Cold or Hot at DVinfo.net

Ken Watkins · December 3rd, 2004, 07:51 AM

My vodeo taken in Africa constantly varies between very blue (cold) or very red (hot). Everything is shot by my wife on auto settings. Going from my own experience of Digital Photography I think it must be something to do with White Balance. Sitting here editing is very frustatinf is there anything simple that can be done in Premiere, or is the camera faulty.
Any suggestions would be very greatfully received.

Boyd Ostroff · December 3rd, 2004, 08:40 AM

Sounds like a problem with auto white balance. In FCP you can do a pretty good job of fixing this with the 3 way color corrector. Does Premiere have something like that?

Chris Long · December 3rd, 2004, 08:51 AM

Hi Ken
It's a tough problem, but hopefully not insoluable. Which version of Premiere do you have? The later versions have nice color correction tools. I've had some success using the Color Corrector in Premiere Pro 1.5 (Video Effects>>Image Control>>Color Corrector). Color Corrector has a Black/White Balance parameter that allows you to pick a black, neutral gray, or white point in the clip and use that as the standard for the rest of the clip. It's tricky, but it's worked for me here and there.

Better yet, in Premiere's Help section, look up "Correcting color casts". It has a step-by-step procedure, using the HSL Hue Offsets parameter from the Image Control section of Video Effects, that works really well. I've just played with it myself. It's very powerful, and you need to play with it to get the knack, but it works well. It uses 4 color wheels (Master, Shadows, Midtones and Highlights) which you manipulate until you get what you want.

I've used the latter method a bit to correct faded and discolored super 8 film transfers. They looked a whole lot better afterwards...

Good luck!

John Hartney · December 4th, 2004, 06:03 PM

Have you double checked your settings to make sure you're in auto wb?

If so, have you tried to manually white balance each scene on location?

what are the results?

Ken Watkins · December 5th, 2004, 10:31 AM

Thanks for the various solutions offered.
I forgot to say which camera my wife is using it is a DSR PDX10P.
Whilst I can fiddle with the colours in Premiere I am more frustrated that the camera produces these anomolies, whereas the excess ive red can be bearable it is not much use if in one shot it also turns blue. The white balance is on auto.
I am begining to think it is a faulty camera, does anyone know where I could get it looked at in the UK?

Chris Long · December 5th, 2004, 11:46 AM

I had one experience that sounds a little bit similar to what you describe, though it was probably less severe. It happened at a wedding I was shooting for a friend. It had rained, and the white tent in which the ceremony took place was a distance from the house, so they laid down a long roll of Tyvek housewrap (a white, woven-plastic paper used to insulate houses). This was so the bride's dress would remain spotless. As I was shooting the ceremony in the shade of the tent, the white balance decided it needed to change for some reason. I think it was the blinding white light bouncing up off the Tyvek, into the open shade of the tent. In any event, the camera got confused a bit, and in the middle of the vows the footage changed from warm to cool, quite suddenly. I must have moved the camera slightly, or the sun changed its angle just enough to change things, but I didn't notice anything until I got it home.

Admittedly, that was a pretty specific situation, not likely to be duplicated in yours.

Did the white balance change on you out in the open, or as you were moving between lighting situations?

Boyd Ostroff · December 5th, 2004, 02:15 PM

I try not to use auto white balance just because of the problems you describe. However I recently thought I was shooting with custom white balance and ended up with auto (this seems too easy to do unfortunately). I had to do a bunch of color correction to fix in post. But there are reports of custom white balance drifting on the other Sony cameras as well, like the PD-150 and VX-2000.

I'm pretty much coming to the conclusion that it's best to shoot with one of the programmed white balance modes, like tungsten or daylight. You can use the WB SHIFT and COLOR LVL custom presets to tweak these a bit. This seems to give more consistent results.

It's impossible to say whether your camera has a problem from a verbal description, but I'm guessing it does not, unless the color shifts are really extreme. Auto white balance is always problematic IMO, but maybe others have had better results than me?

Ken Watkins · December 6th, 2004, 02:08 AM

The problem occurs in stable light situations, mainly in Africa. Where it can be both extremely bright or on occasion overcast but not enough for these radica changes.
I never had this problem with my Canon XM1.

Ken Watkins · December 6th, 2004, 02:10 AM

I forgot to add all filming is in open air,
Also can anybody help me regarding an address for servicing repair in UK.

Boyd Ostroff · December 6th, 2004, 08:09 AM

Sony's websites are a twisted maze of slow responding confusion. The PDX-10 is part of their professional line and is not serviced through the normal consumer outlets. See if this link helps: http://www.sony.net/Products/ENG_NET...singstoke.html

Is your camera still under warranty? If not then you should be sure that there's really something wrong before sending it in as service charges may apply. Why not contact the vendor where you bought the camera? They should be able to point you to a service center.

