know if I can install any filter to my camcorder. I was wondering that it might be quite usefull for me to install a filter that would not later the image, but only protect the camera lens. Is it possible in my camcorder?

[FulciLives]

You need to post a screen shot from the original DV AVI file this way we can determine if the original footage was that way OR if you screwed up when converting to XviD format.

Best way to get a screen cap from the original DV AVI file is to load it into VirtualDub and use the COPY SOURCE FRAME TO CLIPBOARD function.

Now open up any image editing program and you should be able to PASTE the image into it. Save directly to a high quality JPEG image and post it here. I think the limit is 100k for the file size.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[proxyx99]

Check your manual but that looks like you have activated "backlight" feature (will cause overexposure).
Fixing this is not possible (permanent damage). Load it in video editor and lower the brightness, it will be watchable but details are gone for good.

[kb1985]

Unfortunatelly I don't have the footage in DV format and I don't have the tape with the video. But I rembember that I first watched it on the camcorders's LCD screen and that was when I first noticed the problem, so I guess that it's the matter of camcorders settings, not the DV -> XVID compression.

[FulciLives]

Unfortunatelly I don't have the footage in DV format and I don't have the tape with the video. But I rembember that I first watched it on the camcorders's LCD screen and that was when I first noticed the problem, so I guess that it's the matter of camcorders settings, not the DV -> XVID compression.

Yes based on what you just said it does indeed sound like the settings you were using were less than optimal for shooting that type of bright white scenery.

As proxyx99 said you might be able to "fix" it to an extent using some filters to adjust the contrast and brightness etc. but since it was put down that way (i.e., flaw in original footage) there is probably only "so much" that can be done to "fix" it. Still though you should be able to improve on it a bit so don't let it stop you from trying but by all means go back to the DV AVI (recapture via firewire if you must) rather than trying to "fix" the XviD as it is now.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jtoolman2000]

yes, it certainily sounds like you have the "Backlit" option ON. This overexposes the general shot so if for instance you are shooting a person with a bright light source behind them, they will not turn out as siluettes. The camera simply sees the something in the scene is much brighter than normal and trying to equalize it by reducing the overall exposure. After all, it thiinks that bright light must be important. Using Backlight will do the oposite and overcompensate toward over exposing. Works for that back lit situation but all normall scenes will apear a few stops too bright. The detail lost in gone for good. Blame it all on all these auto settings that are supposed to make our life easier. They work most of the time but not all of the time.

[proxyx99]

My DCR Sony DV cam has "backlight" button "conveniently" positioned where I like to place my thumb so I actually did manage to kill 10 min. of video in exacly same manner. That is how I know and I bet kb1985 did just that. Well, he'll remember now, like I do.

[daamon]

So the solution is to chop your thumb off then? Excellent...

[proxyx99]

Had this been done I wouln't know and later be able to contribute to this wonderful thread.

[daamon]

Had this been done I wouln't know and later be able to contribute to this wonderful thread.

There is a master plan for us after all. Some bad things happen for the greater good...