I am getting a yellow color shift on my EX3. This is something that just started happening 3 months ago, but today I really saw it.
At first I thought it was just the viewfinder that was looking a little yellow/orangeish. But looking at the video it truly has a yellow orange tint.
It doesn't seem to matter what format I use.

I am using PP Standard and I have not gone into the menu to change anything. I briefly looked at the settings and they all seem to be the default mode, at least I have not changed any settings.

I always white balance and often black balance.

I have been able to correct WB in post but I don't always edit the footage and have to dump into someone else's hard drive.

Not sure what is going on.

Ideas welcome.

Can you post a screen grab

Never seen anything like this yellow cast you are talking about but I would consider doing a 'Factory Reset' and see if the problem goes away - you can access this option in the Menu. Sure, you'll loose any custom settings (but just maybe you've accidentally and unknowingly done something to one of the settings - we all make mistakes sometimes).

I remember I screwed up some settings on my EX3 in the early days of ownership (that affected exposure) and this got me out of that hole very quickly - much to my relief!

EX3's are pretty damn reliable but failing that it's probably a call to Sony Prime Support. I suspect if you called them this is the first thing they would suggest you do anyway. Others may have better ideas - anyone?

Anyway, let us know how it pans out.

Can you post a screen grab

He is one of original screen grab and one corrected in post.

looking at the grabs it honestly looks like your WB is off. What did you have it set to when you were there? That's the corner of 14th and Penn right????

Can you post a screen grab

Here is another shot minutes later uncorrected and alittle yellowsish but on the other hand the blouse looks white.

looking at the grabs it honestly looks like your WB is off. What did you have it set to when you were there? That's the corner of 14th and Penn right????

Yes it is, at Freedom plaza surrounded by 100 occupiers.
I white balanced on a white piece of paper ...it was around 6300k if I remember right. I don't use presets.
Just WB each time (as well as black balanced).

That last shot looks really nice. Unless it does this consistently I would think that the WB was just off on that shot.

I hope you are right....but it did it a couple of times last month. Maybe I need to white balance a few times.
Right now I will hit 'factory reset' and do some more tests.
Thanks for the input.

Has your reporter been checked for jaundice?

The EX-3 will sometimes take an odd color balance. If it doesn't look right, try to move the white card around a bit and take a couple more balances.

Or, you can use a custom PP, step into the color temp and roll it up and down a bit to see if that improves life any.

I don't think it's white balance. Whites are white, the road signs are white. Adding a white offset would probably only make things worse. To me it just looks like the kinds of colours you get this time of the year, late in the day when the sun is low and the light passing through thick wedge of nice brown pollution filled sky.

To tweak the colours without changing the whites you would have to adjust the matrix in a PP.

Pollution on that corner in the afternoon is about as bad as you will find it anywhere in the country. DC used to be a physical swamp and is still sitting at the bottom of a bowl. So pollution/smog just hangs there.

If you ask me this is nothing more than a wrong white balance and I disagree with Alister on this one. In both screenshots the whites show lack of blue.

Looking at your first screenshot, white surfaces (the roadsign just right of the talent) read about 10-30 lower value for blue channel compared to R and G channels.

Here's a simple correction done with an blue 80 filter with 25% strength



The blouse on the second screenshot is blown and I bet that it isn't white at all although it looks like the camera was balanced right on that blouse.

Looking on the large arrow on the street just left of the talent there's a 30-50 difference between R-G and B channels and again, 25% of the blue 80 filter got that arrow in the ballpark and evened all three channels out.

Other than that, I don't think there's nothing wrong with your cam.

Also check that the white balance offset is not engaged. And I would strongly recommend that you get a proper 18% gray card for white balancing. "White" photocopier sheets can be tricky sometimes, as you can see...

You didn't mention what paper/card you used to do a white balance with. Many papers contain additives that can cause a false reading. Try a variety of white papers and you will see what I mean. Also on a grey day a white sheet can look a cool blue, which in turn has the same effect as using a warm card. Your eyes will compensate for this in the street, but unfortunately the cameras WB wont

Try using your camera in a controlled lighting environment and see if you are still getting a yellow cast.

Or buy some Vortex Media cards to use. I love mine.

Yes, the Vortex cards come complete with white and grey reference cards as well as 4 grades of warm (light blue), 2 grades of cool (yellow) and a green card - (for adding magenta). I would have liked a magenta card too for removing a green cast when shooting on a green field (sports events etc.)

Each two sided card is sealed in a protective plastic sleeve and should last for many years. I have been using the small set of cards for a couple of years and generally get great looking shots. However, you have to be careful when selecting which grade of cool card you use, otherwise you can end up with a shot that is too yellow. Experience and shooting test footage will be your best option in this case.

Thank you Jerry and Vincent for your recommendation of WarmCards.
I wasn't going to post anything, and I don't mean to derail this thread, but I just need to comment on something that Vincent said.

QUOTE: "I would have liked a magenta card too for removing a green cast when shooting on a green field (sports events etc.)"

A magenta card would not remove green, it would remove magenta, thus making your problem worse. Our "Minus Green" card that already comes with the kit is the one you'd want to use in situations where there is an over abundance of green and the camera's normal white balancing is not compensating for it.

Just testing you Doug, you are quite right a Magenta card would increase the green. I'm working too hard and not thinking enough.