Read-only discussion
Can anyone help with a problem? i've read with great interest about the advantages of using magic filters. The problem i've got is understanding how i can set the white balance (in manual)while firing my strobes at the same time to get the correct reading. I have a Nikon D70
Regards
Jason Spafford
The idea is you do not use the strobes.
Strobes fired regularly will produce a redish look if I am not mistaken. You would have to add filters to the strobes to offset and compensate for this if you wanted to try and use the Magic Filter with strobes. Alex could probably put that better but I think I got it close.
The idea is you do not use the strobes.
Strobes fired regularly will produce a redish look if I am not mistaken. You would have to add filters to the strobes to offset and compensate for this if you wanted to try and use the Magic Filter with strobes. Alex could probably put that better but I think I got it close.
Yeah, you have to make the strobe light as blue as ambient -- pretty complicated, but I think Jean Bruneau (Aquatica) and Alex have done this. It's a little like using a gel on a flash to match fluorescent lighting on the surface...
There is no advantage in using the Magic Filter with normal strobes. If you want to use strobes you are better off using no filter. You can use the Magic Filter with strobes, but the image quality will be slightly degraded compared to no filter (because you will have to set a bluer white balance on the camera to counteract the effect of the filter). The more you move the colour temperature of the WB away from a "normal" setting the more you degrade the image quality, even in RAW.
The only advantage of using the filter with strobes is if you want to shoot mainly ambient light shots (say on a wreck dive) and then want to do a few strobe lit shots inside the wreck. Obviously you cannot take off the filter underwater and the flexibility of the filter allows you to turn on your strobes, re-white balance and shoot.
On the D70 you set the white balance by setting WB to Preset mode, then pressing and holding the WB button for a couple of secs, then taking a picture. If you have strobes attached and switched on, these will fire and therefore their light will be accounted for by the camera when determining its WB setting.
Alex
On the D70 you set the white balance by setting WB to Preset mode, then pressing and holding the WB button for a couple of secs, then taking a picture. If you have strobes attached and switched on, these will fire and therefore their light will be accounted for by the camera when determining its WB setting.
Well, knock me over with a straw! I'd never tried preset with a flash and so had no idea it'd fire. It's good that I read this stuff...kewl.
Howsomever, it'd be danged hard to light a white/gray reference with the strobe whilst shooting wide (my white card is pretty well up agains the dome in this situation, to get a "GoOd" shot from the preset -- and the reef/fish/water ain't neutral).
Comments?
Chris
My experience with Alex's "Magic" is that any neutral-ish target will give a reasonable white-balance preset, though one with too obvious a pattern will fail. Since the "NO-Good" message will display, then I just try again. I hadn't thought of trying with a strobe: a pool session seems to be in the offing.....
It can't be too awful, since Alex has just put a few of my images into the Magic Filter gallery!
Tim
B)
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