manual white balance?

[Velma]

That’s tough. If I’m continually going back and forth between different lightings, I just white balance for the lighting where I’ll be most of the time…where most of the important people are. And then I leave it and correct it in editing. To me, that’s a whole lot easier than stopping to white balance every few minutes.

velma

[Mark Suszko]

This is a situation made for Auto-trace white. Some cameras implement it better than others, being more “shockless” about the changes.

[David Rennie]

I white balance each time the color temp changes providing the situation allows for it. Let me also state though that my camera holds 3 settings. Two manual setting and a preset at 3.2k. So if I know in advnce the various conditions I will be in I can set these in advance. Otherwise I will stop when appropriate and WB. I purchased the Warm Cards from vortex media (BH carries them too) and keep one of the small cards in my shirt pocket at all times. This makes WB a snap taking only seconds and will save me a ton of time in post.

[Peter Ralph]

add me to the presets only camp, I never use auto white balance, and manual very rarely.

[David Rennie]

I am curious, why wouldn’t you manually WB? Do adjust in post? if so why not cpature it that way to begin with?

I tend to push my whites to make things look a little warmer. I simply prefer the look.

[Doug Graham]

I’m t’other way ’round. I use either manual or auto, but not the presets.

Regards,
Doug Graham

[Peter Ralph]

yes I color grade everything in post, if you don’t I can see that warm cards might be useful, but except in cases like that where you want to change the image, match cameras, or compensate for a discontinuous light spectrum, my recommendation is stick with the presets.

This matter has been discussed extensively over the years on the cinematography and lighting forums, here is a link to a post from Leo Tichelli:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=47&postid=68479&archive=T

Posts from Leo, John Sharaf (DP for 60 minutes) and many others put a strong case case for sticking with the presets.

[Colvin Eccleston]

I manual balance for each room or setting if I get the chance. In mixed light, I try to get a good compromise. I do still post the colour but I am trying to get it all done in the shoot so I can cut down editing time and get it into the customer’s hands quicker. By avoiding filters I can get my weddings posted out in a week.

[Pat Kingery]

What do you think of the Peter’s argument that manual white balancing blands everything to high noon in Kansas?

[Peter Ralph]

That is Leo Tichelli’s view not mine. For wedding work I think presets are often a good choice, but I know a lot of shooters who get great results using manual and auto WB.