December 3rd, 2004, 07:51 AM	#1
Ken Watkins New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 5	Cold or Hot My vodeo taken in Africa constantly varies between very blue (cold) or very red (hot). Everything is shot by my wife on auto settings. Going from my own experience of Digital Photography I think it must be something to do with White Balance. Sitting here editing is very frustatinf is there anything simple that can be done in Premiere, or is the camera faulty. Any suggestions would be very greatfully received.

December 4th, 2004, 06:03 PM	#4
John Hartney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Elgin, Illinois Posts: 206	Have you double checked your settings to make sure you're in auto wb? If so, have you tried to manually white balance each scene on location? what are the results? __________________ John Hartney Elgin, Illinois USA 847.742.9321

December 3rd, 2004, 08:40 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Sounds like a problem with auto white balance. In FCP you can do a pretty good job of fixing this with the 3 way color corrector. Does Premiere have something like that?

December 3rd, 2004, 08:51 AM	#3
Chris Long Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Middletown, Maryland USA Posts: 177	Hi Ken It's a tough problem, but hopefully not insoluable. Which version of Premiere do you have? The later versions have nice color correction tools. I've had some success using the Color Corrector in Premiere Pro 1.5 (Video Effects>>Image Control>>Color Corrector). Color Corrector has a Black/White Balance parameter that allows you to pick a black, neutral gray, or white point in the clip and use that as the standard for the rest of the clip. It's tricky, but it's worked for me here and there. Better yet, in Premiere's Help section, look up "Correcting color casts". It has a step-by-step procedure, using the HSL Hue Offsets parameter from the Image Control section of Video Effects, that works really well. I've just played with it myself. It's very powerful, and you need to play with it to get the knack, but it works well. It uses 4 color wheels (Master, Shadows, Midtones and Highlights) which you manipulate until you get what you want. I've used the latter method a bit to correct faded and discolored super 8 film transfers. They looked a whole lot better afterwards... Good luck!

December 5th, 2004, 10:31 AM	#5
Ken Watkins New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 5	Thanks for the various solutions offered. I forgot to say which camera my wife is using it is a DSR PDX10P. Whilst I can fiddle with the colours in Premiere I am more frustrated that the camera produces these anomolies, whereas the excess ive red can be bearable it is not much use if in one shot it also turns blue. The white balance is on auto. I am begining to think it is a faulty camera, does anyone know where I could get it looked at in the UK?

December 5th, 2004, 11:46 AM	#6
Chris Long Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Middletown, Maryland USA Posts: 177	I had one experience that sounds a little bit similar to what you describe, though it was probably less severe. It happened at a wedding I was shooting for a friend. It had rained, and the white tent in which the ceremony took place was a distance from the house, so they laid down a long roll of Tyvek housewrap (a white, woven-plastic paper used to insulate houses). This was so the bride's dress would remain spotless. As I was shooting the ceremony in the shade of the tent, the white balance decided it needed to change for some reason. I think it was the blinding white light bouncing up off the Tyvek, into the open shade of the tent. In any event, the camera got confused a bit, and in the middle of the vows the footage changed from warm to cool, quite suddenly. I must have moved the camera slightly, or the sun changed its angle just enough to change things, but I didn't notice anything until I got it home. Admittedly, that was a pretty specific situation, not likely to be duplicated in yours. Did the white balance change on you out in the open, or as you were moving between lighting situations?

December 5th, 2004, 02:15 PM	#7
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	I try not to use auto white balance just because of the problems you describe. However I recently thought I was shooting with custom white balance and ended up with auto (this seems too easy to do unfortunately). I had to do a bunch of color correction to fix in post. But there are reports of custom white balance drifting on the other Sony cameras as well, like the PD-150 and VX-2000. I'm pretty much coming to the conclusion that it's best to shoot with one of the programmed white balance modes, like tungsten or daylight. You can use the WB SHIFT and COLOR LVL custom presets to tweak these a bit. This seems to give more consistent results. It's impossible to say whether your camera has a problem from a verbal description, but I'm guessing it does not, unless the color shifts are really extreme. Auto white balance is always problematic IMO, but maybe others have had better results than me?

December 6th, 2004, 02:08 AM	#8
Ken Watkins New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 5	The problem occurs in stable light situations, mainly in Africa. Where it can be both extremely bright or on occasion overcast but not enough for these radica changes. I never had this problem with my Canon XM1.

December 6th, 2004, 02:10 AM	#9
Ken Watkins New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 5	I forgot to add all filming is in open air, Also can anybody help me regarding an address for servicing repair in UK.

December 6th, 2004, 08:09 AM	#10
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Sony's websites are a twisted maze of slow responding confusion. The PDX-10 is part of their professional line and is not serviced through the normal consumer outlets. See if this link helps: http://www.sony.net/Products/ENG_NET...singstoke.html Is your camera still under warranty? If not then you should be sure that there's really something wrong before sending it in as service charges may apply. Why not contact the vendor where you bought the camera? They should be able to point you to a service center.