Antinic White Balance (DSLR Video)

[MHG]

So I know the standard response to all white balance questions is to shoot in RAW. While I myself have not had much luck with that my Canon 1D mark4 is very easy to set up custom white balance on. However, I have not had any luck in doing so when I am just shooting with antinics... Any tricks or suggestions?

Since I am shooting video as well, photoshop raw is not an option...

 

[IslandCrow]

Actinics can be very tricky. What's technically the correct white balance probably isn't going to look quite right. You also have to be careful not to clip the blue channel, which can be easy to do. If you understand how to use a histogram, make sure your color histogram is visible on your camera's LCD, and not just your overall tone histogram. You may have to underexpose slightly to avoid clipping the blue channel. For video, you'll have to shoot a still and check the histogram from that. You'll also have to shoot both the still and video in manual, which is probably not a bad idea anyway, since you have consistent lighting.

I don't think I've done video under actinics, but I don't believe you can truly shoot DSLR video in raw, so you do have to find a good white balance solution. For still shots of actinics, I shoot raw and manually adjust in post, because the "correct" white balance generally isn't what you're after. For video, however, you may have to play around with the different preset white balances to see if one of those yields good results. Hopefully someone who's smarter about video will be able to offer you some better advice.

 

[MHG]

Thanks. I have never been able to get the raw files to look righ in photoshop cs5 or 6.... But again I also want to shoot video so I will play with it bait. Thanks for the tips...

 

[Justin Grimm]

Im pretty certain I shot under Actinic lighting over the weekend. At least with my camera's manual white balance range, I wasnt able to get anything that looked correct directly from camera, even when maxing my white balance to 10k. All my photos needed a heavy increase in warmth, and selective blue decrease as well to look right. I would suggest using your highest manual white balance setting to get as close as possible, then adjust your photos to what you think looks best. As for video, use manual white balance while in live view mode and see what gives you the best results.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2290861

 

[IslandCrow]

One problem I've seen a lot when people are having issues working with raw files is making their adjustments too extreme. For example, they'll add a ton of contrast or pull the saturation slider in Lightroom or Bridge almost all the way to the right or left. A raw file generally doesn't need a ton of adjustment, just some tweaks. . .a slight change in color temp, a nudge in saturation, a touch of contrast, a little bit of sharpening, etc. Processing is definitely an art in and of itself, though.

Anyway, good luck. I hardly ever shoot video, so most of my knowledge comes just from the little bit I've read on the subject.

 

[MHG]

well when opening a raw file in CS6 the sliders gradually go from one extreme to the next. But foe me I never seem to find anything that resembles reality or does not have some purple or blue glow unless you push it to black and white.

On the EOS1d MK4 the WB Shift menu gives you a nice X/Y Coordinate to tweak the WB. But it does not give you a live view when doing it so you can spend hours getting it right.... I adjust it for my normal DT light daytime setting with no problem. But when just antinics or UV are on, I can not get it right...