Please share your White Balance methods.

[thurnau]

Please share your White Balance methods. I am picky when it comes to white balance, and my photography WB skills don't cross over into video. Can you help me understand the best way to do it on video? I am using a AGHMC150. It has options for white balancing but preset and auto versions with no way to set an exact color temperature. The manual isn't specific enough for me.

[filmboss80]

Shoot a white object under the lighting source and engage the white balance on the camera. Most internal electronics in today's cameras are as accurate as other color temperature metering tools...or at least close enough.

[anubis13]

get one of these and carry it in your camera bag.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Grey-White-Balance-Photography/dp/B000HCQR8A

[edDV]

Warm cards are nice too
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/white_cards_douglas.html
http://www.studio1productions.com/warmcards.htm

[lordsmurf]

There's not much difference in WB between still and video. White is white, not is not. "Auto" tends to keep changing on some cameras, which can be a nuisance.

[thurnau]

On my camera I can set the white balance to 5600K, or any temp to match the lights I am using. It worked perfectly for me under controlled conditions. For getting the white balance with a white card do I need to zoom in to fill the screen? Do I hold the card far away into the subjects hand? Has anyone ever set the WB on the AGHMC150?

[lordsmurf]

A white balance card should fill screen, I believe, yes.

[filmboss80]

Absolutely fill the screen as much as possible with the white object. Just make sure it is being lit by the same source that will light your subject. Also be careful not too overexpose the white object.

And yes, you can just opt for 5600k when shooting outdoors, but indoors is getting more complex now that new types of lights are being used. (It used to be pretty standard for 3200k for most studio lights, but now you have lcd panels, flourescent office lights, etc. in play. When you mix color temperatures, you really need that camera's white balance function.)

edDV mentioned warm cards. These are white cards with a very slight blue tint. They are designed to "fool" the camera's white balance circuitry to give a slightly warmer tone.

[anubis13]

those warm card are awesome I'm getting some ASAP. Thanks ED

[thurnau]

Absolutely fill the screen as much as possible with the white object. Just make sure it is being lit by the same source that will light your subject. Also be careful not too overexpose the white object.

And yes, you can just opt for 5600k when shooting outdoors, but indoors is getting more complex now that new types of lights are being used. (It used to be pretty standard for 3200k for most studio lights, but now you have lcd panels, flourescent office lights, etc. in play. When you mix color temperatures, you really need that camera's white balance function.)

edDV mentioned warm cards. These are white cards with a very slight blue tint. They are designed to "fool" the camera's white balance circuitry to give a slightly warmer tone.

Do you know how to opt for a given color temp on an AGHMC150? Color temp is what I am used to, for regular photography I have strobes so I have consistent lighting; but I need to figure out the best inexpensive continuous light source. I am trying to figure out my camcorder work flow.

[Frederic Baumann]

Here is my way to manage white balance:

1) when shooting, I set the white balance on my camera according to the lighting environment.

2) I then use the FBM Software White Balance plugin for Sony Vegas Pro to fine-tune the clips - the plugin is available here:
http://fredericbaumann.free.fr/FBMSoftware

Hope this helps,
Frederic