Will this work around work?

My Panasonic ZS3 has an underwater mode that does not allow for shutter speed adjustment for stills.

If I go to "manual" mode I can adjust shutter speed but then I lose the reds etc., that I got from the

UW mode. If I use a red filter in "manual" mode will this work?

Has anyone tried it and what are the results?

If I use a strobe will I not need a red filter?

Also what if I use "manual" mode and a red filter for video?

Thanks for all replies.

Does the ZS3 allow you to adjust white balance? If so, you can shoot manual.

A filter is an option.

A strobe will light subjects that are close to the camera and compensate.

A filter for video is an excellent choice.

thanks for your reply...

yes there is a white balance option but should I use a red filter after i adjust white balance in manual

or will it turn out TOO red?

Hmmm. Interesting question. That's something I've never thought of. It should work, but with the filter you shouldn't have to mess with WB.

Right...I think...?....and if I use the strobe then in theory the camera will adjust to the color temp of the flash and won't need either filter or white balance...i.e. just leave it on auto WB??? just trying to see what the collective wisdom is re filter before I go out and buy one. So far the only company that seems to make one for my pany housing is in Netherlands and is kinda pricey.

My advice? Get a strobe (better, get two) and shoot with auto WB. For dark blue backgrounds in wide angle, underexpose the image and adjust the strobes to properly light the foreground.

PS There are used Ikelite DS-125s for sale here and elsewhere - great bargains.

If, on the other hand, you want to keep your rig compact, get a filter. You can always modify a filter to use with your camera - duct tape?

If you look at "Magic Filters" you find that on DSLRs they work best with a manual white balance, but on compact cameras with automatic white balance. They're incompatible with strobes, so you have to choose one way or the other on any given dive.

hmmm .... not compatible with strobes?.....oh well...thanks for your reply.

hmmm .... not compatible with strobes?.....oh well...thanks for your reply.

Follow the link, above: it explains quite a lot that you should know.

If you use a filter and a strobe the foreground will be very red compared to the background: the electronics can't compensate for the dramatic difference in tone and luminance between them. You have to choose, unless you have an external filter that can be taken off the port or the kind of filter

that sits inside some video housings and can be flipped away from the lens.

You would want to have the red filter on before you white balance. What the filter is doing is basically narrowing the colour spectrum for you, its not adding red but rather subtracting the blues and greens. Have it on, manual white balance, take the shot.

However, filters are only good with strong natural light and a max depth of around 50 feet (15-16 metres) after that there is not enough natural light for them to work well, you will have problems trying to set the white balance. This is true for both photo and video. Also, its mostly just for wide and standard angle work, not for macro.

Although you can get similar results not using red filters and just using the white balance and raw conversion, you will find these images are more noisy due to a less compact colour spectrum.

At the end of the day, its best to have both strobes and filters for stills, strobe photos would still end up being the vast majority of your photos. For video work, filters are great for the WA end and some good strong video lights are best for macro