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divinh

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My first foray into underwater photography was with a GoPro Hero 2, which was terrible for taking photos (shutter lag), but okay for videos, especially after I got a red filter (though it was more orange).

My second foray was with a Sony NEX-5 and a Polaroid housing (which is more or less, a Meikon housing). The pictures were sharp, but everything was tinted very blue. I didn't have an equivalent red filter and didn't know how to white balance.

My current foray is with a Canon G12 and a Canon housing. What's nice about it is the ability to zoom, built-in underwater white balance mode (which isn't perfect, but makes post correction pretty easy), and the ability to switch between macro with flash and wide without flash. The disappointment is with low-light for deeper dives and resolution.

What I'd like to do is go back to the Sony NEX-5 for another go for low-light and resolution...

1. Dive red filters for the housing are fairly cheap now, $15-20 USD. Is it worth getting and leaving installed all the time? On the Canon G12, I switch on built-in underwater white balance and get pretty good colors on wide shots. On macro, I will turn off the built-in underwater white balance and rely on the flash, but even when I forget to turn off the built-in underwater white balance, the colors are just more vivid...

2. Is the manual white balance on the Sony NEX-5 good enough where I don't need a red filter? I saw a video showing someone use brown coral as a white balance reference and it looked pretty good. (For some reason, the typical white slate doesn't work as well.) The reason I ask to see if a red filter is optional is because in macro mode, it would be nice to not have the red filter, as I will be using flash.

3. For the Sony NEX-5, the flash on/off is usually toggled by flipping up/down the flash module. Is there a way to do it via menus, i.e. flip it up but have it not flash? The reason for this is for wide shots, where a flash usually will light up particulates in the water and cause dots in the photos.

4. I currently use the 18-55mm lens. I also have the 24mm/f1.8. 19mm/f2.8 and 30mm/2.8, which all seem to be roughly the same size. Anyone have experience with these?

Thanks!
 
For white balance in stills, you can just shoot in RAW and correct in post. Phase One Capture One Express for Sony is available for free, the only limitation being that it only opens Sony RAW files (there is also a corresponding version for Fujifilm). You can use the spot white balance picker tool to find something gray in your photo - a patch of sand, a rock, another diver's tank, etc - and use that as a reference point. You can also copy white balance settings between photos, if you have a shot where you can't find a suitable reference point, and another one taken in similar conditions where you can.

For turning the flash off and on, I'm not familiar with NEX-5, but in my A6300, there is a 'silent shooting' setting, which places the camera into an electronic shutter mode and disables the pop-up flash, regardless of its position. No idea if it's possible to disable the clip-on flash in multi-interface shoe via menus. With the pop-up flash, there is also the magnet trick - the camera uses a Hall effect sensor to detect that the flash is in the 'down' position, so if you place a strong magnet near the flash, it will be fooled into sensing that the flash is down - you can take two magnets, place one inside the housing and the other outside, and use the outer magnet as a handle to move the inner magnet toward and away from the flash position to turn it off and on. Again, I don't know if the clip-on flash uses the same detection mechanism or something else, like a pair of contacts.
 
I understand about shooting RAW and post processing, but I was hoping for a less post intensive method that I can get decent photos directly out of camera.

That's an interesting idea with the flash module. Unfortunately I misplaced the flash module. I remember taking it out of my camera gear bin because I was only going to use the Canon setup on a recent trip. I'm sure I put it somewhere "safe", which apparently also means "well hidden"...

Thanks for the response!
 
Editing RAWs is really not that big of a deal - Capture One Express is free for Sony and Fuji users, and it helps pass the time during surface intervals on a liveaboard :) RAW gives you a LOT more latitude in fixing white balance (mostly trivial with the spot white balance picker tool), adjusting exposure, colors, etc, than out-of-camera JPEG does. I tried Raw Therapee first, and it was quite intimidating, but then I discovered Capture One Express and never looked back.
 
I travel without a laptop, though I guess it may have to be a possibility to deal with the NEX-5. For the G12, I get pretty decent results out-of-camera and do minor tweaks with an Android tablet. Once home, I can refine much better on a computer, even just recording JPEG's.
 
If you want a good jpeg image out of the camera, you need to manually set white balance while diving. I reset it ever 5' of depth. I usually use my white spg as the WB baseline, and then take shots.
 
I have used the Sony Nex5 in a Nauticam housing and currently have a Sony Nex5n set-up with a Nauticam housing and two Inon stobes. I found the setting on the Nex5 limiting, the 5n was a better option.

Some comments on you questions:

1. Dive red filters for the housing are fairly cheap now, $15-20 USD.
The red light increasingly is filtered out the deeper you go, and hence you would need to vary the red filter by depth and water clarity. And you cannot add red light into the photo, all the filter is doing is cutting other colours out and trying to balance the colour spectrum - you really need to add light.

2. Is the manual white balance on the Sony NEX-5 good enough where I don't need a red filter?
Similar to filters this is just changing the balance to try and compensate for loss of red light. You will be reducing overall colour - you really need to add light.

3. For the Sony NEX-5, the flash on/off is usually toggled by flipping up/down the flash module. Is there a way to do it via menus,
No. You need a housing that allows the flash to be tipped down.

4. I currently use the 18-55mm lens. I also have the 24mm/f1.8. 19mm/f2.8 and 30mm/2.8, which all seem to be roughly the same size. Anyone have experience with these?
The lens need to fit to the housing port. The port has the length and diameter to support the 18-55 lens. I this the 24 and 19 are shorter, probably the 30 is as well. If you use these do they fit into the port? Do you get a full image or are they to short and you see the inside of the port?

Suggestions...
Get a housing that works for the camera. This camera has interchangeable lenses and hence the housing should have interchangeable ports.
Get some light, strobes this will give you the best improvements in your photos. If you get good strobes and tray they can be used on any new camera.
 
He has a Polaroid housing, I think it is a fixed port, so he cannot use Nauticam dome.
 
Finally returning to this thread. Thanks for all the advice!

I'll see how the different lenses work out dry since I can't change the port.

For white balance or filter, I guess I'll have to experiment.
 

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