going to Truk lagoon...should I buy blue diffusers for my inon strobes?

Hi all,

I am going to Truk in a few months, I will catch some pictures with my canon eos 300D with Tokina 10-17.

I will use 2 inon Z220 strobes.

Focus is almost wide angle + quite long time spent in wrecks with a ccr.

Was thinking about putting -0.5 blue diffusers on my strobes, to have better backgrounds.

I don't want to unscrew them each time I will enter in wrecks, so my question is that:

Is it better for that trip just keeping the strobes without any diffuser, or putting blue one and keeping them when inside a wreck?

Tx for sharing your experience

John

Was thinking about putting -0.5 blue diffusers on my strobes, to have better backgrounds.

Strobes and Water Colour

I was told canon cameras tended to make too red/yellow images in clear waters.

That was the reason why Inon offer to buy those blue diffusers.

I only took pictures in green waters or blue waters with natural light, on wrecks, so can't tell if this is the case with the eos 300d / inon strobes.

But maybe I am thinking too much and just a bit of WB correction at home after the trip will help me to have nice natural colors and blue background.

Your experience?

I use the Lee 444's per Alex's excellent article and his workshop. They work great to enhance the background in clear blue tropical water. However, I just got back from Truk and I can tell you you will need every ounce of power from your Inon's inside those wrecks, so I'm not sure they're right for your upcoming trip.

My 2 cents.

Phil

So canon shooters, somebody who already used blue filters can confirm if usefull or not?

You might want to check with Wetpixel member underwatercolours. She just got back from Truk in February and may have some advice for you as to what worked the best for her and the others on the trip.

Ellen

I was told canon cameras tended to make too red/yellow images in clear waters.

A quick question for Alex and other filter users - since I use Ikelite Ds 160s and know their temperature is 4800K I can set my custom white balance to 4800K. If I decided to use the straw filters what temperature would that bring my strobe output to and would I still want to custom white balance to achieve the deep blues. I know that some have tried the magic filter with strobes - what gels do you need to have your strobe output balance the magic filters?

cheers!

- MDP

A quick question for Alex and other filter users - since I use Ikelite Ds 160s and know their temperature is 4800K I can set my custom white balance to 4800K. If I decided to use the straw filters what temperature would that bring my strobe output to and would I still want to custom white balance to achieve the deep blues. I know that some have tried the magic filter with strobes - what gels do you need to have your strobe output balance the magic filters?

 

cheers!

 

- MDP

Hello Matt,

WB temp setting also depends a lot on camera to subject distance. Just try some CFWA shots with different WB (with warm filters on the strobes start by 4500 and then lower to maybe even 3800...) and check that the subjects hit by the strobe show natural colours.

It is very hard/impossible to find a perfect strobe filter combination with magic filters as with almost every shot (remember you get better results by performing manual WB prior to shooting with Magic filter) because for different depths and angles of shooting (sun behind, sun in front...) you would need a different strobe filter intensity. I gave up on that a long time ago... Magic filters are great for natural light though.

Good luck!