Underwater filter (red) for Canon housing?

[BikerManiac]

Anybody knows if there is a external filter you can attach to the Canon DC80?

Housing Link

 

[SPG3K]

Search through the main forum stack.

I cannot remember the website, but on one of the underwater photo forum websites, someone has a link for how they made the canon housing accept a standard thread for WA/Filters.

They removed it from the housing, bought a thread step ring, drilled holes in the step ring to make it match that silver ring on the the front of the canon, and then installed it so they could use the other side of the step ring to screw stuff onto.

It will make more sense if you see what I am talking about, I will try to find it.

I believe the info was on digidiver.net - actually, yes, I'm sure it was.

 

[BikerManiac]

Thanks for you post... which lead me to this

M A G I C - F I L T E R S

I wonder if I could buy this in the US. This is a lot better than I expected..

 

[BrianMayes]

Search through the main forum stack.

I cannot remember the website, but on one of the underwater photo forum websites, someone has a link for how they made the canon housing accept a standard thread for WA/Filters.

They removed it from the housing, bought a thread step ring, drilled holes in the step ring to make it match that silver ring on the the front of the canon, and then installed it so they could use the other side of the step ring to screw stuff onto.

It will make more sense if you see what I am talking about, I will try to find it.

I believe the info was on digidiver.net - actually, yes, I'm sure it was.

Quite correct, but I have updated that information and moved it to the the more active Wetpixel forum here Canon G9 & G7 housing - DIY 67mm lens adapter - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

With regard to a red filter I use a UR Pro filter (UR/Pro UWCC 67mm Blue Water Filter at UK's Best Price ). Although this is more expensive than the Magic Filter, it has the advantage that it can be fitted underwater for a wide angle shot without flash and removed for a macro shot with flash.

 

[under water]

Quite correct, but I have updated that information and moved it to the the more active Wetpixel forum here Canon G9 & G7 housing - DIY 67mm lens adapter - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

Brian,
Thanks for that article. I saw your original thread and was planning on doing something along those lines as I too have the G9 & Canon case.
You have a lot of great macro shots on your Flickr site. I take it that you actually back away from your subject and use the combo of the magnifying macro lenses and zoom to get the close-up effect. How close do you usually get to your subjects?
Kinda goes in the opposite direction of the old mantra.. get close.. then get closer..
How does that work in lower viz?
Thanks

 

[BikerManiac]

That mod is really cool!!!. You are a brave man

I just applied CHDK mod for my SD550 and everything seems to work. Just overwhelming all the information and things you can do with it. Maybe it's just too much for what I want to do...I dont think I can/want to play around with shutter, exposure,etc while I am scuba diving. Are there any specific settings you would use for underwater pictures?

While in Bonaire my buddy took really nice and bright pictures with his Sony T100. Some of his pictures are in this link. He was using a red marine filter for the enclosure.. what a difference. My pictures came out all Blueish..

 

[BrianMayes]

Brian,
Thanks for that article. I saw your original thread and was planning on doing something along those lines as I too have the G9 & Canon case.
You have a lot of great macro shots on your Flickr site. I take it that you actually back away from your subject and use the combo of the magnifying macro lenses and zoom to get the close-up effect. How close do you usually get to your subjects?
Kinda goes in the opposite direction of the old mantra.. get close.. then get closer..
How does that work in lower viz?
Thanks

Thanks for the compliments.

How close you get depends on several factors. If the viz is poor then you want to get as close as you can, but if the subject is likely to swim off if you get too close, then you have to choose a balance. The diffuser does a good job of reducing back scatter and using a macro lens reduces the depth of field, so things outside the depth of field, get blurred and aren't so obvious. Of course a reduced depth of field makes it harder to get the focused area where you need it. Increasing the F stop to F8 (reduces the aperture) extends the depth of field slightly, but with stacked macro lenses the DOF is often wafer thin. Still nobody said it was easy.

 

[BikerManiac]

As far as I know you can only buy them from the company in the UK. I did a month or so ago and I think they arrived in 7-8 days, to Canada. I was pleased with them. I used them more for video with my G& than for stills as photoshop underwater action works good on those already.

