Expodisc White Balance Filter

Looks like a damn nice setup. Wish I were handy and could do those type of things but I pat myself on the back for putting the chain back on the toilet float.

Steve B)

What do you still use one of those old overhead toilet setups over there.

Plan to go and dive the Exmouth Navy Pier tomorrow and I will try out the flip diffuser thing I made . I was trying to WB the camera in dark areas but once I flipped it up the camera could WB. It kind of likes spreads the light over more of the area so the camera can get a hit. Might have to make it a shade of white or blue.

Yeah, but it's a high tec toilet.

Steve B)

Hey, guys. This has been stated before, but I've been told that with the 100-degree lens on the L&M Bluefin HD housing, the expodisc cannot be made to fit in the macro lens flip-down without hitting the lens. This isn't a problem for me at the moment, since no one has the 100 lens yet, but it will be eventually.

If so... the expodisc would have to replace the red flip-down, and a red filter would have to be attached to the camera itself.

But since there is so little room between the flip-down and the front of the camera, Dan Baldocchi is saying that you can put a 67mm filter inside the front of the Z1u/FX-1's front lens lip. From visual inspection of my own camera, it looks like it would work.

Can anyone verify this?

Eric yes a 67 ring with the CCfilter in it will go inside the end of the camera so the ring ends up sitting flush with the end of the camera allowing you to still use the flip arms. You will need to put some soft tape around the edge of the ring so it sits in there snuggly.

But you used parts that came with the Phenom right Wags? The only 67mm filter I can see on UR-Pro site is for a Nikonos 20mm lens. Do you think that would that do?

Nick once you get the set of HOYA 67mm macro's, take out the +2 from the ring and the standard Amphibico CC glass filter goes straight into the ring whch then can be pushed into the end of the camera so it does not interfere with the flip arms. Then the Hoya macro +2 can go on the flip arm.

I hope that explains it now...or do you want a pic

Ah, you're using the ring from a Hoya diopter. I was just thinking which actual part(s) those Bluefin FX1 owners ( ) might need to order bearing in mind that they don't need the Hoyas and they don't have the UR-Pro that came with the Phenom.

Has anyone tried using this with a Gates housing yet?

Steve B)

Don't know Steve....but the after messing around with my first design, I do think we are on the right track in having a very thin second WB thingy that can be flipped up to WB the camera.

I have made a white one now so will try that out. The first one did work but not down deep still.

More soon.

With the Gates there's only one lever for the UR filter, so it sounds like either one or the other could be used.-Steve B)

Plan to go and dive the Exmouth Navy Pier tomorrow and I will try out the flip diffuser thing I made . I was trying to WB the camera in dark areas but once I flipped it up the camera could WB. It kind of likes spreads the light over more of the area so the camera can get a hit. Might have to make it a shade of white or blue.

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Wagsy, forgive me if I'm missing the obvious but if you make the flip out filter similar to a warm card (light Blue) aren't you gonna increase the amount of red seen by the camera and then use that in conjunction with the CC filter aren't you scared its gonna wash out red??? Going through the CC filter could be an advantage. There are some of the larger prod companies out there who buy stock and prefer the underwater stuff to have been shot without the CC filter. It would be interesting to balance warm and see what that gives without the CC.

I'm gonna have a lot of fun with the gear once it lands. I'll also be sharing that here.

Cheers,

Mark.

Hey guys. I modified two flip-arm assemblies today and (of course) wrote it all up:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/expodisc-in...fin-hd-housing/

enjoy.

Excellent article and tutorial Eric, very well done. Now we have to find ways to mount them into/onto other housings, and get some feedback from other users. I'm still getting great results with Expodisc, and can't imagine shooting without it.

Dan

Wow Eric,

That is an awesome tutorial and I for one will be building both of these using your tutorial.

way to get it done right.

shawn

Great tutorial Eric! Two questions:

1. Did you just get a standard 72mm filter direct from UR-Pro as advertised for Canon L-1 on their site? Glass or plastic?

2. With the 80 degree lens and UR-Pro in the camera front is there room for your Expodisc (fitted in CC arm) + the original flip macro?

Cheers

From Eric at LMI:

We are looking at options to provide expodisc in two forms:

 

1- to be used in the Flip Macro Arm (this to work with both the Flat Port

and 80 degree Wide

 

2- to be used in place of the Flip Filter (this to work only with the Ultra

Wide 100+ degree lens  (The barrel of the ultra wide (weitwinkel) extends in to the

housing so that you can only use the Flip filter arm, not the Flip Macro

Arm.

Eric,

Thank you verry much for the Tutorial!

After reading it i ordered everthing i needed and a few days ago, i put a 77mm Expodisc in my flip arm.

Today i went diving with it for the first time, i dived in a sweetwater lake with bad vissibility (3 to 5m)

and doing manual whitebalance is going really fast and the colors are imazing!

i do not have time to put somthing online about it beceause i am going to Galapagos in a few days, to do some more testing with my lovely expodisc!

Bruno

Okay, call me the last person on wetpixel to jump on the bandwagon, but after some white balance issues in less-than-gin-clear waters in Statia, St. Kitts and Saba, I was interested in the healing powers of the Almighty Expodisc. I was having the exact same issues that Dan was with a Z1, so suddenly these expo threads became even more interesting to me.

Now that we've got quite a few months under our belt, I'm interested in what the final word is from you expodisc users. I've spoken with some of you off-thread; I'm wondering what the rest of you all think now that you've got a few dives with them.

The expodisc seems like an incredibly innovative and helpful idea, and the screen grabs seem to back that up. Clearly there are two camps on the product. Surpisingly, one consists of divers who've used it and seen major results, and the other includes - along with a user or two - the very manufacturer whose housing it's used most frequently with.

Thoughts?

Drew has been pestering me to experiment underwater. I've found that the Expodisc works well very near the surface of the water. I normally point it at 45 degrees or vertically upward to get a white balance that works fairly well.

Deeper than 30 feet, the white balance achieved with the ExpoDisc starts to get too brown/red for my tastes.

My solution has been to white balance on my grey fins. It seems to work better. Perhaps ExpoDisc will release a special, underwater version that corrects for the browness at depth.