using a filter and lights?

[Scotttyd]

Would you ever use a red filter and lights? I am looking at the flip 3.1 system, and wondering if you would ever use the lights and filter at the same time? Or would you take the filter off when you are filming up close, and or maybe just the shallow filter when something a medium distance and the light?

 

[Octopusprime]

There are many variables but I would start with it depends on your light. Many lights are not bright enough for distance and if they are if there is a lot of particles in the water you just get a reflection like having your high beams on in the fog.

If in shallow water on a sunny day you do not need the light so just the filter is fine. If you go deeper or its cloudy you will need a different filter and you can add lights. The water still filter out some color from your lights the further away the objects are so you may or may not need the filter.

The Flip is a great way to go. You can easily change or remove filters. Take shots with and with out and see what worked in the lighting conditions. There are log book pages for Photo dives. may help you document your setup so you remember when you edit so you can repeat it in the future.

 

[tamas970]

Joining the choir: it depends. One thing, once you have (decent, 1000+lumen) lights, I'd advise against the red, I'd take an orange tone,
otherwise everything lit up by your light will be red. -> one more argument for a flip system, where you can swap "snorkel" (=orange)
and "deep" (=red) filters easily.

 

[Octopusprime]

As far as the filters go it also depends on water color. If water looks green then I use orange for shallow and magenta deep. If water is blue then yellow shallow then red for deep.

I get get asked all the time at what depth to flip... And it depends on sunny day with clear water 30-40 ft clowdy day with plenty of sand or plankton 10-20ft.

what I did with my gopro was dove with a slate to 10ft on the slate and wrote depth and filter I had then did with no filter and other filter, repeat at 20,30,40,50 feet. When you surface and check out video you will know fast at what depth you like which filter.

Then it it will be easier to identify the light change.

 

[mikeb21072]

I use the Flip 3.1 system and a video light, mind you it is on the low end of the video light scale, maybe 400 lumen at most. I use the red filter on top and the macro lens on side. I do a lot of diving in Key Largo in the 30-40 foot depths on the patch reef, it works great with just the filter and I use the light a lot when shooting into holes or ledges. If I head North and dive the Pompano area, depths are usually 60-70+ to the reef with higher particulate and darker water (maybe more similar to N.C. diving with the wrecks and current?). The red filter works well with the light, but the next time I am down I will try out the mid-range filter that is designed for up to 50-60 feet. I did a drift dive at 3:30 in the afternoon in Pompano that was almost a night dive due to the particulate and overcast skies. Without the light, the video would have been horrible.
If you go with the Flip with the macro lens, it will not be able to be used at the same time, so a video light would be needed. If not, you can put the red or deep on the Flip. If you want to get macro footage, I have found the light to be very helpful.

I like the idea of using a slate to film the change with depth, and I experimented with filming the same subject with just the filter, filter + the light, and then without the filter and only the light (squirrel fish and eels worked well for this with me) . My preference is the red filter and supplement with the light. Once you start editing the footage, you can see immediately which you like the best.

Mike

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This video was an experiment with using a MAKO red filter and some lights. Most of the video was shot with a hand held GP with lights and filter, but some was from a shoulder mounted camera I was testing.

As you can see, in the day, lights only light things up from a few feet away. When I get really close to things, the red filter and lights makes everything too red. So I think you generally want to use lights OR a filter.


[video=youtube_share;RGu2B0-VFMo]http://youtu.be/RGu2B0-VFMo[/video]

 

[Dauntless]

This is why I now set protune on and manual white balance to daylight 5500K about the colour of the lights. Again, if you shoot GoPro with auto white balance you will get redding out close up with lights unless you centre weight. I would keep the red filter applied for all underwater shots and flip off for topside only, why, because you will will get marked different looking video for off and on and then when editing you loos continuity of the dive story. You can also fix the closeup redding out in high end colour correcting software by decreasing the red saturation, you can run your video through Lightroom first and fix color before editing as a lower cost alternative.

(somehow have a British spell check, note colour and centre )

 

[Octopusprime]

This video was an experiment with using a MAKO red filter and some lights. Most of the video was shot with a hand held GP with lights and filter, but some was from a shoulder mounted camera I was testing.

As you can see, in the day, lights only light things up from a few feet away. When I get really close to things, the red filter and lights makes everything too red. So I think you generally want to use lights OR a filter.


[video=youtube_share;RGu2B0-VFMo]http://youtu.be/RGu2B0-VFMo[/video]

DIstance between the object and the lights makes a difference.

ive never spear fished but when I saw you with the speared fish and the bull shark swam by made me very nervous.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

DIstance between the object and the lights makes a difference.

ive never spear fished but when I saw you with the speared fish and the bull shark swam by made me very nervous.

yeah my son was 14 at the time.. Made me nervous too.

 

[JennPenn]

Hi Scottyd,
It's JennPenn from Backscatter. Just wanted to chime in here on using filters with lights...
Check out this article Joel and I wrote, A Guide to Using the GoPro Hero3+ and Hero3 Underwater (this will be updated soon to reflect Hero4 cameras, but the shooting techniques, use of color-correction filters with and without lights is the same): Underwater Camera Articles: A Guide to Using the GoPro Hero3 / Hero3+ Underwater
Be sure to check out the video (scroll down to the middle of the page) which shows underwater video from Bonaire using color correction filters AND video lights.
Let us know if you have any further questions about GoPro underwater; you can contact Joel directly: joel@backscatter.com

Cheers & Happy Diving!
JennPenn