Best red filter for m4/3

After watching Florians video (https://youtu.be/J6kQJ4RowXA) I decided to buy a pair of ambient light filters for fun to see how it would work.

I also thought about getting a red filter for my 14-42 mark 2 lens which has a 46mm thread. The keldan red filters I have found are a minimum of 67mm and I dont think theres room in the port for a step up ring and such a big filter.

Which leads me to my actual question; are there any other brand red filters that are suited for underwater out there with a 46mm thread?

I don't know if they are still doing but the ur pro was one of the first and best uw filter company

The 29mm port wont work with the 14-42mm II and an filter attached inside (perhaps with the 35mm port it would?)

But URPro are probably the best ones - never got on well with the MagicFilter ones

However... if you are using the WWL with the bayonet fitting, Keldan sell an acrylic filter disk especially made for the WWL1 that fits inbetween the rear of the WWL1 and the port - so enabling you to even remove underwater.

I personally think we are beyond needing filters as lights are getting more powerful and editing software is able to balance the RGB channels from ambient shooting, however for my own curiosity I purchased one to give it a try - alas not got it wet yet...

That was what I feared Richard! I actually got a reply from keldan saying the same thing. Gonna try to swing by Singapore while Im staying in Jakarta and pick one up to give it a go in Raja Ampat (couldnt find one for sale in indo and dont have time to order one as I leave in 2 days)

I mostly want it for deep rich blues.

Will be quite a challenge to remove it and store it somewhere during a dive as I go deeper tho.

Willl try to update this thread once Im back with a review of the light filters and this filter.

One thing is for certain.. I never seem to run out of ideas on how to spend more money 😂

You can use a magic filter cut a gel disc and tape it in front of the lens or try a cheap mired shift gel filter like CT orange that is very similar to urpro

In terms of no need for filter I tried the GH5 without anything and use custom white balance and the results are not great so I will give filters a go. From my past experience there is no best filter but is a combination of camera and filter as each manufacturer has their interpretation of color

My original plan with the keldan red filter isn’t possible anymore as nobody has it in stock apparently. I leave for indo tomorrow.

Might be a long shot but does anyone know where I could pick up a few magic filters in Jakarta haha?

I 3d designed and printed a gel holder for the 14-42mm II for exactly the magic filter, to enable you to use it in the 29mm port.

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/2dlEK40xkKQ

It fits like a lens hood, but has a lip on it to hold a circular cut magic filter.

Alex @ UWVisions in the UK has (or did have) stock of the WWL Keldan filter

@trickster the 14-42II fits in the 29? My lens barely fits in the 35 port

@trickster the 14-42II fits in the 29? My lens barely fits in the 35 port

You know I got confused! Its the PZ that fits the 29mm port, not the MKII

So we would need a 40mm (or bigger..) port for the 14-42mm II for it to work with a screw in filter.

Apologises to all for the confusion...

Raja Ampat does not exactly have bluewater there is some green

Some videos of my RX100 mark II and URPRO filter

Now 6+ years old but gives an idea also the rx100 custom white balance was giving error all the time that is when I discovered it was better to leave it in auto however I have some orange cast

For your 14-42mm I would recommend a gel filter if you are near any shop get a lee filter CT Orange 204 http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-details.html#204you can see the spike at orange which is what the URPRO does too

You can experiment with other tones but this is a safe bet in terms of being able to white balance when you max out at 9900K

Thank u interceptor! I just sent out an email to the only dealer for lee filters in indo, hopefully they have some.

Will try to check in here for an update

I've personally just cut the magic filter gels and stuck them to the front of the 14-42 or the inside of the 35mm port.

That being said, don't expect a red filter + blue filters on the lights to produce deep blues.. in fact, it's exactly the opposite.

To get those rich blues, you want to have your effective white balance set in camera somewhere around 4000k-4500k. But what you're doing by custom balancing for the ambient light, with or without a filter, is setting your white balance at 10000k+. This will give you 'natural' looking results for the foreground, but it's a disaster in terms of the water column IMO.

