Filter help please, ty

Hi all,

Just signed up and was hoping you could help me with an issue. I recently purchased the Sony HDR-UX7 and the SPK-HCC underwater case. The case is a lot of fun, but my question is this. I am going to be heading out to Baja California, Mexico and will be using it underwater. I purchased this filter http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2496...lor_Filter.html in hopes of it helping eliminate the green color that appears when recording without a filter. I wanted to confirm this to be the right filter? I also am wondering if I should set the white balance on the camera to daylight or leave it on auto? If there are any other tips I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance greatly for any information you can provide. Take care and be well!

Hi syntax010011,

Water can be classified as being blue or green. Corrective filters work by clearing away or making it appear that the close saturation of either the blue or green is cleared away whilst also reviving some of the natural colors of the surrounding environment.

Firstly you will need to find out what the water color classification would be for your destination. I was in Baja a couple years ago and it was more greenish the farther north you went. What you have bought is an "Equinox 37mm Underwater Color Filter for Blue water" If your location for your shooting is classified as being a blue water location then you'll have no worries. I would suggest you also look for a Green water filter and have them both in your arsenal so as to be prepared for all eventualities.

I have never worked with housings that don't allow for manual white balance which is also where I think these filters are best suited. Maybe someone else can chip in with the advice on that one.

Good luck with your trip and let us all know how it went.

Cheers,

Mark.

Hi syntax010011,

Water can be classified as being blue or green. Corrective filters work by clearing away or making it appear that the close saturation of either the blue or green is cleared away whilst also reviving some of the natural colors of the surrounding environment.

 

Firstly you will need to find out what the water color classification would be for your destination. I was in Baja a couple years ago and it was more greenish the farther north you went. What you have bought is an "Equinox 37mm Underwater Color Filter for Blue water" If your location for your shooting is classified as being a blue water location then you'll have no worries. I would suggest you also look for a Green water filter and have them both in your arsenal so as to be prepared for all eventualities.

 

I have never worked with housings that don't allow for manual white balance which is also where I think these filters are best suited. Maybe someone else can chip in with the advice on that one.

 

Good luck with your trip and let us all know how it went.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

Thank you I appreciate the response. I will definitely look into the classification of the water color. I contacted Lindblad (partnered with national geographic) the company I am going with. Thanks again and any other tips and advice are greatly appreciated. Take care

Syntax,

Bring both your new filter and the standard UR filter that came with your housing. This way you can switch them out if the results of the first day's shooting are not to your liking.

Steve B)

Syntax,

Bring both your new filter and the standard UR filter that came with your housing. This way you can switch them out if the results of the first day's shooting are not to your liking.

Steve B)

Thanks for the response. My case only goes 17ft deep which is good for me for now. By assumption I think the UR filter is for below 30ft or so, therefore I doubt it has one. I am a bit nervous as my time there is limited and don't want to open the case once everything is setup since I will be launching from a beach probably. I'm gonna wait on the answer about color correction and hope that helps me largely. If not I'll be in the same boat :-p. Any other tips would be great, thanks!

Without manual white balance control and filming about 30 feet, I would NOT use any CC filter...the image produced will have very distorted looking colors.

-shawn

Thank you I appreciate the response. I will definitely look into the classification of the water color. I contacted Lindblad (partnered with national geographic) the company I am going with. Thanks again and any other tips and advice are greatly appreciated. Take care

Well you're probably going to meet a lot of people I worked with a couple of years ago. I was on a shoot for a Nat Geo unit (Remote Imaging - "Crittercam") for six weeks using the Lindblad ship as a base. We ended getting off the ship and staying around Santa Rosalia for the Sperm Whales which is what we were there to shoot. Plus they have a massive Humboldt Squid fishery there and Humboldt Squid being one of the main food sources for the whales meant we had some great filming ops there.

We got on the boat every week to give lectures and film shows of our work when they came past Santa Rosalia. take plenty of cameras, that whole area is stunning both underwater and topside.

Anyway thats detracting from the issue.

Without manual control of white balance, it sounds like you have a splash housing and not a dedicated underwater unit, I wouldn't suggest trying to use the filters. Best to put the footage in the computer at the end of the day and try a small color correction process.

