[RobG]

No doubt others have already discovered this - never use auto white balance when shooting video. I was trying to take a clip of a sunset today, and the colour balance kept shifting as the content changed. I should have selected "daylight" and stuck with that. At first I thought it was the auto aperture, but it wasn't.

This clip, although poor quality, demonstrates how the colour shifts wildly during a pan.

You Tube

You Tube

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Last edited by RobG; 11-15-2010 at 05:54 PM. Reason: inserted video

[Adam]

Definitely a very good piece of advice, and it happens with almost every camera! If you fast forward tape from a camcorder, you'll notice that the wb changes every few seconds or so!

[RobG]

Definitely a very good piece of advice, and it happens with almost every camera! If you fast forward tape from a camcorder, you'll notice that the wb changes every few seconds or so!

True, although my Sony camcorder seems to be a bit smarter about it most f the time. At least with the K7 I have the option of fixed white balance, whereas with older camcorders I didn't. With the sunset it was really obvious, so I wish the cause had clicked sooner.

[deltoidjohn]

With my K-X the white balance seems to shift a fair bit even when set/locked to daylight. This is the biggest problem I encountered so far in shooting for my upcoming surf film. Fortunately I was planning on having plenty of black and white but it means now I am forced to do some clips in B+W.

[RobG]

With my K-X the white balance seems to shift a fair bit even when set/locked to daylight. This is the biggest problem I encountered so far in shooting for my upcoming surf film. Fortunately I was planning on having plenty of black and white but it means now I am forced to do some clips in B+W.

I'll have to try setting the white balance to daylight and shooting another sunset to see if the colours still shift. Maybe a white balance lock feature is needed?

[FullertonImages]

With my K-X the white balance seems to shift a fair bit even when set/locked to daylight. This is the biggest problem I encountered so far in shooting for my upcoming surf film. Fortunately I was planning on having plenty of black and white but it means now I am forced to do some clips in B+W.

I've noticed that same thing with both the K-7 and K-5. AWB is pure suicide, but even the other mode like daylight, overcast, tungsten, and so on, have color shifting problem from time to time. And not subtle ones...

What seems to work best is you use the bottom setting, where you can just input a color temperature. I don't think I have noticed those color-shifting on me, but I need to do some more testing. Whatever the problem is, it's huge. If you can't have consistent color, then you can't make films. I think the manual input color temperature is the best bet.

[jolepp]

The k-x has a function where you show it a piece of paper (or something reasonably white/grey) to set WB, which seems to work pretty well. No straight K option though; I suppose this kind of forces using the mentioned feature when presets do not work.

[RonHendriks1966]

I had the same problem with shifting in WB and to my idea it was with my K-7 due to heating up from the sensor when the shifting in WB accurs.

My K-5, only have some testshots, is not heating up like the K-7 and thus maybe not having the problem to the same amount. Setting color-WB in Kelvin is a good idea.

[RobG]

I had the same problem with shifting in WB and to my idea it was with my K-7 due to heating up from the sensor when the shifting in WB accurs.

My K-5, only have some testshots, is not heating up like the K-7 and thus maybe not having the problem to the same amount. Setting color-WB in Kelvin is a good idea.

The white balance shift in the sunset video wasn't caused by sensor heating.

[ManuH]

What seems to work best is you use the bottom setting, where you can just input a color temperature. I don't think I have noticed those color-shifting on me, but I need to do some more testing. Whatever the problem is, it's huge. If you can't have consistent color, then you can't make films. I think the manual input color temperature is the best bet.

Did you check Option #10 WB adjustable range? Set it to fixed if you don't want to have slight WB shifts when using preset WB.

[FullertonImages]

Did you check Option #10 WB adjustable range? Set it to fixed if you don't want to have slight WB shifts when using preset WB.

Ohhhhhh! That sure seem like a probably culprit!

That's why it pays to read your manuals and dig through all the menus, boys and girls!

[RobG]

What seems to work best is you use the bottom setting, where you can just input a color temperature.

I looked at this option on the K7 the other day - there were several entries but they were all set to 5000K, which seemed odd.

[RobG]

Did you check Option #10 WB adjustable range? Set it to fixed if you don't want to have slight WB shifts when using preset WB.

I wanted to try this today, but unfortunately there was very little colour in the sunset - not enough to cause the massive WB shifts I mentioned earlier. So I'll have to wait for another day...

[Digitalis]

during video recording If they could include a WB lock along with the AE lock, i'm sure that would go a long way to help this particular issue.

I keep my camera set to 5500Kelvin, I do have other presets I use as circumstances change 8500K and 3200K, those three values cover pretty much everything I have encountered so far. Although shooting RAW makes in camera WB settings somewhat redundant.

[FullertonImages]

I looked at this option on the K7 the other day - there were several entries but they were all set to 5000K, which seemed odd.

They all come set to 5000k from the factory, but the idea is that you can change them. So many people will do like right above said, and have basically the equivalent setting for daylight, tungsten and cloudy day. You can change the color temperature by 100k increments, and you can also add color corrections with a color wheel type thing that is a square.