New to UW Photography - lens advice

[Steve A]

Ive bought the tg-3 now so I can't edit the pics or can I?

 

[diver 85]

IMO-no filters needed, let your camera('good' point & shoot or DSLR--with either 1 or 2 strobes---my very 1st UW camera in '95 was a 35mm with single strobe & a WA lens)) do the work(in RAW etc)-and---start with a WA lens, such as a UWL-04 or the like........WA UW photography is "almost cheatin' ",..


EDIT:.(I almost forget about it---but)-- my avatar pic to the left was taken with that same said camera(used it for around 10 years till I switched to digital in ~ '06) ----Cara a Cara (shark)dive in Roatan, '02.......

 

[JackConnick]

The TG-3 doesn't shoot in RAW so image editing is a bit limited to adjusting the jpgs "after the fact", but you can still do quite a bit of clean up and small moves.

 

[Steve A]

does the red filter fit the camera and the underwater housing or are any adaptors needed?

 

[Steve A]

Will the same filters/lenses that fit the camera (with the adaptor ring) fit the housing or are they different sizes?

 

[Foxtrot16]

Ive bought the tg-3 now so I can't edit the pics or can I?

Yes you can - just get the latest version of Photoshop Elements (12 or 13 I think) and it will allow you to do all the editing you want and you can even do some basic 'white balance' adjustments if you need to.

It is a good simple program to use especially with the JPEG format and it is a lot cheaper than the full version of Photoshop.

The other option is to get Lightroom 5 which is also good but better for RAW formats.

The basic post processing you should need to do is a contrast and levels adjustments and a clean up of any backscatter (and you will get some ) - just this will make your images 'pop'.

Karl

---------- Post added December 15th, 2014 at 05:38 PM ----------

does the red filter fit the camera and the underwater housing or are any adaptors needed?

Most housing take a 67mm filter - you may not have the room to fit one internally on the front of the lens of your camera and still have it fit inside the port.

Also if you are going to use filters it is a little more complicated than just fitting them and shooting away - you need to be doing custom white balances every time you change depth by even just a meter and often the results are not that great and they seem to work better in clean clearer waters than green poor light waters.

You will get far better results with a strobe.

Karl

 

[Storker]

The other option is to get Lightroom 5 which is also good

IMO, LR isn't 'good'. It's a great program The catalog function in LR is miles ahead of the catalog function in PSE. LR does, however, demand a change in the way you 'think' PP. In LR, you don't change the original file, it's kept intact. So, when you're going to use the photo for something (from posting on the web, via displaying on a TV or computer screen, to making large prints), you generate a (throwaway) JPEG from the processing instructions in the LR catalog file and use that JPEG copy.

but better for RAW formats.

Not really. Adobe uses the same engine in all the Photoshop products, be they PS, PSE or LR. So, anything you can do in PS or PSE (except layers and heavy retouch), you can do just as well in LR. I use LR for PP of both raw files and JPEGs, and I don't see that I get inferior results by PP'ing my JPEGs in LR compared to doing it in PS. And it's a lot easier in LR

 

[Steve A]

Sounds complicated lol! What strobe should I be looking for on a limited budget. Most of my diving will be in 'clear tropical water of the red sea or similar (holiday diver)

 

[Storker]

Sounds complicated lol!

What sounds complicated? The workflow with LR?

I can promise you it's a lot less complicated than keeping track of which of IMG_2345.JPG, IMG_2345-Edit.JPG, IMG_2345-Edit2.JPG, etcetera is the picture you want to use And whatever you do in post is 100% reversible, which is a very good thing if you want to try other PP approaches than just the first one

 

[John Gulliver]

Yes you can - just get the latest version of Photoshop Elements (12 or 13 I think) and it will allow you to do all the editing you want and you can even do some basic 'white balance' adjustments if you need to.
The basic post processing you should need to do is a contrast and levels adjustments and a clean up of any backscatter (and you will get some ) - just this will make your images 'pop'.

Karl

---------- Post added December 15th, 2014 at 05:38 PM ----------Karl

As far as I can see, Photoshop Elements 12 does not have a Camera Raw plug-in that supports the TG-3 so the original poster would have to buy Elements 13. This is a pity as new, unregistered versions of earlier PS Elements can often be bought a lot cheaper on e-bay. I got my PS ELements 11 that way for 30 GBP including postage.