gopro filter for snorkeling

[fish80]

Hi guys,

I just bought a gopro3 with a cyan SRF filter for diving.. I am going to test it in a couple of weeks in hawaii...

But i am also planning to do a lot of snorkeling... do I need a filter for that as well? I wonder if using the orange filter of SRF is a bit of an overkill since it cost about 80$... would that really make a difference at shallow depth? Or shall I just go without filter? Or a cheaper filter?

Thanks a lot!

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Snorkeling may not require a filter. The clearer the water, the less you would need it. Thing is if your snorkeling in say 30 ft deep water, when you film objects that are way down below you from up top, they may still appear very blue do to the fact that there is 30 ft of water between you and the object. A red filter would help with that. But if you are filming a person or object very near you while at surface, you reds will be to strong. That is were color correcting in post could solve those discrepancies or you remove filter when filming something close. It's a pain I know.

 

[Scubanoobi]

A filter would probably cause more problems than it would solve for snorkelling. From my Hawaii snorkelling experience you'll sometimes be shallow and sometimes 20-30 feet. Here is a snorkelling video I did before I had a filter with the original Hero in Hawaii, there is no colour correction either: https://vimeo.com/51471543

 

[fish80]

thanks guys! at the end i got a cheap shallow water filter (eelvision) for 10$ and I will test its performance in shallow water. I will hopefully be able to post a comparison.

 

[toozler]

thanks guys! at the end i got a cheap shallow water filter (eelvision) for 10$ and I will test its performance in shallow water. I will hopefully be able to post a comparison.

I have their dive + shallow water bundle and have been very satisfied with the dive filter - I posted some videos here using it. Haven't used the shallow water until recently.

It might seem unecessary for shallow water given the fact that there is still plenty of light, but here are some comparison shots (frames extracted from footage on VLC media player and shrunk to 800px). You can see the surface on all of them for an idea of the depth.

(without filter) few colors, even very shallow (maybe 1.5m deep)

(without filter) a little deeper than before, maybe around 3-4 meters

On the following day, I used the filter:

(with filter) not as green-bluish

(with filter) some coral and juvenile fish

(with filter) pointing up at the sun

 

[fish80]

i tried the SW filter from eelvision while snorkeling in california and seems to work fine... more testing in hawaii soon