Advice for the DXC-M7 Camera?

[ARC Tech-109]

Glad to see you got it going, I know you fought with that VCXO for some time.

So my experience with the M7 was just as lacking as what you're dealing with now. First generation CCD that had challenges with the white balance that seemed to defy all the best practices short of kilowatts of halogen lighting or direct sunlight, they just washed the deficiencies out... there was a reason I stuck with that M3A, the M7 was abysmal.

As Alex pointed out standard LEDs have a much different spectrum than a black body radiator (tungsten) that look may "right" to the human eye have subtle but distinct non linearities that a camera will pick up on, professional LED lighting has compensations for these differences. Both my D-55 and DVW-790 will pick up the slight differences of the consumer white LEDs showing them as a white balance error.

150 watts isn't really enough for the M7 be it true power or equivalent, 4x this would be more of what the camera really needs to stand out. Most of the power in the key light with 2/3 that in the fill and back lights spaced 4-6 feet out from the subject using a 3 point layout. Years ago I used cheap umbrellas that I shot with silver paint on the inside to make soft lights out of, I powered them with those yellow halogen work lights from Menards and used spring loaded woodworking clamps to hold them in place. Most of my interior work was done using these and they were 3000K so the camera would balance without a problem.

In your situation I'd recommend a soft key light just to your right at 300 watts 4 feet away and a fill of equal power to your left but higher up and 6 feet away for that particular scene. To make a soft key aim a scoop or medium flood light at a white bed sheet keeping it 3 feet away with you 4 feet from the sheet and do the same for the fill but have the light up higher to both fill in the side shadows and give some depth. If you're going to use LED I'd recommend going with those adjustable "paddle" or panels used for garages or large areas and not the COB style unless you have a large scoop given their dispersion. The paddles are going to be some 4100K so you will need to filter for these possibly run in 5600K mode and see if it will balance down. The problem with LED is the "equivalent" is somewhat subjective and seldom accurate. is it 150 watt equivalent to a bare bulb or reflector? Modern solid state 48" T8 fluorescents seem to do well if all the tubes are from a matched lot and the same age, again they're 4100K and need to balance down (or up) but I've used them in a pinch.

I sent you a message this morning, let me know if you got it as I've changed phones.