White Balance Made Easy Underwater...

[Erik Il Rosso]

...Or at least it should be...

Let's face it, I'm human and got only two hands but WB has to be calibrated quite often during a dive and a third hand would be a nice add-on during this operation...

As I have already explained here I find difficult to hold camera, hold the white slate and press the "Set" button, so I started looking for alternatives...

Digital post processing was not a good option in my opinion and so I took one bolt, one bracket and a white plastic cap ("Nutella" chocolate spread)...

Total cost not more da 0.50 Euro cents...

This is what I obtained...

Pic 1 for when I have to set WB...
Pic 2 how I manged to attach the bracket to the housing...
Pic 3 ready to take a pic...

I have not tried it underwater yet but as far as I can see it should be easier to set the WB now...

Any comments welcome...

Ciao, Erik Il Rosso

 

[justleesa]

Interesting!
How far away is the lid from your port? I think, when calibrating, I hold my slate further away than that. Do you think it will make a difference?

Looking forward to your results. If it works, Nutellla is in for some big business

 

[Erik Il Rosso]

Interesting!
How far away is the lid from your port? I think, when calibrating, I hold my slate further away than that. Do you think it will make a difference?

Looking forward to your results. If it works, Nutellla is in for some big business

Lid is 9 cm far from the lens and I do not know if it will make difference or not, it's all brand new even for me...

As fas as I know in the manual they say that the square in the center of the display have to be filled with the image of a white object but they do not say anything about the distance white object/lens...

My lid covers the requested area of the display so it should be Ok...

Ciao, Erik Il Rosso

 

[justleesa]

OK, cool ...any idea of when you are getting it wet?

 

[mwrager]

I like this and will try.

 

[Erik Il Rosso]

OK, cool ...any idea of when you are getting it wet?

Hope next week-end...

I will write a full report...

Stay tuned...

Ciao, Erik Il Rosso

 

[D_B]

Question ... wouldn't the amount of water between the subject and the camera lens have an effect on the white ballance , wouldn't you want to take a WB reading or adjustment under the same conditions as the pictures will be taken, IE .. same distance/lighting/depth ?

... just a new guy here and no camera yet

DB

 

[justleesa]

he will be using it UW....depth makes a difference too. You are right, you have to set the WB in the condition that you will be taking the picture.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

The white card has to be in the same light as the object you will be shooting. Because of the nature of most dives, except for very clear water, this setup will probably do for most. It's a very clever idea.

One point, if you use a flash/strobe, either onboard or external, the distances will then be critical. If you set white for that distance, anything much further away will not be balanced properly in all liklihood.

Safe Diving.

Jeff

 

[D_B]

Thanks ... WB being affected by the distance to the white card when the flash goes off was what I was thinking

DB