Hot To Set White Balance – Sony FX3 + A7SIII
How To Set White Balance – Sony FX3 / FX30 / A7SIII
How to use the white balance tools on Sony mirrorless cameras when shooting video.
I demonstrate all of the white balancing tools including the auto white balance, presets and custom settings on my Sony FX3. I then show how I use these tools to set white balance when shooting in a mixed lighting setting.
Table of Contents
These links open the relevant section on YouTube
00:00 – Intro & Setup
01:41 – Auto White Balance
04:11 – Priority Set in AWB
04:55 – Presets
05:48 – Shockless White Balance
06:51 – Colour Temperature / Filter
07:18 – Custom White Balance
08:44 – Mixed Lighting
09:37 – AWB Locking
Products links mentioned
The following are affiliate links, if you use these and go on to purchase something then I make a small commission. Thanks for supporting my blog.
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Video
Budget Grey Card Set
Sony FX3
Sony A7S III
Aputure ls300x
Aputure ls60x
Other content mentioned
Custom Function Menu – How I set up my FX3
FX3 Playlist – Sony FX3 – Tips, Tutorials & Rigs
What is White Balance?
Setting white balance is all about making the colours in a shot look the way it does to our eyes. Our brain does a great job of normalising our vision to different colour temperatures, from bluer light on a cloudy day to warmer tungsten lights that we might have in our homes so normally we don’t have to think about it.
Our cameras on the other hand always see colour in the same way, if a white object is illuminated with blue light it will appear blue and if it’s lit by an orange light then it will look orange. If we want our camera to make that white object to appear white regardless of the colour of light thats hitting it then we have to white balance the camera for the lighting conditions.
Achieving a good white balance is critical with video. You can make small corrections in post but if you get it totally wrong then it’s often impossible to correct.
It’s important to understand that white balance isn’t just about whites, it effects all of the colours in a shot. White is often used to meter white balance because it’s easy to see what colours are effecting it. You can however also use greys and even blacks sometimes to set white balance.
Many people equate setting white balance to dialling in a colour temperate from cooler daylight blues through to warmer tungsten ambers and while that does normally form the biggest part of white balancing there is more to it. White balancing also takes in to account any green or magenta shifts and anything in between.
