White Balance Question

[matt215 3]

I haven't shot a lot of video, but I'm wanting to get into it more. My question about white balance is whether it can be done with the editing software like you can with stills. I currently am using imovie to edit. It sort of does white balance, but not really. Is final cut express a program that can effectively white balance? if not, what do you suggest... or am i just going to have to do custom white balance during the dive?

[BDSC 1]

I am far from an expert in video but I have been shooting for about 3 years now. Mostly just vacation/caribbean type of stuff. But what I have learned so far is that it's better to shoot it right the first time and then tweak it when editing than to try and do too much adjusting in the editing phase. My new set-up allows for doing manual white balance during the dive and the difference between what I shoot now and what I was shooting and then correcting later is night and day I think.

[Steve Douglas 16]

BDSC is 100% correct. It is better to do it right the first time and not have an attitude of "I'll fix it in post". Color correction post production and the proper learning of the CC 3 way filters, vectorscope and waveform monitors are very important but it makes life a whole lot easier to not create problems in the first place which leaves you only needing to tweak your footage here and there. White balance in the camcorder and then tweak in the editing.

Steve

[willkiml 0]

I agree with Steve. It works best to manually white balance everytime you're in a new lighting situation or depth. You can sometimes save a clip in post, but often not, regardless of software.

[matt215 3]

i was afraid y'all were going to say that...