White balance in Spotlight Mode

[BWC]

I just got my HV30s this week and am doing a test shoot tonight. I don't have a miniSD card so I guess I can't do the exposure lock this time out. I have gone through all of the settings and have decided that, due to their low grain in low light, either Cinema or Spotlight mode is what I will be shooting in. Spotlight seems to produce less grain, but it seems to revert to automatic white balance. The white balance in auto is not even close to correct. Is there any way to manually white balance in Spotlight mode?

[Ian-T]

Unfortunately no. That's why we want to hack the crap out of this cam.

... sorry...just venting here.

[BWC]

Unfortunately no. That's why we want to hack the crap out of this cam.

... sorry...just venting here.

Man, I am really getting sick of this camera and I haven't even done a shoot yet. Canon has thrown limitations on every last promising feature. I am considering just shooting in Spotlight and color correcting in post, but I get a little uneasy rolling tape on something that looks bad. Since there is no way to set the white balance, is there any way to force the ABW to try to get it right? My debit card broke in half inside my pocket. They say 7 to 10 business days to get a new one. When it arrives, I am contributing to the hack. Once the hack is done, how will you load it?

[Erik Bien]

I recommend CINE mode (which does allow you to set WB).

Hacked firmware, if and when available, should be as simple as downloading a file to a mini-SD card and going to the "update firmware" menu in the camera.

[BWC]

Thanks Eric. I'll try Cine mode. What happens with the donations to the hack? Are they going to be used as a reward for the successful hacker or to buy an HV30 to try it on? Also, I read that the hack could enable AVCHD encoding. Will that be instead of or in addition to SD and HDV?

[Erik Bien]

Also, I read that the hack could enable AVCHD encoding.

I'm hardly an expert, but I'd say there's less than no chance of that.

[User]

Man, I am really getting sick of this camera and I haven't even done a shoot yet.
Thats just the best! Are you American?
Us.

[BWC]

Did a shoot last night. Shot in Cine mode at 24p. No grain. Looks good so far.