My camera is capturing these ugly green/blue tinted photos!

I only shoot in a home studio setting with my SONY MVC-FD87. The

camera

<a href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc334S.jpg>

was working well and capturing clear images </a> just two days ago,

then all of a sudden I started noticing green cast through the LCD

screen. <a

href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc335S.jpg>Gree

n cast shows in the photos as well.</a>

<p>

 

I thought maybe I had accidentally touched other buttons thus

triggering other settings during photographigng, but then ruled that

out by double-checking all camera settings.

<p>

 

To see if the problem would persist in a different lighting

condition, I brought the camera outdoor to try. No green cast

shooting outdoor.

<p>

 

I brought it back to the home studio setting. There're only two

lights in this studio setting. One is the main light, positioned

just to the right of the suject. The other is the overhead light,

just above the subject. I then shot several photos with only the

overhead light on, <a

href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/overhead.jpg>all

w/o green cast.</a> I tried with the main light on only, and guess

what, there was real noticeable shift in color from <a

href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc432S.jpg>this

first shot</a> to <a

href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc433S.jpg>this

.</a>

<p>

At this point I wasn't sure if the SONY MVC-FD87 or the main light

was the real culprit.

<p>

So I retested under the studio setting with a SONY DSC-W7

And I got more confused because the photos <a

href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/DSC00687.jpg>tak

en (main and overhead both on) with DSC-W7</a> turn out to be way

darker than those taken with MVC-FD87.

<p>

Both the DSC-W7 and MVC-FD87 have the same setting: WB is auto, EV

is 1.0, flash off.

<p>

Please help! I've been testing and retesting the whole weekend. I

must figure out what the real problem is!!

Sounds like you have a white-balance issue. The green cast may be a result of shooting under flourescent light with AWB. Try turning off auto white balance and selecting the white balance manually.

 

 

Hope this helps.

What lights are you shooting under. I get the impression from what you wrote that you're using strobes? You're not shooting under flourescent light are you? If it was flourescent light then the answer may be down to the way the colour cycles in flourescent tubes.

 

Otherwise I'd agree that it looks like some sort of auto white balance issue.

sorry if I am rude but what do you expect if you use ANY kind of auto setting? try selecting the right one yourself, or do a measurement of the correct one.

The only photo for which I could read the EXIF data is the one taken with your W7, which shows 1/50th at f/2.8 and 100 ISO with a 1 stop positive exposure correction. There's every possibility that the two cameras meter differently and process images differently, so even when settings are identical (and there's no way I can know that) the cameras probably won't produce matched results.

 

At 1/50th, you should be reasonably close to avoiding cycling from the lighting, but you might do better shooting at 1/25th and f/4 (or f/3.2 to increase exposure with the W7) instead - I assume you are using a tripod and delayed release. To get even colour, your lights should be similar - different kinds of lights (e.g. fluorescent and incandescent, or even different power incandescent bulbs) will produce different lighting spectra. It's possible that the colour from (one of) your lights is shifting/unreliable because it is nearing the end of its life - try new bulbs. What lights are you actually using?

 

If possible, set a custom white balance on your camera(s), or at least use the closest match of defined white balance setting to the actual lighting.

Hi Carlos,<p>

 

The SONY MVC-FD87 offers hardly any manual control, it only has four WB pre-settings - Auto, Hold, Indoor, and Outdoor. <p>

 

Under the particular type of lights I use (The main light is fitted with 4 daylight balanced 5500K 23W spiral light bulbs. The overhead light is fitted with 3 exact same type of bulbs.), auto has always worked best. Setting it to indoor or outdoor never looked as natural as auto. <p>

 

Hi Alice,<p>

The main light is fitted with 4 daylight balanced 5500K 23W spiral light bulbs. The overhead light is fitted with 3 exact same type of bulbs. I suppose they're fluorescent lights, right? <p>

 

You said "If it was flourescent light then the answer may be down to the way the colour cycles in flourescent tubes." Could you please explain what that means? Thanks!<p>

 

"sorry if I am rude but what do you expect if you use ANY kind of auto setting? try selecting the right one yourself, or do a measurement of the correct one." Alice, the camera only has four WB settings, auto puts out its best image. <p>

 

Mark,<p>

The EXIF data for photos taken using the SONY MVC-FD87 is not available because the camera simply does not provide them. It's an old, but good camera. <p>

 

I'm not quite following the part you said about metering and ISO (I only shoot with the SONY MVC-FD87 so I bascially just point and shoot and adding or subtracting the EV number.)<p>

 

The overhead light (including the light bulbs) is less than 2 weeks old. The main light and its light bulbs are around 6 months old.

<p>

Guys,<p>

I went back and tested the MVC-FD87 again. With only the overhead light turned on, images are clear (just like the photo posted above). Once the main light is introduced, the color shifts to the light shade of green. As soon as I turned the main light off (leaving the overhead on only), it's back to the pretty image I want. <P>

 

Even though I rarely use the main light (less than 20 hrs since purchase 6 months ago), but I let a friend borrow it so I don't know if it had been used a lot more. The overhead is brand new, I got it less than 2 weeks ago.<P>

 

Plesae help!! I don't know what's going on. I just want the clear images that my SONY MVC-FD87 used to take. HELP!

Cindy -

 

It sounds like you have used simple 'trial and error' methods in the past that have given you workable results, and that you are pretty sensitive to 'color balance' in your finished images.

 

Having said that, it's pretty remarkable that flourescent bulbs have worked out for you at all! Flourescents are just a whole 'nother animal down at the 'physics' level. They behave pretty unpredictably in color repro, but most of them have a green cast compared to incandescents or daylight.

 

Some modern digital cameras do a pretty fair job on AWB in 'dialing out' this green cast, but flourescent bulbs have a lot of variation in how they combine the different colored spectral 'spikes' to come up with an approximation of 5500K.

