OP
WP-DC30 Color Correction Filters
- Thread starter jswantek
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WA = wide angle, macro shots are best done with a strobe near the critter your taking a picture of, so a basic flash white balance is normally fine to use. Wide angle, on the other hand, is often lit from ambient light which is filtered by the water and requires a different white balance. Which brings us to
MWB = Manual White Balance. This is effectively telling the camera what color light is illuminating your subject. Often done with a white object and a specific camera setting, this allows more color to be accurately represented in your photos.
RAW = raw image files. If your camera can save RAW files this isn't normally a problem as the white balance can be adjusted later on the computer. Cameras that only save JPEG files cannot be adjusted very much as they contain less color information from the camera's sensor.
PS = Point and Shoot. (Well as far as I can tell thats' what he meant.) Point and shoot cameras are the small camera types that will do most things automatically so you don't have to think about how to get a picture. Most point and shoot cameras will not save RAW files and some have limited options for manual white balance. Often the automatic settings on these cameras are not well suited to use underwater. A few have dedicated underwater modes, but those too aren't useful most of the time.
The topic of the tread is mostly Magic Filters which claim to allow automatic white balance to work well underwater. They do this by blocking a lot of blue light so that the light reaching the camera is closer to the balance of colors the camera is expecting to see above water. This makes it easier for the automatic white balance to work, but some users claim limited success. The problems that come up is that the filters are best at shallow depths and that they reduce the light entering the camera so exposures need to be longer* and autofocus is slower.
* you could argue that the exposure should be similar in either case (with filter, or after MWB effects are accounted for) I suspect most PS cameras don't pay that much attention to WB while setting exposure times.
MWB = Manual White Balance. This is effectively telling the camera what color light is illuminating your subject. Often done with a white object and a specific camera setting, this allows more color to be accurately represented in your photos.
RAW = raw image files. If your camera can save RAW files this isn't normally a problem as the white balance can be adjusted later on the computer. Cameras that only save JPEG files cannot be adjusted very much as they contain less color information from the camera's sensor.
PS = Point and Shoot. (Well as far as I can tell thats' what he meant.) Point and shoot cameras are the small camera types that will do most things automatically so you don't have to think about how to get a picture. Most point and shoot cameras will not save RAW files and some have limited options for manual white balance. Often the automatic settings on these cameras are not well suited to use underwater. A few have dedicated underwater modes, but those too aren't useful most of the time.
The topic of the tread is mostly Magic Filters which claim to allow automatic white balance to work well underwater. They do this by blocking a lot of blue light so that the light reaching the camera is closer to the balance of colors the camera is expecting to see above water. This makes it easier for the automatic white balance to work, but some users claim limited success. The problems that come up is that the filters are best at shallow depths and that they reduce the light entering the camera so exposures need to be longer* and autofocus is slower.
* you could argue that the exposure should be similar in either case (with filter, or after MWB effects are accounted for) I suspect most PS cameras don't pay that much attention to WB while setting exposure times.
OP
jswantek
Contributor
Thanks for clearing that up, I know what's going on now...kinda...
Anyway, I'm using an A75, it's a point-and-shoot with a waterproof housing. It does have an 'underwater' preset that's given me good pictures at 60' in fresh water, even with low visiblity and no flash, but everything has a green tint to it. I'm thinking the filter sheets (can't remember what the proper name is), the cheap ones, will be the best fit for me for experimentation on a budget.
I wonder, has anyone ever tried to hack the firmware to incorporate the adjustments right into the digital image processing onboard?
Anyway, I'm using an A75, it's a point-and-shoot with a waterproof housing. It does have an 'underwater' preset that's given me good pictures at 60' in fresh water, even with low visiblity and no flash, but everything has a green tint to it. I'm thinking the filter sheets (can't remember what the proper name is), the cheap ones, will be the best fit for me for experimentation on a budget.
I wonder, has anyone ever tried to hack the firmware to incorporate the adjustments right into the digital image processing onboard?
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