Sony RX100 iv - How disastrous is WB at shallow depths?

Hi all,

I need to get equipped for a forthcoming sardine run trip to South Africa. I'm looking at either a Sony RX100 IV or a Canon G7X. I'll be shooting a mixture of video and stills, and given the nature of the event it's likely to be in and out of the RIB quite often and fairly shallow depths (probably mostly surface-10m), hence want to keep things small and simple and use ambient light. There are plenty of pros and cons with each camera, most of which I understand, but I think I'm leaning towards the Sony mainly because of the video capabilities (1080p120 rather than 4K) and much faster continuous raw speed.

I'm keen to understand though, just how disastrous the Sony's auto white balance performance is likely to be at 0-10m without a filter? I'm not so fussed about the impact on stills because I'll be shooting raw, but the video concerns me. Yes, I can tweak after the event, but would like to understand what I might get straight from the camera at those depths.

Thanks in advance - any insights appreciated!

Hi,

I managed to find this video.

Thisi s ambient light with manual WB. It looks OK even is ambiant is low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4A8kFjbEm4

Thanks for the link - interesting. Currently leaning towards an auto magic filter and then either auto or manual WB depending on conditions. Looks like I might be able to get away without a filter close to the surface though, which could be handy in some circumstances.

Thanks again for the link.

Graham, you will probably find that manual WB is not an easy feat with the RX100iv. However, AWB with using a red filter isn't as bad as some people make it. I was quite happy with the results I got from my RX100iv

I would not bother too much with custom white balance.
I did a whole trip to Raja Ampat 4 years ago fighting with WB error messages and off colours. On day 4 I realised the camera worked better in auto with a correction of the tint for the UR/PRO filter, the mangrove filter also requires a correction the magic filter does not but is not available as push on

4 years later and now at mark IV I have not bothered with custom white balance for hundreds of dives

Check for yourself

Last attempts with Magic filter more natural colour as the mark IV has picture profiles (water was milky)

The filter takes away one stop but if you shoot at 1/50 with ISO max at 800 you can go quite deep in clear water before you reach f/2.8 which is pretty much where the image with wet lenses gets really a bit soft

bubffm/Interceptor121,

Thanks for the info - very much appreciated. I will go with an Auto Magic filter and AWB. Just getting to grips with video options at the moment, this is a superb machine for video but boy there are lots of options to experiment with!

Thanks again for the pointers, very much appreciated.

You need to get onto the picture profiles for video that really create a superb natural image. There is some info on my blog and am going to write more this weekend

Interceptor121 - That's excellent, will look out for it on your blog. I've set up PP6 per your suggestions, as a starting point for understanding all the options, but haven't had time to play much yet.

Thanks again.