Cheers,

Mark.

This is going to be a case of trial and error as different cameras behave differently.

In my experience with a 3-CCD Panasonic DX110 that could not be manually white balanced, a blue water filter like you have was better than a green water filter, even in green sea water. The green water filter was better only in really green freshwater like quarries.

Experimentation with my single-CCD Sony TRV40, which also can't be manually white balanced, showed that with the filter in it was slightly better on auto white balance mode than in daylight mode, but occasionally in auto mode it can do strange things like making the footage purple.

At depths of 30 feet or less the footage from it comes out over-red but can be corrected nicely on the computer. Without the filter the footage comes out very monochrome turqoise/green, even just under the surface, and it's more difficult to restore the reds and get a nice colour balance on the computer. Sadly in my case neither result is much good as it stands without correction and it would really be a matter of taste as to which way to shoot.

Well you're probably going to meet a lot of people I worked with a couple of years ago. I was on a shoot for a Nat Geo unit (Remote Imaging - "Crittercam") for six weeks using the Lindblad ship as a base. We ended getting off the ship and staying around Santa Rosalia for the Sperm Whales which is what we were there to shoot. Plus they have a massive Humboldt Squid fishery there and Humboldt Squid being one of the main food sources for the whales meant we had some great filming ops there.

 

We got on the boat every week to give lectures and film shows of our work when they came past Santa Rosalia. take plenty of cameras, that whole area is stunning both underwater and topside.

 

Anyway thats detracting from the issue.

 

Without manual control of white balance, it sounds like you have a splash housing and not a dedicated underwater unit, I wouldn't suggest trying to use the filters. Best to put the footage in the computer at the end of the day and try a small color correction process.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

Oh alright, Then I will return the filter to b&h. Thanks for the heads up. Do you know CARLOS NAVARRO he is an awesome guy. He lives there and specializes with sperm whales. I spent most of my time hanging out with him swapping photo info. He is a canon fan and I am nikon fan, but we got along :-p Take care and thank you for responses. If people agree I am better off with some touch up on the pc please let me know (recommended editing software for the digital color correction?). Is it that I will be so close to the surface it wont make much of a difference? Thanks again :-)

Its because the filter for blue water is orange as you can see. Without being able to manipulate the white balance of the camera manually you will not be able to 'readjust the camera's in built / default understanding of the color spectrum'. Cameras take their reference of the color spectrum from White, hence the term white balance. By placing a filter over the camera it will see orange unless you point the camera at a white surface and manually tell the camera to recognize the orange washed out image as white it will then readjust its whole spectrum based on that 'White' index. Without being able to do that quick operation at shallow depths the resulting filtered images are completely orange wash outs.

Yes I know Carlos Navarro very well indeed. Great guy and a wonderful photographer too. Tell him mark from the Crittercam Team says hello.

Cheers,

Mark.

Oh alright, Then I will return the filter to b&h.

Don't do that yet. Your footage might be better with it. Try it and take super good care of it then maybe you can return it after the trip if it's no good.

The other thing is that the direction you're shooting is relevant. If you're at 30 feet and you shoot downwards I would say that the footage will definitely be better with the filter. If you shoot pointing upwards towards the surface then the footage will be really red.

(recommended editing software for the digital color correction?). Is it that I will be so close to the surface it wont make much of a difference? Thanks again :-)

I use Sony Vegas and it's excellent for colour correction but there are plenty of other programs that do a good job. Vegas Movie Studio is pretty cheap and I think it can do this too.

Its because the filter for blue water is orange as you can see. Without being able to manipulate the white balance of the camera manually you will not be able to 'readjust the camera's in built / default understanding of the color spectrum'. Cameras take their reference of the color spectrum from White, hence the term white balance. By placing a filter over the camera it will see orange unless you point the camera at a white surface and manually tell the camera to recognize the orange washed out image as white it will then readjust its whole spectrum based on that 'White' index. Without being able to do that quick operation at shallow depths the resulting filtered images are completely orange wash outs.

 

Yes I know Carlos Navarro very well indeed. Great guy and a wonderful photographer too. Tell him mark from the Crittercam Team says hello.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

I definitely will, thanks again!