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Color Balancing your PTZOptics G3 Camera

This article explains how to properly set your PTZOptics Generation 3 camera's color balance using the recommended One-Push setting, without the need for special equipment. This should be sufficient for the majority of environments.

While this article is designed for Generation 3 models (Move SE, Move 4k, Link 4k, Studio SE, and Studio 4k), the setup and principles should apply to Generation 2 cameras as well. If you are using a G2 camera, follow the OSD instructions in this article.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to get the most accurate colors from your camera WITHOUT expensive color equipment, such as color-calibrated monitors and color checkers. It should be noted that this means there will be more variation in your setup than in a professional broadcast setup, leading to more trial and error and judgment calls.

Setup​

Equipment will depend on your setup. There are two common setups for checking color.

  • The first uses a camera that is on the network, the web interface for color control, and a secondary app to bring in the network stream.
  • The second uses a camera that is not on the network. This could be a camera using a switcher like an ATEM, or connected directly to a monitor for video, with the PTZOptics remote for control.

Any combination of those should be fine as long as you have:

  • A way to navigate the On-Screen Display (OSD) menu: either the IR remote or web UI
  • A way to view the image coming from the camera (HDMI/SDI or RTSP/NDI stream)

Lighting​

In order to get the best image from your camera, you will need to have the camera in the space you wish to broadcast in, with access to the lighting and, if there are windows, at the time of day you will be broadcasting. Lighting is a broad topic, and we won't be covering changing your lighting setup in this article.

Proper lighting is key to a good image, so here is a brief overview:

  1. Make sure it's not too bright or too dark. It's usually easier to account for too much light than not enough.
  2. Avoid Backlighting subjects. Large windows behind the subject or Video walls will require you to boost the lighting in front of the subject to compensate.
  3. Avoid mixing types of color temperatures: Warm-toned lights and cool-toned lights.
  4. Avoid mixing light sources: LED + Fluorescent + Sunlight + projector background.

These issues can be overcome, but some compromises will have to be made.

Computer​

It's easiest to change the color settings via the camera's web interface. If you need help getting the camera on the network, please use this guide Camera Network Setup Guide. If network connectivity is not an option, follow the OSD instructions.

View​

A way to view the video feed outside of the web preview. The web preview is not optimized for correct color rendering, but rather for latency. Use the network stream in NDI studio monitor, or RTSP through VLC player or OBS , or one of the hardware outputs to a monitor.

White Balance Card​

We recommend using a crumpled piece of white printer paper that has been unfolded. The different angles of paper reflect different parts of the light, giving a more accurate white balance calibration. However, a plain piece of white paper should be fine.

Color Card (optional)​

We recommend using a color card so that you can see how each color is being rendered in a single frame. It reduces guesswork and readjustments.

If you are color-matching multiple cameras, a color card is very useful. Cards vary in price due to calibration and printed material. A professional color card is not necessary. Look for one in your price range and avoid one with a glossy finish.

Setting White Balance with One Push​

This is the easiest setup besides fully auto, and the one we would use starting out.

Note: If you have a completely controlled environment and want complete control over everything, use manual settings for exposure and color .

Step 0: Viewing the camera image​

With the camera on the network, navigate to the web interface by opening on a web browser and going to ptzoptics.local or typing the camera's IP address into the URL bar. If it's your first time using the web interface, set a password then login using the username: admin and the password you just set. If it's an older firmware, the default is username: admin and password: admin.

This will give you a way to control the image settings.

Now open the camera's IP stream in OBS, VLC, or NDI Studio Monitor.

Step 1: Set lighting​

Turn all the lights on as they will be during your production. If there are windows, try to do this at a time as close to the event time as possible. For example, if you're filming a concert at night, do not set exposure and color when morning light is flooding in through the windows.

Step 2: Place the white balance card​

Placement of the white balance card should be the same whether it is a manufactured card or a piece of white paper.

Place the white balance card in the area where the light will be hitting the talent. It's best to place this on a flat surface at 45 degrees. This ensures that the lights are hitting the paper and that the paper isn't in shadow.

Note: Cheap white cards can have a glossy surface that creates a glare. We want it illuminated by the lights, but we do not want glare (glare is overexposed).

Step 3: Set the exposure​

The exposure settings can be found in the Image tab, under Exposure. Change the dropdown from Auto to AAE. Then continue following the instructions in Step 3.

In the exposure setting, we are balancing the brightest and darkest areas of the image. When the image is too bright or too dark, less information is sent to the camera, which means less control over the color in over/under exposed areas.

We're going to use AAE which is mostly automatic, but allows you to set a fixed aperture.

Set the iris to be 2.4 or higher. The Iris is the opening that allows light into the image sensor, also called an aperture. 1.8 is the most amount of light, and 11.0 is the least. Though 1.8 allows the most light in, it has a smaller field of focus and less sharpness, which can cause focus issues.

After you set the iris, the AAE auto adjustment will increase brightness by increasing the gain. You can control how bright you want the overall image to be by setting the gain limit. If the gain limit is at 5 then the automatic compensation will not push the gain past 5.

