white balance

[poko21]

I'm using a canon s100 in an underwater housing. For taking videos do most people generally set the white balance once they're under the water? I left it in auto once and it was a disaster and once I used the underwater mode which was even worse.

 

[Sure Squintsalot]

White balance is a constantly moving target when using lights though on my GoPro I set WB to auto which works reasonable well for up to armslength distances. I compensate in post using Davinci Resolve. See some results here:
Without lights, people seem to have acceptable results using red and magenta filters. I won't use filters because of the enormous light reduction.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

You can buy white cards for cheap as chips, then just use them as a reference when in post. Just as your about to start filming just flash the white card in front of the camera as a reference when post. Most software can white balance better with a reference such as a white card. once balanced you can edit out the white card shot. Alternatively some people use white fins for exactly this reason

 

[gamon]

Alternatively some people use white fins for exactly this reason

Clever.

Just to add: You almost never want to use auto-white balance whether it's when shooting scuba diving videos or aerial shots with a drone. The finished product will show a lot of lighting changes and won't make for a good viewing experience.

At the very least, lock in whatever white balance is set by the automatic feature of the camera and leave it that way until there's a reason to change it again (obviously something that significantly changes the ambient lighting).

 

[CT Sean]

I have an S100. I have my RING FUNC button set to manual white balance. It's not perfect but it's way better than auto. I still have some problems with overexposed video but that's a different topic

 

[poko21]

these are all great tips thank you!