preset it and forget it

[cameragod]

Originally posted by SandRat:

quote: Originally posted by cameragod:

Why not just white balance?

Did you read any of the previous posts???

Because a perfect white balance is not always what you are looking for and they haven't given me a camera with optional color temps yet. How can the preset help with this...scroll up to my last post.

Did YOU read any of the previous posts? Even you say that you do a white balance to check the colour temp before making an informed decision to go preset… I have no problem with that. I like to be in control of the look not just guess and hope. That’s why I carry a laminated white card with me that has, white on one side, and on the other side is covered half by 1/8th blue and the other half 1/4th blue. Others use warm cards for the same reason.
I don’t disagree with what you say, you are obviously thinking about the look of your pictures and using the tools you have to make them look better, but that is a million miles away from the Guys who seem to think preset is always near enough so always good enough.

 

[Sundowner]

When I was first learning to shoot, one of the vets told me, "When in doubt, white balance." Now that a few years have gone by, I trust myself more than the presets. If it works for you, great. Unless it's an emergency, I can find the time to get a white balance.

 

[<1911A1>]

I've been shooting for nearly 16 years and I've never used preset on anything but filter 1 (3200K), mainly at night and in run and gun interview situations. I've never been in a daylight situation where I didn't have time to grab a quick color balance. When I'm shooting I color balance early and often.

 

[Tippster]

Originally posted by SandRat:
...If I'm shooting under lights, I will white balance and check the temperature. If I get a reading below 3200, I sometimes use my preset so I get an image that's a little warmer. Same goes for shooting outside. If I get a white balance of 5300 outside, I kick it to preset and the shot is a touch warmer and looks much better.

The key is to get a base reading of what the light temperature is, and then tweak the numbers to get what you want. Sometimes just holding your white card at a different angle to your camera can get your temperature up just a bit, without getting that orange-gold Warmcard look.

That pretty much sums up how I white balance... or not.

 

[<homer>]

The number one station here in town swears by the preset. Why white balance? The preset does the same thing.

These are the guys that come back with bright red video from a certain high school that has the amber lights in their gym (the ones that burn at 2100k) and claim there's nothing they can do about it....it's their cameras, not them. They come back with green video all the time.

But they're the number one station in this market by along shot. They don't have try or even care because they could put color bars up and beat us everyday (and they have)

 

[<Colotemp>]

To "homer"

 

[<Colotemp>]

To "homer"

What town are you in bud ?

 

[Shootblue]

The one thing that recording my white balances has taught me is that the camera does not just balance blue and orange, but also balances green and magenta. Daylight and incandescants dont have large outputs of these light as best I can tell, but flourescents and mercury vapor sure do...To not white balance in my opinion when you have time and normal circumstances is rediculous. If you want to warm your video or whatnot, then get an 81c or a set of DSC CamWarm Cards. I prefer to take the route of not trying to risk bad video.

 

[memphis-vid (ex-longhaul)]

i have never understood watching shooters white balance for their own top lights. it dosen't change, it is always going to be the same light. i have a 2500k setting saved on filter 1 b chanel, but i usualy just shoot night vid on preset. if you ever want to have a little fun, roll up late on a night time gang bang and shoot with your dicro on your light. see how many "smiles" you get from everyone else. there are some newbies here that still don't know what that little piece of glass is for.

 

[2000lux]

I never used preset outside. There's an A and B switch for a reason. On really contrasty days I get a white on the sun on A (for amber) and another in the shade on B (for blue). If I'm really running around a lot I'll get a mixed one. If you white in light shade, and then shoot in the sun, you'll get nice warm video. If there's a huge (like 4K) discrepancy between sun and shade whites, don't use the shadey white in the sun. It'll be too warm.

At night on spot news I try to get a white unless there are people jumping out of windows or something that important to shoot. Under those orange sodium street lights I try to get a 2.8 or lower on an SX.

When I'm shooting interviews indoors, it depends on the lights. If some of the lights are flourescent, I'll get a white balance and go with it. I don't want green video. If I set up lights, and I know the other lights in the room are tungsten, I'll start by getting a white. If it's between 2.8 and 3.2 (my lights usually come up 2.9), I'll go with preset because it will look warmer. If I get a white below 2.7, It's going to come out too warm if I go on preset. Above 3.2 you're going to get cooler video on preset (plus you probably have a flourescent around).

The other time I often use preset is for stage productions. Most of the lights are gelled for some sort of effect, so you might accidentally white on a slightly blue light or some thing. I've never had a problem shooting a play or a concert on preset. In fact, they usually look better than the times I did get a white.

Most times indoors you can get one white and start shooting. The only time I take multiple whites is if there is mixed light. Today I was shooting in a bar that had a lot of windows. I got whites from 2.6 to 4.3 in there.

Any time you use preset, make sure you check your filter! I have't done it YET, but you could easily accidentally shoot some thing important on the wrong filter. On an SX, if you white balance even on filter one outside, you'll be fine. That I HAVE done (oops).

 

[Lil' Photog]

I personally only use preset on a 3200k filter in one situation.

If I want 3200 to be my base value because there are multiple lighting sources.

This generally happens in two places.
1) Theater. Common "stage lighting" rarely consists of what we think of as white light. Usually a lighting director mixes amber and blue gels to make "white light" The issue with getting white in this situation is a)it's a pain to get statge lights up and something pure white where you want to white balance and b)you don't know if you are getting white under an area that might favor blue or amber - depending on location and the angle of the white surface...
2)Spot news during the dead of night. If there's sunlight this rule goes out the window. If it's pitch black out, this works well. The reason I like it is because it looks like what I see with my eye.

I know guys that white balance under those sodium vapor orange lights. Then the orange lights look like 3200 and eveything else looks more blue. That's not what it looked like, so I don't know why you'd make your video do that. There's so many light sources of slightly to extremely different color temps tht I don't know why you'd bother getting a white in that situation. Which light is the real "white" light? Headlights? Flashlights? Street lights? The top light on your camera? I like to have that 3200 base to use.

Just seems to make sense to me.

 

[2000lux]

I don't like using preset at night becuase while I've trained my eye to see the street lights as orange, the average person still white balances in thier head. When they see orange video, it's just orange to them. Just like an air conditioner hum you might ignore in an office really stands out on tape when you watch it back in the studio. Flash lights and head lights come out looking fine. Our top lights usually give me a 2.8. If we're doing a gang bang or some thing and some one flips thiers on, if I don't have time to re-wite, I'll use preset if I've got a lower white than 2.8.

The other night the camera I was using started freaking out on me. It refused to white, and then it started telling me it was "over 10" on both A & B on filter one. I should have been getting ~2.6! It also looked really grainy like it was on 24 db gain or some thing. Not fun when you're shooting breaking news! Preset was the only setting that worked right. I turned on the top light, shot fairly tight shots, and came back with good stuff. Good thing too because it was a major story and our lead package!

 

[Lil' Photog]

2000lux does offer a good point, our eye do naturally white balance in most situations.

However, everytime I've been under those orange lights, they always look orange to me. Experiment next time you are in that situation and see just what looks "white" to you.

 

[<homer>]

to colortemp - Terre haute