Conventional Fixtures NO PINK gel hindering white balancing of JVC GY-HD250U?

[cwbanks]

We have an ETC leko rig with NO PINK in 95% of the front key light for video and 5% with 1/4 CTB as a fill. We are having an issue white balancing our JVC cameras to a white card in on the main stage area where key light is focused. Can that color temp. be causing the camera to not like it and therefore not white balance? If we aim the camera at a wall or something off stage, it for some reason will white balance. We've turned the lights up and down and nothing seems to work on stage.

Should I consider moving the temperature up to help get our cameras looking better for video which we live stream every weekend? I mean we have 14 moving arc lamp macs and lots of LEDs. It's something I've been wanting to do for a year now, wonder if this is the push to go ahead and do it.

Any expertise in this area would be great. Thanks

 

[SteveB]

Sounds like you have "No Color PInk", also known as Rosco R33.

Your R33 front keys are not white. They are light pink, which lowers the CT reference in the camera's. Not sure why you fill with a CTB, except to attempt to bring the CT higher, compensating for the warmth of the pink ?.

In truth though, you can tell the cameras that white is anything (to a point). Thus you can white balance outside, even though the CT may be much higher. It's just a reference point for the cameras. Problem is that if you tell a camera that an amber front key is white, then every other color the camera now see's is skewed. Ditto a pale blue (that CTB ?).

That's why typical indoors "white" is 3200 kelvin, which would be your S4 front lights in no color, using 3200K lamps (or near enough).

Then your ML's would have much higher CT's (with anybodies guess as to what the LED's are, as they change, having no "base source at a defined CT). Having white keys balanced at 3200 then allows the ML's, with their cooler lamps, to cut thru the "white" of the incandescents. That's useful for flash and trash but you would have to color correct if using as key light.

 

[cwbanks]

Steve B.

Thanks for the reply on color temp., but what I'm looking for is there a technical reason the camera won't white balance to our key light. The cameras will not even try. Only way to get them to "white balance" is to shoot at something off stage. Is the color temp. that we have not in its range?

 

[SteveB]

It sounds like the camera's are smart enough to know when something you are telling it is "white", isn't. Never encountered this though. Maybe post it over on the LightNetwork as well.

Does it balance to a 3200k flood/sun/gun ?.

Maybe a question for the vidiots ?.