man WB problem HC 7 in L&M Bluefin

Hello,

I'm new on the forum and hope to find people with the same problem or who can help me solve it.

I have been reading all articles on this forum considering WB but I hope you can give this one some attention.

I have a Sony HC7 in a L&M housing that I'm using during approx 200 dives.

I'm not able to take manual WB when I'm deeper then approx 10 m (33 feet). This depth can vary depending on lightconditions. No matter what I try (sand, hand, sun, fin,...) the man WB symbol keeps on blinking...

First I thought it was a cameraproblem, therefore it has been checked twice in the Sonyfactory...

But always the same problem returns.

On my last trip to Raja Ampat, I switched for one dive the camera into my buddies Gates housing and took his HC 7 into my housing. I was still not able to take man WB, but my camera in the Gates worked perfectly, and this in shoulder to shoulder situations!

So, I'm really desperate...

I really bought this camera because of the man WB (before I had the Makohousing from L&M)

Can someone tell me what to do? Is there something wrong with my housing?

I'm from Belgium and heard there are other people with the same problem.

Thanks in advance and forgive me my bad english...

Kind regards,

Hanifarudiver

Many of the smaller cameras tend to have WB troubles at depth due to lighting conditions. I understand your test was at the same depth, etc only difference was the housing. However, did you have idential ports as well?? A wider port will allow more light in. Being that the MWB on your L&M housing is mechanical, it would not be a housing issue. Are you using lights or just ambient? Was your buddy using lights?

Hello,

I'm new on the forum and hope to find people with the same problem or who can help me solve it.

I have been reading all articles on this forum considering WB but I hope you can give this one some attention.

I have a Sony HC7 in a L&M housing that I'm using during approx 200 dives.

I'm not able to take manual WB when I'm deeper then approx 10 m (33 feet). This depth can vary depending on lightconditions. No matter what I try (sand, hand, sun, fin,...) the man WB symbol keeps on blinking...

First I thought it was a cameraproblem, therefore it has been checked twice in the Sonyfactory...

But always the same problem returns.

On my last trip to Raja Ampat, I switched for one dive the camera into my buddies Gates housing and took his HC 7 into my housing. I was still not able to take man WB, but my camera in the Gates worked perfectly, and this in shoulder to shoulder situations!

So, I'm really desperate...

I really bought this camera because of the man WB (before I had the Makohousing from L&M)

Can someone tell me what to do? Is there something wrong with my housing?

I'm from Belgium and heard there are other people with the same problem.

Thanks in advance and forgive me my bad english...

Kind regards,

Hanifarudiver

I think that you are just bumping up against the technical limitations of the camera that you are using. I dive and shoot with an HC9 and have never been able to reliably white balance (i don't use lights) below about 30 feet.

I think that it needs a certain amount of ambient light to achieve a white balance. It's a problem. Personally, I hate color correction filters and am loathe to use those. I'm already shooting at the very limits of the cameras capabilities in terms of low-light, adding a filter is just like putting on sunglasses in the dark. I find it adds a lot of noise to the image by cutting further into the ambient light that hits the sensor. And it still doesn't look very natural. I find the filters make things overly red. Another option is to white balance shallow and take that to depth, but I find that doesn't work very well.

After shooting with my HC9 for quite a while now, i've essentially made a large compromise. I don't use a filter and I don't white balance. Sure, it often looks overly cold, but at least there is less noise and it doesn't look overly warm with purple water and pink corals. I then try to fix it up as best as I can in post.

you can see my videos here if curious:

http://www.vimeo.com/5240335

Since Sony HC series (and all of their handycam series really) use TTL WB, and you could MWB with the Gates and not the LMI, then the only remaining factor is the lens port or filter used by the housings. What ports are you using on the LMI? What port was on the Gates? We need more information to diagnose the issue before having you throw out the camera for something newer and shinier.

If i'm reading correctly, I think he said it also failed to manually WB in the Gates housing.

Alex, if I read it correctly, him and his buddy swapped and put his camera into the Gates housing, and his buddy's camera into his L&M housing. His camera white balanced at depth in the Gates housing, and at the same time, his buddy's camera did NOT WB in the L&M housing. That leads me to believe there was a wider angle port being used on the Gates housing than there was on the L&M housing, thus more light was getting into the camera on the Gates set up.

My initial thought, the Bluefin had the stock port, and the Gates may have had the upgraded WP25 port...

Ahah! apologies, I believe you guys are right. I have never been able to get my HC9 in a gates to white-balace at depth and I have the SWP25 port. Would love it if I could though!

Not to hijack the thread, but as an aside...

My current white balance slate is an amphibico one like this one, it is a slightly tinted white color and it will never WB below 20-30 feet. Maybe slightly deeper with the red filter on. I wonder what gives. I doubt it's the slate coloring...but who knows? I always assumed it was the camera itself.