Once more about white balance

The camcorder that we are using should be adjusted or setting the 'white balance' properly before begin the shooting. Otherwise the colour of the scene that we are recording on the tape become unnatural.


But sometimes the camcorder is wrongly setting it's 'white balance' on purpose. This is in order to achieve certain 'effect'. For example if the camcorder is setting to daylight 'white balance', it will give a yellowish scene when shooting the scene lit by artificial light source.

National Career Carnival 2008

Open ceremony of 'National Career Carnival 2008' by YB. Datuk Khalid Nordin, Minister of Higher Education on 17 Oktober 2008.

Multiple Camera Production intrument that are used during recording of the opening.

Listerning the information.

Booths in the Dewan Gemilang

17 Oktober 2007:

White balance again.

Our eyes can see white object under different colour of light source as 'white' object . However the video cameras cannot do that. We have to set the 'white balance' of the video camera. Most video camera has automatic white balance. What we should do is point the video camera at anything which is white in colour such as white cardboard. Then press auto white balance button until we can see 'WHITE BALANCE=O.K' in the viewfinder.

Color temperature again.

The white light we see is a mixture of different colours of spectrum. When certain object is heated such as metal, it will glow red then turns orange, yellow, blue and violet. The color change as the temperature increase. The red colour is the lowest temperature. The colour temperature is measured in unit called Kelvin. Candle will give about 2000Kelvin, sunrise between 2000K - 3000K, moonlight i2 4000K and daylight in afternoon is between 5000 - 6000K.


The eyes and brain can 'read' white object under different colours of light but the video camera cannot. In other word, every time we move from one light source to another we have to set the 'white balance' setting of the camera. Otherwise the picture we are shooting will show unnatural colour.

Holding the camcorder

We should always remember that the stability of the camcorder during shooting is very important. Use both hands, lean firmly against the wall, kneeling and sitting firmly will provide stability. Actually the professional news cameraman rarely use tripods because their camcorders are big, heavy and well balanced and easier to keep stady. They are also very experience in their job. To achieve steady shooting with hand held, the lens should be set to infinity and go nearest to the subjects.

As designed, the cameraman always hold the camcorder with the right hand. The style that we are holding the camcorder will ensure the stability of the subjects which we are shooting. Use the left hand to support and make the camcorder steady. The position of the left hand which will give the best support is under the lens barrel of the camcorder.

Small camcorder such as palmcorder, can be hold firmly with the grip strap over the right hand. Use both hands to make the palmcorder more steadily. Place the left hand beneath the palmcorder's body. With larger camcorder, use the right shoulder to support the camcorder. Press the camcorder against the cheek which give the extra steadiness.

Depth of Field

What's depth of field?.
Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the furthest points that will be in focus. In other words all the subjects between the points will be in focus during the shooting.


There are several principles of depth of field.

• The greater the focal length, the narrower the depth
• The greater the aperture, the narrower the depth
• The nearer the subject to the lens, the narrower the depth

To achieve the greatest depth of field during shooting, the subject that we are shooting should be in bright light, clear days and set the lens to widest setting.