Shooting under mercuy vapor lights

<p>I recently got my Canon 5d Mark III and was shooting a soccer game tonight under mercury vapor lights, and noticed that when hitting high speed shooting, I would get white versus red lighting - is this just the wavelength of the lighting, or something wrong with my camera? I used to shoot a 7D and never had this issue. </p>

<p>These are two completely unretouched images I shot tonight. Is this normal?<br>

<img src="http://redheadpix.com/forums/RED_5589.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://redheadpix.com/forums/RED_5590.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>My attitude has always been not allowing the camera to make any decisions. Sure, I often leave the WB on auto, but not when it counts. Sooo, my suggestion is to set your WB for the vapor lights. What often happens is that the "auto WB" gets influenced by something and tweaks the temp when you don't wish to see any changes. Anyway, adjust the temp manually till you get the desired results....and then you're set for the duration of the meet. It's less work later.</p>

<p>Les</p>

<p>Thanks for the feedback Leszek... I never use AWB... this was actually shot at a custom WB. </p>

<p>Are you sure those were mercury vapor lamps? Those tend to be somewhat more stable in color temperature than some metal halide lamps, at least after warmup. Perhaps there was some change during the warmup period. But as with most such outdoor lighting they have poor color temperature stability so some shot to shot variation is practically unavoidable.</p>

<p>Hi Lex,<br>

Thanks for the feedback. They very well could be Halide... I just know they weren't HPS because of the color.</p>

At shutter speeds over 1/60th you are catching the un-synchronized cycling of the individual light's ballasts.

<p>I get this also when I have Manual White Balance set. Sometimes you can look at the light and see that some have a green cast and others have a pink cast. The pictures do not come out consistent like you would think when you are using Manual White Balance.</p>

<p>Quite normal. As stated, it doesn't help not using AWB as the color <em>is</em> changing. You have to adjust in post as best you can. Pics look rather underexposed which is probably not helping. I find you need to give more exposure with vapor lights anyway: with my camera I give +2/3 stop routinely.</p>