How are you manually setting white balance at depth?

How are people setting the white balance on their cameras? Currently I have a small white plastic slate that I have my dive buddy hold while I try to focus on it and set the white balance. I find this is hard to do while drift diving and was wondering if there is a better way.

How are people setting the white balance on their cameras? Currently I have a small white plastic slate that I have my dive buddy hold while I try to focus on it and set the white balance. I find this is hard to do while drift diving and was wondering if there is a better way.

I've given up on manual WB. I set a fixed WB and do everything in post.

I'd do a search for white balance on here as its been covered a zillion billion squillion times...

Dive safe

Dean( no exaggeration)B

For several years now I have painted as large of a white square as possible on my Jet Fins using the plastic/rubber paint available at Home Depot or Lowes. I tape off for the overspray. It gets the camera close enough and I tweak in post. Having it on the fin affords me several benefits. I can put the camera very close to the fin for white balancing for closeup shots or almost 4 feet away for medium shots. I have found this very useful. It seems the trend is to leave a lot of blue and greens in the shots for the longs and medium long shots so I don't white balance for those.

Having it on the fin lets me work alone and without another gizmo on the camera or to carry. If I am shooting someone carrying a flashlight or other video lights, then I have them point their light at my fin and white balance to that. This makes their light naturally colored and the scenes they illuminate in proper color...nice effect.

Apparently there are white fins for this now but I like my Jets. Photogs are always asking me about the square on my fins and then their next reaction is usually, "that's so simple and practical!" I suggest you give it a whirl. Expect to redo the square with a new layer every year or so.

Was about to ask the same Q's regarding fins for WB.

Does anyone know of a brand of White fin?

Sick of juggling Cam and slate and staying vertical in light.

Was about to ask the same Q's regarding fins for WB.

Does anyone know of a brand of White fin?

Sick of juggling Cam and slate and staying vertical in light.

Hi!

Check out http://www.apollosportsusa.com/Products/Fi...fin_Cseries.htm

Scubadiving Magazine's fin test from 2007 testers choise! http://www.scubadiving.com/article/18_New_Fins

Scubamoose

deleted.. not revelant

Silver or light grey fins work too.

APS Manta Ray makes an off white fin designed for White Balancing www.apsmantaray.com Personally I have not tried a set yet, however it is on my list to do this spring.

David from Leisurepro in New York gave me the following info:

We have the TUSA X-PERTZOOM FINS in regular size in white for $69.95, although not completely white as it has black in the middle.

We also have the APOLLO BIO FIN PRO in all white for $139.95.

You can search them on the site using the search tool.

I get stuff sent to Oz and it takes 5 days max.

This may seem totally bizzare to some people but I haven't done a WB underwater in the last 150 or so dives!

When I first got into UW video (Sony HC1e/Amphibico housing) I struggled with the whole issue of WB. Then I thought I'd try basically what I'd done as a still film UW photographer for years. Preset the WB for "DAYLIGHT" and use two very powerful HID lights (50 watt) as daylight fill or as main lights when it gets too dark. But I always use an internal filter to blue-up the water a bit and warm up the fills.

Since the lights are daylight colour temp. 6000k, there's never an imbalance when going from fill to closeup/or main light. Fantastic results...but of course you need to have powerful daylight balanced lights for this approach to work.

I've found this not only a lot easier during a dive but the results are a lot more consistent in terms of colour balance...any minor issues are easily fixed in the NLE.

Only this past year or so did I begin setting white balance manually. I use a small WhiBal card that I keep in my sleeve and am very happy with the results.

Hi-

I too am a bit confused about white balancing and just started playing around with it.

I white balance and the way down and it can get really red. I film some things in blue water and they look better than if I just used the red filter. Later when I use my lights for something, I notice it is too red so I turn the white balance button off to get the camera back to the "daylight" setting.

Do I only need to white balance when I don't use lights? Am I doing this the recommended way?

Thanks so much.

I've given up on manual WB. I set a fixed WB and do everything in post.

I agree. I generally use the camera's "Cloudy" setting as the default, but always shoot RAW, and that way can adjust WB in PS Raw converter. I was finding that even when I thought I had WB "right", I could still get truer/more natural color just using the eyedropper in PS Raw converter.

I know lots of you guys consider that "cheating," but if the RAW file actually captures as much data as the camera is capable of "seeing" exactly as it sees it, is there really any quantitative or qualitative benefit to changing WB before vs. after the shot?

Hey guys if you are interested I wrote an article for my DEMA seminar that covers just about every situation and technique you may need when white balancing underwater. Unless you are shooting uncompressed 10bit video, you will do better to get a good WB while shooting than in post. Because most video formats are severely compressed (very different than shooting raw with stills) every change you make in post can degrade you final product. Howard Hall, probably the most notable underwater shooter on the planet WBs every one of his shots and he is shooting HDCAM and IMax, formats which are far more resilient in post than most of the formats folks here are shooting.

Here is the link: Mastering White Balance

I know lots of you guys consider that "cheating," but if the RAW file actually captures as much data as the camera is capable of "seeing" exactly as it sees it, is there really any quantitative or qualitative benefit to changing WB before vs. after the shot?

Adjusting white balance adjusts the tonal balance in the image. Especially when exposing to the right, color channels can be prone to clipping and/or introduced noise if significant adjustments are made to white balance after the shot is taken. Setting white balance before the shot is taken helps to alleviate this issue (and obtain proper exposure for those watching highlights), though Auto WB has become fairly accurate, at least with still photography.

I use my wife's TUSA fins for white balancing. Better than me wearing them since she's always finding stuff for me to shoot anyway.

http://www.scuba-tw.com/shop/popup_image.php?pID=1843

Try this one, I have one set of my own, very nice one, I don't have to border paint my fin every year.

I recommend Not using White to WB underwater. With DV it was pretty good, with HDV it overcranks the reds IMO. Pink tends to deliver better results.

Howard Hall white balances every scene?

Exactly how does he do that with 70mm film in the IMAX system?

He doesn't (can't with film)...simply uses powerful daylight balanced lights to bring out the colors in the foreground subject.

The whole issue of white balance is overblown...only relevant if you don't use powerful lighting(i.e. 4000 - 5000 lumen per light), IMO. Or purposely want natural light at depth.

Using a cc filter is another issue, and is a useful little accessory!!