Have we all been using the wrong color red filter?

On my recent Lembeh trip I shot a lot of the time with +2 and +4 diopters behind my flat port (VX2000/Gates). However this meant that I had no room for the flip filter containing the UR-Pro red filter. I therefore shot without a red filter and just white balanced on my white fin, unless I was using lights.

Looking at the footage now, there is definitely a lot less richness of colour than my normal stuff shot with the filter, even though I was manually white balancing. Below is a typical example. There's also a slightly unpleasant quality to a lot of it, but I can't decide whether it's gain noise, or just not enough depth of colour, or the corners are distorted because of the diopters, or the white grains of sand are over-exposed, or what

Anyway to combat the situation I've been contemplating using a gel "red" filter between the camera and the first diopter, same as stills guys use on the back of their SLR lenses. I got hold of the leftovers of a friend's Magic Filter, which is an optical quality polyster gel filter. Unfortunately it's not big enough for the job but what I do notice is that the colour is very different indeed from the UR-Pro CY filter. The Magic Filter is much more of an amber colour. Much less pink than the UR-Pro and much more orangey. Almost beige in fact. Alex Mustard chose the colour after extensive trial and error with digital cameras and reckons this one gives the best results after manually white balancing the camera. Read all about it here. So maybe we should be using this colour instead of the UR-Pro CY

Any thoughts? Has anyone tried a Magic Filter for video, or even compared the results to UR-Pro?

Nick

I had a friend with a VX2100 in some cheesy yellow plastic housing and I noticed his color correction filter was WAY darker and more orange in color......he couldn't even spell white balance, let alone figure out howe to do that, yet his footage came out great.....

Interesting. But I seem to remember Alex himself writing that the Magic Filter is not intended to give a good result without manually white balancing as well. I don't think it's recommended for cameras that can't be manually white balanced.

Hey guys,

The Magic Filter does work with Video, but requires manual white balance - which is not always advantageous with moving images.

I can only comment on their use on stills, but the Magic filter is actually quite different from the UR Pro. I can tell a UR Pro shot from a Magic shot straight away (on stills).

On stills the UR Pro tends to produce more Magenta blue water, while the Magic tends to more to cyany blues. On general reef topography I find the Magic much more neutral coloured (I find the UR Pro CY more muddy looking). The UR Pro also renders Anthias much more red rather than orange (I have just been in the Red Sea shooting them both - hence the Anthias comment).

On the plus side for the UR Pro, I think that the UR Pro filter gives more contrasty images than the Magic Filter. Which tends to help moving images.

All that said, I am reluctant to persue the video market with the Magic Filter. We set up Magic Filters to provide a solution for photographers than didn't already exist (namely a gel format UW filter). And it is not our intention to take on UR Pro (or others) in the video market. That said we are happy to supply filters to those who want to try them.

Alex

Thanks for the clarification Alex. I may well get hold of one from you. How does your stuff differ from the polyester lighting gels from people like Rosco? And do you know if there is an optical quality gel available that is nearer the UR-PRO colour?

One thing I have noticed is if I'm deep and take an ambient light shot with the filter in, and the subject is similar in colour to the UR-Pro filter, the colour goes totally insane. See the "strawberry flavoured condom" anemone (Heteractis condomus) below for a typical example. I don't much care for that result but it makes the customers on the boat go "wow". Admittedly it was 31m deep, so I probably should have used my lights.

Nick

That colour is a fluorescent colour. These go ballistic on filter shots because the blue light of the water excites the fluorescent and then the red filter blocks the ambient light and transmits the fluorescent light.

Alex

Alex was supposed to send me a magic filter months ago for my Z1 but he never did.....

hint hint hint.....

The exact right color filter depends on the color of the water and probably the sun angle, too. I think almost any red will help, to some extent, and white balancing helps, and the two together work best of all.

Mike you are not alone there on waiting for a magic filter, I think Alex must not like us or something I bet If I looked like this I would of got one ASPAP Infact he would probably would deliver it himself.....

Interesting to read about the filters anyhow Alex, still would like to give one ago so send one each to us all...don't worry we will buy them.....

Mike I'm replying to your email now.......

Kelly is pouting more than I remember Wags...

Hey,

Who said you could show that picture of my mum..

It was taken on the beach in Cyprus just before her 60th birthday. I know the sun is no good for the skin. I've tried telling her, but dad told me to "hush my god damn mouth".

Oh well,

Dive safe

DeanB

No it's not Kelly..... but I did not know it was your MUM Dean

It looks like she fell over and dropped her ice cream in the sand:D

Yeah, she's such a vain cow, she is trying to get the soles of her feet brown...

Dive safe

Dean(I, luv's my ma !!)B