Balance: Too much gain gives you visual distortion called noise, while too wide an aperture gives you softness and a smaller focus plane.

Step 4: Set White Balance​

In most environments, using the One-Push White Balance is sufficient to achieve correct colors.

First, zoom your camera in on the white balance card so it fills the frame. Make sure the white is not overexposed.

Then navigate to the Color Menu to choose your white balance mode. There are two ways to get to this menu:

  1. On the Dashboard tab, beneath the video preview, go to the "Image" tab, then the "Color" tab. Select the drop-down and set it to "OnePush".
  2. Click the button next to the OnePush dropdown. It should say "Calculating."

You should now have a fairly accurate color for your space. If it looks very off, try the one-push calculation again and adjust your white card placement.

If you can't get the one push to match what you're seeing, check the troubleshooting section at the bottom of this article.

Step 5: Set Preset​

With our initial white balance calibrated, save it to a preset so we can go back to it after tweaking.

Note: PTZOptics cameras save image and position data to presets; this is helpful for quickly checking color settings. The preset number you choose does not matter, as it will be overwritten with actual presets later.

  1. Exit out of the OSD menu by hitting the menu button until it disappears.
  2. Set a preset by hitting the preset button, then press the number 1 to set preset 1.

Once you hit the preset button, you will not see an indication on screen that anything has been done until you select a number, at which point you should see "Set [1] OK".

Note: If you do not see this message and the camera moves to a different position, you have called a preset by mistake, which will lose our one-push settings, so you will need to start over at step 3.

Step 6: Correction​

Now that the default white balance is saved to a preset, we can fine-tune using the other options. This is still the "Correction" phase of getting the colors to represent accurately to your eye.

Note: Unfortunately, this must be done to your eye, so it is subjective. Using a color card can help, as well as a human subject for checking skin tones.

Start with red and blue gain tunings. Take note of the default tuning.

Default:

  • Red Tuning: 3
  • Blue Tuning: 1

If it looks good, then move on. If not, adjust the red and blue tunings.

Move to either extreme and note the differences in your image.

Then move on to the Hue, which controls the green to magenta spectrum on a scale from 0-14. Go to each extreme and note differences, then find something to either side of the default 7. This will compensate for lights that give off green hues, such as fluorescent. For example, if you are using fluorescent lights, you would push towards the magenta to compensate.

Note: Hue is found in the Image tab, not the Color tab, in the web interface.

Multiple Revisions​

Once you get something that looks good to you, save it as preset 2. Go back to preset 1 and check. Continue refining with as many presets as you need. You can clear them or overwrite them later.

Note: The process of changing minute details can be tedious and lead to a "familiarity blindness" when staring at the same image for too long. Artists have techniques to look at their drawings with "fresh eyes," such as turning the drawing upside down or taking a picture. This will break you out of this blindness. This is why we suggest using the multiple presets process.

Now that the colors are being accurately represented, you can stop there and go to step 8 or stylize the image in step 7.

Step 7: Style​

Repeat the following process to change image settings such as Luminance, Saturation, Contrast, Sharpness, and Gamma (Move SE).

Use the preset iteration technique to save different looks and see what you like the best.

Step 8: Preset 0​

When the image is satisfactory, press the home button (the home button is not a preset. It only sends positional information). Then set preset 0.

When preset 0 is set, your camera will boot up to that position with those color and image settings.

Now, pan, tilt, and zoom the camera to your preset positions and set them. This will overwrite the existing test presets.

If you'd like to clear the test presets, you will need to use the IR remote. Hit the reset button and then the number of the preset you'd like to clear.

Note: As much as we can try to combat the familiarity blindness, sometimes we are happy with the color after a session, and then we come back the next day and think it looks terrible. With this process, it may take a few tries to get it right. Just be careful that you are setting your presets correctly and you're not accidentally seeing image settings from an old preset that wasn't set properly.

Troubleshooting​

Color Matching Multiple Cameras​

Even cameras of the same model will render colors slightly differently. If you have Generation 2 cameras, they have a completely different sensor from the Generation 3 cameras. We would recommend just following this article for each camera. Have them all viewable on a multiview or multiple NDI studio monitors, and adjust after you have One Push calculated on the same white piece of paper for each camera.

Manual White Balance​

Try using Manual instead of One Push if you are experiencing the following issues:

  • If people standing in certain sections of your space look accurate, but when they move to another section, it looks wrong, you may have multiple light sources.
  • If you are unable to get accurate colors from the one push calculation.

Colored Lights and Effects​

If you have a stage that uses colored lights for different effects, do not try to white balance for each lighting scene. If your lighting director wants the person on stage to look blue to the audience in the space, then there's no need to set a new white balance for that lighting scene so that the skin tones appear normal when those lights are on.

Hardware Problems​

PTZOptics Technical Support does not provide color-balancing or white-balance calibration services. We can assist in verifying proper camera operation and offer guidance on available image settings, but final image calibration for your environment is the responsibility of the installer or production team.

If your aperture is not affecting the image brightness, please contact support.