Blue water filter?

[DivemasterUK]

I've posted this before, with 0 response, but hey! It's worth another try!! Q: Can you make your own filter for blue (or green,) water? I am now tempted to buy some (at £50.00 each!)

 

[ReyeR]

I've posted this before, with 0 response, but hey! It's worth another try!! Q: Can you make your own filter for blue (or green,) water? I am now tempted to buy some (at £50.00 each!)

Does the lens port of your housing have any threads. If it does then easiest is to start off with a Hoya FL-D filter or the stronger FL-W filter. They're not that expensive.

 

[chippy]

Or save the cash for beer and try setting the white balance manually off a dive slate?

 

[DivemasterUK]

Oh dear, I'm out of my depth here guys. 'White balance' is something South Africa is achieving, right?!! The housing as a PT 017. Where can I get one of those 'cheap' filters from? Thanks for the advice.

Regards
Jon

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

...'White balance' is something South Africa is achieving, right?!! ...

ROFL!

Actually, it is "non-White" balance!

To answer your question, you can set the white balance on your camera by pointing it at a white dive slate and calibrating to that colour. The camera then recalibrates its white level to the "white" that it is seeing at that depth. It then adjusts the white point on the photos it takes to compensate for the loss of red at the depth you are diving at. This is a far better solution than filters, because a filter has a sweet spot (depth/water colour) where it works best. Outside of those limits, the colour shift can be as distracting (if not more) than a photo taken without a filter.

I thought I would never say this, but search for "white balance" on the Oly Corner forum for more info (and a substantially better explanantion!!!)

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Gilligan]

The aformentioned pretty much covers it with the exception of spending the money on something other than beer if you don't drink it
I also think you should try using Manual White Balance before spending your money on filters. I have tried both.
I use MWB all the time on non-strobe shots. Most of the time a simple "Auto Levels" adjustment in Photoshop is all I need to do afterwards.
Depending on your visibility you may only have to set the WB once on a dive. Some who dive in very poor vis have to re-calibrate it about every 10 feet or so.
A small dive slate is a lot cheaper than filters. Heck, I use a cut off section of a white plastic laundry detergent jug.

 

[alijtaylor]

Heck, I use a cut off section of a white plastic laundry detergent jug.

Excellent suggestion thank you Gilligan. I was just about to buy a slate for white balance.

 

[Gilligan]

"Captain Gadget" is glad to be of help.

 

[ReyeR]

Oh dear, I'm out of my depth here guys. 'White balance' is something South Africa is achieving, right?!! The housing as a PT 017. Where can I get one of those 'cheap' filters from? Thanks for the advice.

Any decent camera shop should have it - the FL-D is just a standard land filter used for correcting flourescent lighting. You will need to find what the thread size of the PT-017 is.

White balance and correction with filters are two very different processes as is post-processing with Photoshop.

 

[Jason B]

Correct if I'm wrong as I'm just changing over from slide film to digital but if the white balance is calibrated at depth with ambient light, then a strobe shot will have incorrect colors. My question is if your using a strobe, should white balance be set with the strobe or at the surface?