What the Correct Way to White Balance a Camcorder?

[Luis Maymi Lopez]

Hello Videomaker community

What the Correct Way to White Balance a Camcorder? This question may be one of the most basics thing you need to know in video production, but I have always wonder, is there a “correct” way of doing it? I have white balance my camcorder using paper, cardboard, (here comes some Vidiotics) tablecloth, T-shirts (from me or some guy I can find) and walls. Does correctly white balancing a camcorder requires just something white?

[doublehamm]

Any of the methods you mentioned will work. Different shades though will give slightly different results, so it is usually best to find one method to use for consistency, which is typically a white sheet of paper in my case.

I have used table cloths in reception venues many times as well when I need something in a hurry!

[Luis Maymi Lopez]

@doublehamm I knew I couldn’t be the only one who white balance the camera with table cloths in receptions. Let’s keep that detail from clients, they don’t need to know 🙂

[Grinner Hester]

I white balance on whatever is 100 percent white when I want true whites. I like rich skin tones though so often I’ll throw a lttle blue in when balancing. Bottom line though… today we color create in post. Folks called it color correction back in the day. But back in the day it was a crutch for bad shots and took more time to do it. Today we tweek every shot a bit anyway. Doesn’t take any longer at all.

[doublehamm]

Even color balancing err correcting in post will still turn out much better if the original footage is as close to possible. I always do that as well, but if it is extreme sometimes certain colors will not play nice, especially if using multiple cameras.

[Kenkyusha]

 White balancing to an 18% grey card works well, especially if you are shooting under variable lighting conditions and with multiple cameras.  The Frugal Filmmaker’s blog featured an entry on how to get a plastic color sample from an art supply house (that is pretty close to 18% grey), for free, including shipping.

[D0n]

use a 50% grey card if you want to set your exposure and color balance simultaniously…

that said I usually use the 18% grey card… and then adjust exposure from there…

[xinetika]

Do you have to white balance your camera every time you turn it on? 

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