 

If you're in full control of which bulbs you select in your studio, you will most likely get more consistent color results with a traditional 'black body' (that's a physics term) incandescent bulb.

Here's what I did: take 1 shot with overhead only on auto white balance. Switch to white balance = Hold, turn on main and reshoot.

<p>

I tried exactly that, and the green cast is pretty much all gone (not quite as you'll soon see).

<P>

After I had the WB on "HOLD", I took many many shots with both the main and overhead on. <a href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc571S_1sthold.jpg>The first few shots</a> after WB is set to "HOLD" differ slightly in color from <a href=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/bemyhost/mvc575S.jpg>the later ones.</a> Notice the later shot has more green than the first ones.

<p>

It's like the color really wants to get back to green from normal even when the WB is set to "HOLD".

<P>

But if I change the WB from "HOLD" back to "AUTO" as shooting is going on, the picture immediately has a visible green cast.

<P>

What's the real story behind the green cast? I'm really upset because these are relatively new and I've spent a great chunk of time and energy (and money spent too) trying to make my photos pop.

<i>

"What's the real story behind the green cast?"</i>

<p>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp">

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp</a> gives the basics. You can also click on the 'spectrum chart' and get a more detailed breakdown of which 'peak' is due to which chemical interaction. It's that peak labled '5' that corresponds to a whole bunch of green 'energy' around the 550 nM region (a popular 'green laser' is around 532 nM).

<p>

In contrast, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-body">'Black Body'</a> type light gives a more continuous spectrum for film or imaging sensors to 'grab on to'. How your particular imaging sensor reacts to the discontinuous spectrum thrown off by a fluorescent tube is really kind of a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky.

Guyes,

 

I think I may have caught the real culprit! (Thanks Jeremy!)

In all my previous attempts to figure out what caused the green cast, I never thought of exchanging the light bulbs in the main light with those that are inside the overhead. (We later all know something's wrong with light from the main.)

 

This is what I just tried: I took out all four bulbs inside the main and put back the three bulbs that was originally insdie the overhead. I took a shot with the main only, and guess what..green all over. I thought that was weird. So I randomly slected three of four bulbs originally from the main, and I put them in the overhead. I took a shot with the overhead only, no green cast/perfect.

 

This is really strange. The main light is only 6 months old and had rarely been used (except I don't know about that one time I let a friend borrow it). Anyone has a theory?

Tod,

 

Why then is fluorescent <a href=http://www.sell-it-on-the-net.com/online_store/alzo_300_tent_kits.htm>being marketed as good for product photography</a>?

When it comes to fluorescents there are two characteristics you need to watch. The first is color temp. This is an approximation of the color a blackbody radiator (like a bar of iron) would glow when raised to that temp in degrees kelvin. The other is Color Rendition Index (or CRI) which is supposed to tell you how closely that light source mimics a true blackbody radiator. Fuorescents can be made so that they have color temp like daylight (5000-5500K), but may have a poor CRI. There are tubes available that have a high CRI (above 94 or so) and a good color temp, but you need to do your research. The way this is achived is a mix of phosphors that emit different spectra of light which together gives a high CRI. Those phosphors age at different rates, and the tube will change color ourput over time.

 

Why yours suddenly changed, I don't know. You might want to get a grey card. This can be used as a reference "color" to adjust the whole picture. Google grey card and color balance.

<i>

"Why then is fluorescent being marketed as good for product photography?"</i>

<p>

Count me among those who think that's a marketing statement that flies in the face of the laws of physics.

<p>

I feel the same way about the 'Ott-light' that is marketed for sewers / quilters / craft folk as being the most 'color accurate' (or some such) task lamp available. It's fluorescent, therefore it's highly suspect in my mind. (My wife is 'crafty', and I'm trying to steer her away from the Ott-light. So far she is pleased with Halogen as a replacement.)

<p>

It is possible that there have been some significant improvements in fluorescents since I was a physics major some 2+ decades ago. It's just a huge gap to jump on the "electron volt" level to get to where these things truly give off continuous spectrum light. It's like somebody trying to sell me on a "perpetual motion" machine. I immediately assume it's hype and hucksterism.

High CRI lamps using multiple phosphors are in common use in video production (Kino Flo) and have been for awhile as are HMI lamps. Neither are continuous spectrum. Both can be pretty accurate. Xenon isn't continuous either for that matter, and tends to have a fairly intense UV component.

 

Philips and GE have both come out with high CRI tubes (92-98) http://www.truesun.com/Phillips_950/phillips950.htm . Their main drawback (to me at least) is that they just don't put out that much light, even in 6 tube banks. The spiral top/CFL bulbs sold on ebay for cheap product shoot kit, are probably anybody's guess as to CRI (in the 80's most likely). Part of the problem is that there's no good feedback to the user when the color starts to shift unless they are very attentive to checking it. They're certainly usable, depending on your needs. Shooting tiny shots for ebay sales are one thing, shooting NeedlessMarcups catalogue is (I would guess) another.

 

I'm not sure I buy the whole Ott light mumble, but flourescent banks are commonly used for SAD therapy to good effect.

Thanks for the education / update, Jim. As I was trashing fluorescents on the 'spike' level, I was wondering in the back of my mind what makes xenon strobes successful (though lots of people do go to some effort to warm them up).

 

It's useful to know if I ever have a need to use fluorescents for one reason or another to light something where I care about the perceived color. One of the towns on the Oregon coast I frequent for vacation has a law about using predominantly CFL's in their retail spaces. A buddy of mine runs a gallery there, and the galleries are exempt from the law. His wife runs a clothing store, and he's trying to help her design some lighting that doesn't look like crap and still complies with the law. I think I'll send him a link to this thread.