My HF100 works very well except for a color problem. A red tile roof turns PINK in a video recording. If I take still images using my HF100, the tile roof look like the real thing, red not pink.

This pink happens when using CoreAVC, but also when using ImageMixer 3 SE player.

Does this happen to you too?

Is there a way to solve it?

Its really bad I think, beware!

To tell you the truth, I like the "pink" one better. It really doesnt look "pink" to me at all. Its all very subjective anyhow.

Can you try and use custom while balance and try to shoot again?

To tell you the truth, I like the "pink" one better. It really doesnt look "pink" to me at all. Its all very subjective anyhow.

I completely disagree. The red one looks natural in my opinion. But, like you said it is completely subjective. I would think the person who took the picture would know which one is more accurate though, and if he thinks the red one is I would agree.

My HF100 works very well except for a color problem. A red tile roof turns PINK in a video recording. If I take still images using my HF100, the tile roof look like the real thing, red not pink.

This pink happens when using CoreAVC, but also when using ImageMixer 3 SE player.

Does this happen to you too?

Is there a way to solve it?

Its really bad I think, beware!
Does the tile roof play back pink when playing from the cam to a tv,if so there is a problem with its colour,if not it must be a pc software problem somehow.

The whole thing looks pink-ish, not just the roof. Look at the walkways... pink.

I suspect white balance.

It looks like white balance. You can try different auto settings, or you can manually set the white balance by putting a piece of white paper in front of the camcorder (at the location where you're shooting) and setting it.

Read page 51 and 52 of the HF 100 manual.

What mode was your camcorder on when you shot the video? Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy?

Try the "Custom White Balance"



Rich

The shot was taken using auto white balance. I hope it is related to white balance, but then it is strange that the camera can not pick up such a trivial outdoor scene and do it right. Other digital cameras do this perfectly well.

When I come by the church again one day, I'll do some testing.

Just bought a hdmi cable+dvi adapter to see it on my 1920*1200 monitor. It is still pink, so it is not codec related. Strangely my HF100 chooses to send a 720*576 signal to my monitor, so it looks quite crappy. Can it be changed?

Seems like my camera is PAL, so I can choose 25p/50i. Is there a way to change it to NTSC 30p/60i? With modern digital screens it is not relevant to distinguish the two.

I noticed this thread as I am having a very similar issue with my newly purchased HF100. Mine is an NTSC version. What conclusion did you reach? I am still in a 30 day return window so want to avoid being stuck with a defective camera!

I can see it on the LCD viewfinder as well as when viewing on a PC (of which I tried two). Other cameras still images and video show fine on them so doubt it is a codec/software problem anyway, therefore points to a problem with the camera itself. The still images from the HF100 are just regular jpegs anyway.

I wanted to post a link to some example photos in order to show some scenes with red in them that show up pink but it seems I have to make at least 3 posts first to protect against spamming so i'll post one of the images for now:

http://i.pbase.com/g1/25/238925/3/109370365.5KWczPaV.jpg
This is supposed to be red!

The others really need to be seen full size. All were done with Auto White Balance. All of the areas that are pink should be red. As a colleague at work said, the fire hydrant is a nice Fuschia! Sometimes red objects will look ok, and other times not, and messing with the manual white balance only improves it a little. The second photo of a second (different) fire hydrant shows it nearer the red color I'd expect although it still has a pink highlight and it was still auto white balance. Also the flag next to the Dart Board is a bit nearer the original red unlike the Dart Board but still not right. The SUV looks like it was painted with Nail Polish instead of the red it should be! I even tried saturation though that shouldn't change the actual 'redness' just the vividness.

I have played with the custom white balance but the results are far from satisfactory and anyway I totally agree with the OP that this is unacceptable in a consumer orientated camera. I have much more inexpensive cameras that I have never needed to touch the custom controls. They should only be needed for unusual situations.

I guess I am trying to reach a conclusion as to whether this points to a defective camera, so I can exchange it. I really want to like this camera but I could do without the hot pinks!

rgvcam,

I haven't had much luck with the auto white balance on my HF100, though ironically my issues were with blues and greens more than reds and pinks. :) I find the "Cloudy" white balance setting seems to give the truest color reproduction and I tend to leave my HF100 on that setting all the time.

Anthony

Anthony,

I have to admit I am a bit disappointed in this camera. From reading other comments on the web and yours, this is one of the reasons I am a bit reluctant to exchange it for another in case it's just more of the same or I change one problem for another. I am trying to figure out if it's a real fault in that I really do need to get a replacement for. I am beginning to wonder if the quality control on this camera is a problem and whether this is more of an isolated problem than a general quirk of the camera.

rgvcam,

I think the auto color balance is just a quirk of the camera. The other white balance settings seem to work fine, and the auto white balance does work OK most of the time. But it does get the colors wrong on occasion.

Personally, I'd rather pick a "fixed" white balance that can be corrected later in post production. The auto white balance might change as you're filming which would be difficult to correct later.

Anthony

After an email conversation with Canon and showing them some sample images it seems there was a possibility it could've been slightly defective so I returned it only to find that amazon.com said they had no stock and so had to get a refund. I would've even been prepared to wait a week. They then got them back in stock but at a whopping $899.99 (more than Canons own listed MSRP!) which seems a little suspicious to me but oh well. newegg.com has it for $529 but sadly they don't accept returns only exchanges which makes me a bit nervous in case I find the pink reds are a quirk of the camera I can't live with. I may wait a while and give it another try though as I liked the feature set it had.

The reason I am deciding to wait is that I noticed a whole slew of new camcorders from various manufacturers in April!