Gray is generally best. For the longest time I used white because that’s what I was taught, but that’s for older broadcast cameras that didn’t have much dynamic range or highlight compression. Gray is the better option as there’s usually little tonal compression going on in the mid-tones and you have the most saturation compared to shadows or highlights.

Basically, expose the gray card to be gray, hit the button, and that should be it. Make sure the card is in the light that you want to be white.

When I had multiple white balance settings available in the form of a switch on the side of the camera, I would white balance all of them to the same value just in case I bumped it.

HI Fernando-

That’s the best method. Depending on the camera and lighting (tungsten or daylight) you may be better off choosing preset (3200K or 5500K). This may not work so well if you’re using LED lighting as LEDs and camera sensors tend to interact in occasionally unpredictable ways. In that case, yes: you would expose the gray card for middle gray (or as close as possible) and hit the auto white button. You can also roll some footage and white balance the gray card in post.

-Art

_______________________________________________________​ Art   Adams Cinema Lens Specialist ​ ARRI Inc. 3700 Vanowen Street Burbank ,  CA   91505 www.arri.com    aadams@... Get all the latest information from www.arri.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. ​ ​ This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. If you have received it by mistake, please let us know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please send us by fax any message containing deadlines as incoming e-mails are not screened for response deadlines. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet.

Thanks, Art. I have never use any Cinema Camera as Arri, Red or Phantom. For this cameras should I expose the gray card and hot the button? Or is another method?

Thanks a lot.

Cheers

Fernando Alves
Editor and now studying Cinematography
https://vimeo.com/fernandoalves

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Hi Fernando-

Sometimes a camera will allow you to capture multiple white balances via a switch on the side of the camera, typically labeled “A, B, and preset.” You can save different white balances to A and B but I usually save the same one just in case the switch gets bumped.

_______________________________________________________​ Art   Adams Cinema Lens Specialist ​ ARRI Inc. 3700 Vanowen Street Burbank ,  CA   91505 www.arri.com    aadams@... Get all the latest information from www.arri.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. ​ ​ This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. If you have received it by mistake, please let us know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please send us by fax any message containing deadlines as incoming e-mails are not screened for response deadlines. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet.

Art, what you mean by "multiple white balance"?

"When I had multiple white balance settings available in the form of a switch on the side of the camera, I would white balance all of them to the same value just in case I bumped it."

Sorry, didn't get what you mean here.


Thanks a lot.

Cheers

Fernando Alves
Editor and now studying Cinematography
https://vimeo.com/fernandoalves

This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. If you have received it by mistake, please let us know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please send us by fax any message containing deadlines as incoming e-mails are not screened for response deadlines. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet.