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To white balance or change the CC filter wheel?


weiming

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Hi all,

 

let's say u are shooting with the varicam in an enclosed room lit only with tungsten lights(3200k) and there is no sunlight seeping in at all. should u switch on the 3200k filter wheel or should u white balance instead?

 

Are there any pros/cons with either method?

 

thanks:)

weiming.

 

p.s i think this applies to other video cameras with filter wheels as well; does it?

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Hi all,

 

let's say u are shooting with the varicam in an enclosed room lit only with tungsten lights(3200k) and there is no sunlight seeping in at all. should u switch on the 3200k filter wheel or should u white balance instead?

 

Are there any pros/cons with either method?

 

thanks:)

weiming.

 

p.s i think this applies to other video cameras with filter wheels as well; does it?

 

In general, yes, the filter wheel should be set for the lights that you are using to illuminate the set. Tungsten lights equal 3200. If you are day exterior, rotate to 5600.

 

As far as white balancing goes, I've found that to be camera specific and depends on what you are really hoping to achieve. I prefer a "warmer" look overall, so I may "trick" the camera by setting to 3200 then white balancing through 1/4 or half CTB. That notches my "warmness" up a bit. Sometimes Preset works better than me messing around trying to hit a specific color temp. Every situation is different and you just have to experiment.

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  • Premium Member

I remember when I used to shoot Beta all the time that most of the time you couldn't even get a white balance if your filter wheel was in the wrong place. It just won't do it because it's too far off. So, yes, turn your filter wheel and then white balance.

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I remember when I used to shoot Beta all the time that most of the time you couldn't even get a white balance if your filter wheel was in the wrong place. It just won't do it because it's too far off. So, yes, turn your filter wheel and then white balance.

 

I think he was asking weather he should go preset or whiteballance (eitherway your filter wheel should be as close as possible.)

 

i think the answer is either, since your in a known color condition. If you know your lights are 3200, then a white ballance will program the FPGA the same as the preset LUT. Any difference would be negligable. It should be noted that whitebalance is no different than a color correction in post (other than the fact that its working at 12 or 14bit uncompressed mode, not 8bit highly compressed that most tape format gives) so any shift the whitebalance imparts is actaully gain up or down on the various channels, so a preset with proper filter is better than a whiteballance if you were trying to ballance, say, 4300K.

 

My rule of thumb is generally if you know the temp, use preset. If you don't, whitebalance. (you only know the temp for studio halogens and overcast daylight.

 

Also check the camera to be sure you like their preset. Some manufacters have a different opinion on what exactly 'white' is.

 

(and yes, a filter wheel is the same concept from manufacter to manufacter. just make sure it truely is a wheel. The DSR-250 from sony has a 3200/5600 selector switch, but it does not actually put a glass filter over the chip.)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I almost always use the filter wheel and preset. After a while it's pretty easy to tell which wheel you need to be on if you are shooting in doc mode with no monitor.

 

I find the varicam preset to look pretty good generally.

 

If I do have a monitor and preset just doesn't look good, then I white balance. But, in my own personal subjective experience, white balancing doesn't always work. It often seems to make the image look even worse - so I go back to preset. Most of the stuff I shoot goes to tape to tape color correct anyway, so I'm less worried.

 

john

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Premium Member

I rarely white balance. Only when I have to deal with a green spike from Kinos, or tinted glass do I perform a white balance.

 

Occasionally I will white balance daylight at the 3200 setting (ie no cc filter) This gives me an extra 2/3 stop.

 

I use the RGB gain to warm up or cool off a shot. Good tool to balance skin tone too. Some people just look green.

 

Chris Bell

Varicam owner/op

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