Video editing

[ronscuba]

....
Do you have any suggestions, would i need to use a light as it doesn't seem as if i can get a filter, or should i replace my JVC and get a go pro, id never even heard of them until i bought my JVC?
One last thing because of the no filter issue would it mean that i couldn't use colour correction to restore my videos?
I appreciate any responses, Thank you.

Skip the lights and keep your JVC for now. Get a Lee filter sheet color # 779, bastard pink. Cost $7 USD for a 24"x21" half sheet. It looks and feels like a clear colored plastic piece of paper.

Cut a circle and put the filter inside the housing in between the camera lens and housing port. For $7, a 24"x21" sheet, you could make hundreds of filters.

Here is the link. Colour Information and Spectral Charts for LEE Lighting Filters
They have dealers in the UK.

Sun at your back will always help.

Color correction in editing has it's limitations. Editing will enhance what the filter does, but the filter will do most of the work. Give it a try. For $7, you can't lose. If you were in NY, I'd cut you a piece for free. My original 24"x21" sheet is now 24"x20" after I gave away a bunch to friends. It's what I used for the Belize video above.

 

[Kieran Byrne]

I can't tell from the tiny picture on the Marine Housing accessories page but is the front port threaded? If so you can probably find a red filter somewhere that will match. Try Optical Ocean Sales. Backscatter also makes one that could be adaptable with Velcro etc.

No the front port is not threaded.

Since the camera has a 170^o field of view, any mounting system not completely behind the port will likely be seen.

Sorry for being ignorant, but im trying to learn, does front port mean the area the camera lens would view from?

My buddy has a u/w white balance compensation on his camera also. He experienced similarly washed out colors so bought a filter instead.

So when using a filter is it best to put the camera into auto white balance mode?

Lights during daylight shooting aren't of much use except for very close-up work. The same buddy has a 4300 Lumen video light. On the reef, I can't tell when it's on except when he points it at something in the shadows. And that's a lot of light compared to many of the more popular options.

Ive noticed in my videos that when I tried to film close ups of nudis and a pygmy sea horse that the images are out of focus and blurry, even though I filmed in full hd, is this normal for action cams?

---------- Post added August 20th, 2013 at 07:40 PM ----------

Skip the lights and keep your JVC for now. Get a Lee filter sheet color # 779, bastard pink. Cost $7 USD for a 24"x21" half sheet. It looks and feels like a clear colored plastic piece of paper.

Cut a circle and put the filter inside the housing in between the camera lens and housing port. For $7, a 24"x21" sheet, you could make hundreds of filters.

Here is the link. Colour Information and Spectral Charts for LEE Lighting Filters
They have dealers in the UK.

Sun at your back will always help.

Color correction in editing has it's limitations. Editing will enhance what the filter does, but the filter will do most of the work. Give it a try. For $7, you can't lose. If you were in NY, I'd cut you a piece for free. My original 24"x21" sheet is now 24"x20" after I gave away a bunch to friends. It's what I used for the Belize video above.

This looks perfect for the job, top tip. Im not doubting your experience in this but why bastard pink and not red?

 

[ronscuba]

Ive noticed in my videos that when I tried to film close ups of nudis and a pygmy sea horse that the images are out of focus and blurry, even though I filmed in full hd, is this normal for action cams?

---------- Post added August 20th, 2013 at 07:40 PM ----------



This looks perfect for the job, top tip. Im not doubting your experience in this but why bastard pink and not red?

Your camera cannot focus on objects too close to the lens. Most cameras have the same issue. Usually anything closer than 8 inches from the lens will be blurry.

Credit for Lee filter bastard pink goes to Billy, AKA Empty V. Several years ago he was doing a DIY project and didn't want to pay top dollar for a large UrPro filter. He found the Lee filter bastard pink worked just as well. Probably the mixture of allowing red to come through, limiting a certain amount of greens, blues, but also allowing natural light. I tried it and was surprised how well it worked.

