HOW TO DO THE WHITE BALANCE WORKFLOW WITH THE

SONY FS5
This short document will walk you through the proprietary white balance workflow for
Composition and Visual Design.

First make sure you have your Portabrace white card

and that you have taped a piece of white printer paper
to the back side (Side with the sticker).

Second – you do this white balance workflow after you

have setup and lit the entire shot and are ready to
record – the white balance workflow is the last step
before you shoot.

WHITE BALANCE WORKFLOW

1. Switch your WB Mode Switch (A/B/PRESET) on the left side of the camera (D in the
graphic to the right) to A.

This puts a A with a small box and two small triangles beneath it under your audio meters
where white balance info appears in your viewfinder.

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If you do not see an A under your audio meters in the viewfinder- like above, you are in
auto white balance and to get back to manual white
balance simply hit the WHT BAL button (C in the image
below) on the left bottom side of the camera.

2. Put your white card so that the main light source (s)
are hitting the card and zoom in and try to fill the
frame as much as you can with the card - you want to
have at least 85% of the frame filled with the card.

Then push and hold the PUSH AUTO Iris button until
your f-stop number stops moving.

Then look at your viewfinder and make sure you don't

have any zebra stripes on the card and that the white in the histogram is close to the left
side of the Zebra 2 - Zebra Point (yellow line) You should not see any white (pixel density)
on the right side of the yellow line.

Here is a tip of correct exposure using a white card – simply iris up until you see Zebra 2
stripes in the white on the card, iris down until the Zebra 2 stripes disappear and you
should be right within the ballpark for exposing the card correctly.

3. Then push the WB SET button on the front of the camera and the A will change to a
Kelvin degree number, but it will only stay on the screen for three seconds before reverting
back to an A again.

4. Write this number down in your camera report under A

5. Now flip the switch from A to B

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Repeat the same steps but use the white piece of printer paper or anything else white or
gray in exactly the same spot - make sure you are exposed properly

Then hit the WB

SET button and
the B will change
to a Kelvin
degree number - but
again it will only stay on the screen for three seconds before reverting back to the B.

Write this number down in your camera report under B

The A and B numbers can be exactly the same but more than likely they will be a few
hundred Kelvin degrees different. If they are more than 500K different you are doing
something wrong - and this is usually on of two things

A) You are not exposing properly

B) You are not white balancing under the same light.

6. Now flip the WB Mode Switch (A/B/PRESET) to PRESET and this will put a Kelvin degree
number in the viewfinder under the audio meters.

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Hit the WB SET button on the front of the camera and this will put a white box around the
Kelvin degree number meaning that you can adjust this number using the SEL/SET dial or
the multi-function toggle switch on the back of the right handle.

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Dial this number in close to what you got for the A and B numbers. So, for example. If you
got a 3200K for A and a 3000K for B you would dial this number in to 3100K.

7. Next remove your white target (white or gray card) from the shot and setup the shot you
will be shooting making sure you are exposed and focused properly.
Then dial the 3100K number up 500K to 3600K and then back down 500K from 3100K to
2600K while looking at your LCD. Within the 1000K range you will see one place where
the white balance in the LCD looks just like what you see with your human eye.

The concept here is that you let A, and B Custom White Balance, get you in the ballpark for
the correct color temperature and now you are using your eye to determine where (within
a 1000K range) the white balance looks the best to you.

Select that number by pushing in the SEL/SET button. This gets rid of the white box around
the Kelvin degree number. Write this PRESET number down in your camera report under
PRESET.

Now with the shot still setup and exposed properly, simply flip the WB Mode Switch back
and forth between A, B and PRESET and determine which of the three settings look the best
to you.

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BOLD or highlight that setting in your camera report and you have completed the white
balance workflow.

Just a few notes about this workflow

You must make sure you are exposing properly when white balancing. If your shot is
over or under exposed it will throw off your white balance numbers.

Use the three numbers we told you to commit to memory as a guide to let you know if
you are in the ballpark for your white balance numbers.

Commit to memory three Kelvin degree numbers that will help you remember these values.

3200K – Interior Tungsten Light used in Film and Television sets. Neewer light kit with the top
knob turned to the right and the bottom knob turned to the left.

4400K – Neewer Light Kit with both knobs turned to the right (330 warm and 330 blue LEDs)

5600K – Exterior – Noon Sun, no clouds, clear blue sky. Neewer light kit with top knob to the
left, bottom knob to the right.

6500K – Exterior – Partly cloudy skies. TV, Computer, iPad, iPhone and smart watches screens.

Always use your white card or a standardized white target for the A white balance so
you always know you have the same source for A.

Continue doing this workflow until you get to the point where the number you choose
comes up as the PRESET number - it's at that point that you have retrained your eye to
accurately determine the correct white balance. This will take a couple months of doing
this to get to this point.

You will find the white balance looks a bit different between your LCD in the camera and
your computer monitor - trust the computer monitor - it's a much better monitor.

White Balance needs to be set from location to location, but if you are in the same location
do not change the white balance between shots in the same location/lighting when
shooting a scene.

THE VISIBLE COLOR SPECTRUM

To really understand how to use white balance and lighting to affect the tone or mood of your
shots – not to mention look correct, you must first understand Color Temperature and how it is
measured with Kelvin Degrees.

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Your eyes can see a limited visible color spectrum

COLOR TEMPERATURE
With white balance – the color temperature scale looks is based on taking a pure black object
(called a black radiator) and heating it up until it changed colors much like a charcoal briquet
from your grill. As it heated up it turned red, orange, yellow, white and eventually hot enough
it turned blue – this is the Color Temperature scale and its measured in degrees Kelvin,
commonly called Kelvin Degrees. You need to begin to memorize this scale.

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Your white balance should range from around 2700K to 9000K, if it’s above or below these
numbers, chances are you are probably not exposed properly.