White balance for video in stage lighting

Any recommendations for what white balance to use for video with stage lighting. The color of the lighting of course changes dramatically, and the video gets really weird looking sometimes with auto white balance, especially with magenta stage lights.

My feeling is that the changes in the lighting are a carefully crafted part of the program, so I would turn off AWB, manually set incandescent WB, & just accept what is presented to me. Otherwise you're just chasing WB through the entire event.
Of course, venues using LED lighting will require a different WB setting.

PhotosGuy is basically correct.

To the extent that the lighting is designed, you want to reflect that in the image. Generally, setting your camera for tungsten is the best you can do.

The modern trend is toward LED lighting. It's not hard to see why--runs cooler, cheaper, and a lot longer between bulb changes 'way up high.

But stage LEDs absolutely stink for photography and video, and they're nothing much you can do about it.

Stage LED lights, if you look at them, simulate "white" light for the eye by merely having a sprinkling of separate red, green, and blue LEDs on the light panel. That fools the eye well enough, but not the imaging sensor.

And most of the time (in my experience), only the main lights have even all three colors of LEDs. Most of the auxiliary lighting will be just red and blue LEDs.

Or, lordy, they'll just mix in everything. Maybe the spots will be tungsten and all the auxiliary lighting some mixture of RGB LEDs and RB LEDs.

So, if there are some tungsten's in the mix, you can do a bit of tweaking in post. but you'll largely have to live with a magenta cast otherwise, because the hues you need just don't exist in the light you have to work with.

Thank you PhotosGuy and RDKirk!

I can't remember is the venue where I will be working has LED lighting. I did video at a venue with all LED strip lights and that lighting was a nightmare for video.

I'm thinking I might be better off to set the white balance manualle instead of letting it "float" in AUto WB mode. Maybe take a few photos on stage with the stage lights off, determine my best WB setting, and use that for the video. WHat do you think?

Thanks again!

KatManDEW wrote in post #18439944
I'm thinking I might be better off to set the white balance manualle instead of letting it "float" in AUto WB mode.

What sort of event is it? Some have dress rehearsals before & they're useful to plan what what to do at the main event.

Why would you want the stage lights off?

KatManDEW wrote in post #18439944
I'm thinking I might be better off to set the white balance manualle instead of letting it "float" in AUto WB mode. Maybe take a few photos on stage with the stage lights off, determine my best WB setting, and use that for the video. WHat do you think?

Manually set it to tungsten.

That's what I was thinking. Thank you!

Magenta and red are tough. I am not a big video guy but my basic understanding is that shooting C-log should help with post production when the color gets weird.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18440356
Magenta and red are tough. I am not a big video guy but my basic understanding is that shooting C-log should help with post production when the color gets weird.

I have not researched C-log. Thanks for the note.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18440356
Magenta and red are tough. I am not a big video guy but my basic understanding is that shooting C-log should help with post production when the color gets weird.

C-log can't add a color to the light that wasn't in the light. When the spectrum of the original light is so woefully incomplete, it can't be fixed--except maybe by some form of computer-generated coloration.

RDKirk wrote in post #18442474
C-log can't add a color to the light that wasn't in the light. When the spectrum of the original light is so woefully incomplete, it can't be fixed-.

I never suggested it could.

But it can be made less obnoxious.