New to UW Photography - Questions

[SM Diver]

Couple of newbie type questions:

1. I like the idea of having a housing on my camera not only for UW photos, but I like to snap a lot of shots topside. How much quality will I lose on my photos on the boat shooting through the housing? Any tricks?

2. Shooting stills, at what point does saltwater dramatically filter out colors? How correctable is it in a photo editing program like Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks?

3. For those of you 5050z folks, what accessories have you used to enhance the color at depth (lenses, etc.)?

I thank you for your time and advice.

 

[ssra30]

Not sure about question #1 since I never tried it.
As far as #2,#3 goes, if you have a good sunny day, you will start to notice color loss probably at around 10-15 ft so it does take very much depth at all.
Photoshop is very useful in helping to correct the color. I think as long as there is some color in the picture to start of with and not just all blue tint. Generally the best way to get good color is with external strobe or internal one for macro stuff then a little photoshop to enhance it.
Using filter is a bit tricky because at different depth and ambient light, the color loss will be different so a single filter won't work for all situation. however you can check this thread which seems to have some very interesting info about filter/white balance.
http://www.scubaboard.com/t36318/s.html

 

[Finesse]

#1 As long as the lens port of the housing is clean you'll lose nothing ....Its like shooting through a filter. I have even taken pictures using the housing so I could attach the WAL .....works great....just a lot to carry around as the lens alone is approx 1lb.

#2 like ssra says ....plus the deeper you go the more you will lose

#3 color enhancement attachments ...filters will work but wont necessarily fill in the entire spectrum thats lost (like ssra said).. get an external strobe

 

[Gilligan]

Aloha tampascott,
Be very very careful of leaving that camera in the housing in direct sunlight while topside. It can heat up in a very short time, depending on the outside temp. Remember, it is in a sealed housing with no place for the heat to escape. Sudden temperature extremes can crack the monitor as well as cause other damage, if not ruin the camera. Even leaving it in a very hot humid environment topside may cause more condensation inside the housing than the desiccant packet(s) can handle when you put it back in the water. I use a six pack soft beverage cooler to keep mine in while transporting it and leaving it on the deck of my kayak. it works fine protecting the unit against the sun/heat as well as offer a padded environment.
:shades:

 

[Dee]

ssra, Finesse and Gilligan have covered everything I was going to say except.....

Show us your pictures!

 

[SM Diver]

Thanks for the advice in the posts above. My overnight package did arrive yesterday, leaving little time to explore the new 5050z and pt-015 case. Getting my boat ready for the trip, I didn’t have much time to read, however, Olympus I am well familiar with, so it didn’t take long to get the hang of that. The case is very cool, and allows you access to almost any control that camera has to offer. The reason I paid for the overnight shipping is I wanted it to get photos of my 12 and 14 year old sons doing their first Gulf of Mexico dives, which was also their check out dives for basic open water.. I tried to find a red lenses for the camera at Ritz, without success. So, the shots were simply camera and case with no accessories.

The Gulfcoast is kind of funny. A lot of green water closer to shore, but when you get into the blue water further offshore vis will open up. Sometimes, vis is good in the green water. Not today. Both dives were in 50ft. We put the kids on ledges so they could not only hone skills, but see fish as well.

First, I took photos topside to get an idea of the non-diving use I’d get out of it. Truly outstanding, IMO. I’d like to play more with that super-macro features for sea life later.

Here are a couple of topside photos, with the camera in case:


My twelve year old son hooking up reg-set:

Another topside: Lunch orders were placed for fried grouper fingers for tomorrows Bucs game, so while the group was taking an SI, I went down for some groceries. This is my Summertime wet-suit: trunks and a t-shirt.:

Now, for the problem. Vis was poor with a lot of suspended “sea snot”. Vis was maybe 10ft at best. My flash was not going off on these photos, and I don’t know why. I guess I should have set the flash mode differently. I think it was defaulted to automatic flash. All photos came out green. Here is a sample:

So, poor vis, tons of suppeneded crap in water. I guess I need a strobe or a red filter. I don’t blame the poor shots on the camera. This camera is awesome. The movie function is very cool. Just need to work my way through this color issue.

P.S.: Another green photo.

 

[Dee]

Scott,

I'm just working my way through the 5050 manual. Coming from the 4040, I figured it was be just as intuitive but it's not!

Have you changed any of the settings from the default? It could be the flash setting was set wrong. I'm finding out that you can't have the flash in all settings.

The bottom picture looks good, more what I remember the Florida Gulf looking like. As for a filter, that's not the answer to green water. It will only help return some of the red to areas if the picture that had red in it originally. It also adds a red/pink cast to everything ie., light blues will look lavendar. A strobe is really your best tool for colors.

The topside pictures are excellent! I have a summer suit just like yours.

I'll look forward to more of your pictures.

 

[James connell]

Finesse once bubbled...
#3 color enhancement attachments ...filters will work but wont necessarily fill in the entire spectrum thats lost (like ssra said).. get an external strobe

filters won't "fill in" any color - filters don't ADD color, they work by removing a certain amount of a given color(s) while passing others unattenuated.

for example - you don't "add" red to the pix, you remove blue. all that happens as you go deeper is there is less red/yellow available but some % of blue ( and it's a constant amount) is still removed.

 

[James connell]

tampascott once bubbled...

So, poor vis, tons of suppeneded crap in water. I guess I need a strobe or a red filter. I don’t blame the poor shots on the camera. This camera is awesome. The movie function is very cool. Just need to work my way through this color issue.

P.S.: Another green photo.

for the greenest of these pix a M15CC ( Magenta 1/2 stop ) filter would have been just about right. for the other a M15 would have been too much - a M5 (or less) would have been very close but may have put a cast in the leg.

what you don't want to use is a red filter - it blocks far to much of the spectrum ( blues and greens ).

 

[SM Diver]

I guess I am so hung-up on red filters because last Sunday my buddy took video of me down on a wreck using a red filter, and I was amazed at the color and quality of the video. It was outstanding. He said for him the red filter made all the difference. Now, that was deeper than the 50ft we were in, and vis was a little better, too.

Day two of kids check out dives today. I'll take a couple more; and see how a quicktime movie comes out. For those of you with the 5050z, you have to play with that quicktime feature. Best yet that I have seen on a camera.

I'd get a M15CC if I had access to it right away.

I think the reason the shot on the anchor line came out better was he was closer to the surface with better light. This is really bad vis for us, normally much better. (Ain't complaining, though. Did you see how smoooooth that water was? Perfect seas for the kids to work with their gear topside).