LCD Viewfinder Colours

[Robert Bale]

Hello all, ok it sucks big time in australia, I have rang 6 sony stores asking if the can give me the name of a service company that can have a look at my EX3. Nope they say every one i rang sorry that not one of the cameras we service, what a load of crap. Its just to hard to get any help down here. (well thats my rant )

Now for the question, when i am looking at the viewfinder shooting out side 5600k, it looks ok in the Viewfinder, but when i take it into FCP , the colour it like it was shot at 8000k, do i need to have my camera serviced, of is the some way of resting that LCD Display, so what i see when recording is close to what i get in post. Same problem when shooting under3200k lighting conditions, it looks ok in the viewfinder, but in FCP it looks 6000k , it all was seems warmer ?

[Chris Medico]

I would say that you don't need it serviced. The viewfinder should not be used to judge color temp and not trusted exclusively for exposure either.

Use your experience shooting to set the white balance manually or set it off a balance card and don't worry about what it looks like in the viewfinder. It will lie to you.

Never trust the viewfinder for anything other than framing (and sometimes focus). Everything else verify with the tools the camera gives you such as peaking for focus, zebras and spot metering for exposure, and the while balance display.

[Andrew Stone]

Going to mention the obvious. Did you check your bars before the shoot and did you have the brightness knob on the front of your viewfinder taped down? It is VERY easy to accidentally change the brightness on the EX3 brightness knob in 2 instances. One taking the camera out of the case/bag or more likely when adjusting the peaking during a shoot.

I get my EX3 viewfinder really close to tonally accurate with the bars and brightness adjustment. I have a piece of gaffer tape on the front of the viewfinder at all times and have a spare piece on the side of the camera should the one on the EVF become "tired".

EDIT:

I just re-read your post. If it is a temperature difference then something sounds like it is up but that would be very bizarre for the white balance to be off on the EVF in relation to what I recorded. I don't know how that could technically occur.

Have you tried a full camera reset in the menus after saving your picture profile information?

[Chris Medico]

My experience with shooting with EX1s suggests when you are in a mixed light situation with some of the viewfinders illumination from the backlight and the rest from ambient light you can NOT trust the color you are seeing at all. I have seen things on the display that are white turn gold when the light hitting the display changed.

That is the nature of the transflective displays such as the ones on the EX1 and EX3 cameras.

If you are running the eyepiece on the EX3 and blocking out the ambient light from the display you can place more confidence in what you are seeing once you have verified the monitor is in reasonable calibration with bars and a blue card.

[Keith Dobie]

This got me thinking . . . how did we manage when all we had was a B&W VF? Thanks for the heads up re: LCD on EX, good to know.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Keith Dobie

This got me thinking . . . how did we manage when all we had was a B&W VF? .

Well, mainly we were very meticulous about white balancing several times a day if there was even the slightest chance the light had changed or was different than the last location. I think color viewfinders and LCDs have made us all a little sloppier in our work -- myself included.

Robert, it seems to me that diagnosing your problem, if there even is one, would be pretty easy to do with about 10 minutes of testing in a controlled environment. If you determine there is a problem, then you can worry about where to get it fixed, but I would test the camera first. And even if there is a problem, I prefer to do as much diagnosing and pinpointing of the cause and circumstances that cause it to occur BEFORE I hand the camera over to an engineer. A lot of them won't even notice what you and I would consider a huge problem. You've got to spell it out very clearly . . . especially if you're going to be footing the bill.

[Steve Siegel]

Robert,
I had exactly the same problem. Are you new to the EX3? I was, and finally figured out that the reason that my shots all looked fine in the viewfinder, and lousy in my NLE was the settings on the front of the viewfinder. I had all these set way too dark and contrasty. There was little correlation between the viewfinder and reality. It may not be the source of your problem, but I think it is something that many new EX3 owners neglect.

[Robert Bale]

Hey People, Thanks for your comments, i have have this camera for about 2 years, just of late it seamed to get worse, when i white balance i normally put it in to (5600 for out side) maybe i should use the brides dress to balance on. I am going to do a wedding to day same spot as the other day, i do some test with your balance cards Doug, and see how i go. may be it might be my PP settings.

2nd Question- Will this work ok, if i shoot a wedding 720/50p (Pal Land) and drop it into FCP on a 720/30p Time line, will it look ok as i need to export it out to NTSC fro the Client. (i am having trouble with the lighting 50/60Hzr Issue)

[Dave Sperling]

In your picture profiles, check whether there are any offsets in your 'white' settings. These can alter the way the camera takes a white balance.

For outputting to an NTSC area signal, I'd recommend shooting at 30p or 60i but using a shutter speed of 1/100th (or 1/50th if you're shooting 24p). Should give you smoother results and eliminate flicker.

[Buba Kastorski]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stone

I have a piece of gaffer tape on the front of the viewfinder at all times and have a spare piece on the side of the camera should the one on the EVF become "tired".

lol,
I have a black baby sock :)