Lee offers 100's of filter colors. If I was younger and more ambitious, I might experiment to see if there was a better color for UW use. But I am getting old so I'll stick with Bastard Pink. Can't argue with the results.

 

[dfx]

This looks perfect for the job, top tip. Im not doubting your experience in this but why bastard pink and not red?

An actual red filter filters out blues and greens completely or at least almost completely. The result is a red image. You'd be surprised by how much red is actually still left down there... but it's not what you want for video. You want something that filters blues and greens only partially, and pink does that. Light red or light orange would too, but usually when you look at a "red filter", you get a deep red one.

 

[ronscuba]

Bastard Pink color transmission chart.




https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?...88.572,89.927,91.112,91.866&now=1377031028993

 

[diversteve]

Ive noticed in my videos that when I tried to film close ups of nudis and a pygmy sea horse that the images are out of focus and blurry, even though I filmed in full hd, is this normal for action cams?

---------- Post added August 20th, 2013 at 07:40 PM ----------

Your camera cannot focus on objects too close to the lens. Most cameras have the same issue. Usually anything closer than 8 inches from the lens will be blurry.

What Ron said...except it looks like for yours it's 24in.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thanks. Being quick on the computer lets me turn out a basic video pretty fast. A little OCD helps with the details and finishing touches.

For shooting video footage, keep totally still, use a filter, keep the sun at your back, record 15-20 second clips unless you see something really outstanding. A bunch of 20 second clips is a lot easier to edit. The filter and sun at your back will bring color to your footage.

Most of the videos in my signature link were shot with an expensive system. However, the above suggestions are universal. Here is a video I shot in Belize with a GoPro and cheap drop in filter. Edited in Adobe, did minor color adjustments.

[vimeo]57485474[/vimeo]

Really nice. Green moray seems a little peed off lol

 

[Kieran Byrne]

If your looking to adjust colors the best color correction software IMO is davinci resolve and there is a free version which should work for most people. Works on both windows and osx
Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve

Great responses from everyone im really pleased with the help.

Realising how important a filter is before a dive I now need to try and correct my footage with some colour correcting software. I would like to know which is the best software for a beginner to acheieve this, I will start with the above recommendation and see how I get on.
It would again need to be free because I really don't have money to spend atm.

---------- Post added August 21st, 2013 at 08:48 PM ----------

I have not gotten into the editing of my vacation videos yet. Perhaps I'm intimidated at the prospect. All I really want to do is (1) add a title lead in so the viewer knows where/when the video was taken, (2) edit/delete sections that are not interesting or poor quality with some type of transition (fade out/in) and (3) eventually add some background music. Seem Windows movie maker will allow the addition of the a title and some music, but I can't get a handle on the edit/delete function. Perhaps I'm being dense.

Windows movie maker is a great programme I found it easy to pick up, its just a shame it doesn't have a colour correction feature. To edit or delete video first spilt the footage and then trim the selected scene and then delete the unwanted part of the video.

 

[ronscuba]

Really nice. Green moray seems a little peed off lol

I know some dive masters in the Caribbean spear lionfish and feed them to morays. Sometimes the moray eats the lionfish while it is still on the spear. I've seen first hand a DM spear a lionfish. Swim around looking for a moray and dangling the speared fish in front of the eel.

My GoPro is on the end of a ULCS strobe arm. Eels have poor vision. I think I may need a longer strobe arm.

 

[Kieran Byrne]

Great responses from everyone im really pleased with the help.

Realising how important a filter is before a dive I now need to try and correct my footage with some colour correcting software. I would like to know which is the best software for a beginner to acheieve this, I will start with the above recommendation and see how I get on.
It would again need to be free because I really don't have money to spend atm.

I seemed to have trouble with the davinci programme it wouldn't install without another bit of software so I left it alone, trying the adobe elements 11 free trial now.