Hi there
After often setting white balance either auto or manually I often want to tweak what I see on the screen a little. I have only shot on consumer type cameras (now HV20) and was wondering if the bigger cameras allow for a GRADUAL white balance control????.....or is this only possible in post? just a nirking question really.....

The traditional "gradual" white balance control is to hold a 1/4 CTB lighting gel (or other strengths as required) in front of the lens when doing a white balance, to fool the camera into giving you warmer image.

You can also get warm up white balancing cards.

Many cameras have this function.
I do it with my Canon XH-A1 all the time.

Actually they don't. The A1, G1 ad H1 are the only HDV camcorders that I know of which allow for a live shift in WB. If there is another camcorder out there that works in the same way, I'd like to know about it.

The issue however is that this is only possible within a preset WB settings (3200 or 5600 preset).

Another option is to use the Kelvin count and dial up or down as you see fit. I find this to work the best, however it depends on how you've set up your scene files as to how this will respond to the light/colour coming in.

He didn't specify HDV cameras, and many pro cameras not only allow you to do this, but also have a display on the viewfinder that show the color temp #.

The Z1 allows control of the "outdoor" preset, though I'm not sure if you can do this while live using this.

However! Using the program function to set the WB and whatever else you would like to control, allows a programmable way to press a button and smoothly change between settings. You will, however, want to program this BEFORE you start recording!

Carl

I know that my Sony Betacam camera has a function called ATW which stands for Auto Tracking White balance (I think that what the initials mean). Sony used an example of shooting talent outside in bright sunshine and them following him inside to 3200k lighting and it gradually shifts the white balance as you continue shooting. It never worked as good for me in reality as it did in their demo video, however. But it does work.

He didn't specify HDV cameras, and many pro cameras not only allow you to do this, but also have a display on the viewfinder that show the color temp #.

Of all the cams discussed in this forum it isn't a common feature, so I think he is probably right in this context.

As mentioned the the Sony Broadcast cameras (D35, D50, D55 and XDCAM HD have ATW or auto tracing white balance (basically auto white on consumer cameras). The XDCAM HD also allows you to set different white balance settings on the A & B settings and then via a menu setting to make a soft change between the two when you flip from A to B or vice versa.

The Z1 allows scene changes from A to B gradually as well, Rick. :)

I always thought every camcorder had this function (but I never used it *g*)
I knew the ATW from the Sony D30/35/50 and I always assumed when setting the DVX100 or HVX200 to full auto they'd also use fully automatic white balance. Now I'm not so sure anymore they do... gotta try that tomorrow.

The JVC GY-HD110 has Full Auto White (FAW) that can be assigned to any of the A, B or preset buttons. It also has a function called "smooth transition" that makes just that, a smooth transition when you switch between w/b presets or gain settings. Only used that camera once, but I've been studying the manual closely because we had rented three for a shoot, and I was chosen to explain the camera to everyone else and be the culprit if anything went wrong, LOL


*Edit* I just re-read the initial question and I think Ben meant a manual gradual change of white balance. I know that in the Sony DXC D35 and newer you can at least gradually change the presets in 100K steps, and as far as I know the Sony Digital Betacam models also allow for manually changing the A or B setting (let's say you w/b, it shows 3800K and you can change that to 4000K if you like). They also have in-camera keying and whatnot.