Have you tried the filter yet? What's your opinion?? Review ??

 

[BrianMayes]

That mod is really cool!!!. You are a brave man

I just applied CHDK mod for my SD550 and everything seems to work. Just overwhelming all the information and things you can do with it. Maybe it's just too much for what I want to do...I dont think I can/want to play around with shutter, exposure,etc while I am scuba diving. Are there any specific settings you would use for underwater pictures?

While in Bonaire my buddy took really nice and bright pictures with his Sony T100. Some of his pictures are in this link. He was using a red marine filter for the enclosure.. what a difference. My pictures came out all Blueish..

I posted the text below on another forum about the Canon G7 & G9, but much of it is relevant to compact cameras in general. I hope it helps.

Below 10m depth the ambient light is blue/green, the red wavelength doesn't penetrate. Your camera doesn't care about this and in Auto mode it just sets the aperture and shutter speed to receive enough light for a correct exposure. The problem with letting the camera do this automatically is that it detects enough ambient light for a good exposure and only fires the flash a little. Result, everything looks blue. If you had taken your shot in a dark area like a cave then the flash would have fired more/fully as the camera would have detected little or no ambient light. The way around this problem is to reduce the amount of ambient light reaching the sensor, forcing the camera to use the flash fully. You do this by reducing the aperture (increasing the F no.) and or reducing the exposure time. The most extreme adjustment on the Canon G7 & G9 you can achieve is 1/500 second at F8. Which settings you use in full manual mode depends on the distance to the subject and the effect your trying to achieve. If you are too close the flash will be too powerful and you get over exposure, if you are too far way, then the flash will be weak and the subject will be too dark and underexposed. The G7/9's internal flash will probably not be powerful enough to light the subject and the background, so the background, will usually be dark blue to black. For example this G7 & G9 shot of a Parrotfish was shot at 1/500sec F8 http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianmayes/52...57600269132486/

The power of the flash can be manually adjusted from full, 2/3rds and 1/3rd power, but it's tricky to know which to use. In aperture priority mode (Av) and shutter priority mode (Tv), the camera automatically sets the corresponding shutter speed/aperture and controls the flash to achieve the correct exposure. It adjusts the flash power in steps of 1/16th, so a greater adjustment of flash is achieved in a priority mode. You will therefore find it easier to use either Av or Tv than Manual.

If the subject is too far away for the flash to be effective as in the case of most wide angle shots, then there are two ways to achieve a better colour shot. The first method is to use a red filter, this reduces the amount of blue and green light to hit the sensor and gives you a better proportion of colour across the red, green and blue channels. The disadvantages of using a filter are that the light levels are reduced so a longer shutter time or wider aperture is required for a correct exposure, and you need to remove the filter when taking a flash shot. The second method is by setting the white balance** underwater by using a white slate or your hand, the camera adjusts the colour channels automatically without the need for a filter. The disadvantage of this approach is that setting the white balance is more fiddly and changes of depth require it to be reset. Best colour results are obtained by using both methods in combination, i.e. using a filter and setting a custom WB

The effect you get with 1/500 and F8 depends on a few things. If you are deep and point the camera down, then you get black or almost black background, provided there is nothing too close behind the subject. If you are shallow or point the camera up to the surface, then you get a dark blue background. These effects are easier to achieve if you have a DSLR with a higher F numbers and more powerful strobes.

Generally I set the ISO to 80 on macro shots. Though I don't think there is too much noise up to and including 200.

**This assumes that your camera allows you the option of setting a custom white balance. Some cameras don't and only have an underwater scene mode which just sets an average white balance for a shallow depth. It's better than no WB adjustment, but not as good as full WB control.

 

[BikerManiac]

Well I pulled the trigger and order the 3 packs from a store in Florida. Will not be able to test until October for my Indonesia trip.

I was looking the at instructions on how to use them and I thought why not attach the filter to the flash diffuser attachment from Canon? I figured if I did it this way I would be able to remove the filter quickly on the surface or if I decide to take topside pictures.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-WP-DC80-Waterproof-PowerShot-SD550/dp/B000B674C0

To the photo pro, do you see any issues by this? Is the filter maybe too far apart from the lenses?

Thanks