The best result you're going to get is a greyish, desaturated water column. Sometimes you end up with purple water column instead depending on how much the in-camera white balance + filter combination pushes towards magenta.

Red filters don't do anything magical -- they just attenuate the cool side of the color spectrum to compensate for the attenuation of the warm wavelengths by the water itself. In-camera white balance works slightly differently, boosting (applying gain) to the red channel of the signal being read off your sensor. But the end result of either method is to increase the relative strength of the red channel compared to the blue and green channels. Since this is a global adjustment, it inevitably impacts the blue water column also -- turning it a desaturated grey mush, or worse, purple.

I'll also second the part about Raja visibility. Expect 10-15 meters, with a lot of plankton in the water. If you're lucky, you can get 20, but it's equally possible to end up with 5-10m on some sites. It's highly variable (and can be greenish, too). Standard advice applies for wide angle -- get as close as possible, watch your light positioning to minimize illuminating particles.

I've personally just cut the magic filter gels and stuck them to the front of the 14-42 or the inside of the 35mm port.

 

 

 

Red filters don't do anything magical -- they just attenuate the cool side of the color spectrum to compensate for the attenuation of the warm wavelengths by the water itself. In-camera white balance works slightly differently, boosting (applying gain) to the red channel of the signal being read off your sensor. But the end result of either method is to increase the relative strength of the red channel compared to the blue and green channels. Since this is a global adjustment, it inevitably impacts the blue water column also -- turning it a desaturated grey mush, or worse, purple.

 

I just got a sheet of Lee filter gel cut plenty of discs in the dimension of the WWL1 and just stuck it between the flat port and the rear side of the WWL1. Like that, I can remove it underwater (i am using the bayonet system) and I even carry few in my wet notes in case I lose it while removing it (its so cheap you don't really care if its lost).

But I don't like the filters "look".

Keep in mind that they also bring out some nasty noise especially in the red and blue channel

Gel filters are not designed to be in contact with water. For that use you need other type of plastic.

The main purpose of the CT orange I have suggested is to perform a mired shift and allow white balance to operate in the region below 10000. Having been in Raja Ampat even with the sony I can say it is possible and there are no magenta casts that I recall whilst there is some orange cast

After my first attempts at custom white balance without a filter on the GH5 I can say that the camera itself has both green and purple cast problems due to inaccuracies in the color hues

So my theory is that unless you use artificial light this camera needs an adjustment to balance the cast with or without filters

Gel filters are not designed to be in contact with water. For that use you need other type of plastic.

The main purpose of the CT orange I have suggested is to perform a mired shift and allow white balance to operate in the region below 10000. Having been in Raja Ampat even with the sony I can say it is possible and there are no magenta casts that I recall whilst there is some orange cast

After my first attempts at custom white balance without a filter on the GH5 I can say that the camera itself has both green and purple cast problems due to inaccuracies in the color hues

So my theory is that unless you use artificial light this camera needs an adjustment to balance the cast with or without filters

You are right on the gel part. The ones I use there are not gel but a material similar to magic filter there are just called gel filters in the film industry and that is why I called them like that.

If you are referring to the 2 videos you posted above then to me, there is definitely magenta cast in many of the scenes. Anyway, I think its a personal choice at the end of the day, I don't like the custom white balance, filter (look) because it is not how I see things in the water when I dive. Lights and settings that bring out the blues and create a nice contrast is what I prefer in shallow stuff, deeper is another story. Noise and artefacts are more disturbing to my eye than a slight hue shift, which can be corrected in resolve anyway.

Sony cameras dont white balance unfortunately

As I said both sony and to a lesser extent panasonic have cast filter or no filter because the cameras hues are typically off

Only had good white balance in water but they dont do any decent camera!

The keldan filters for WWL-1 look interesting but fairly expensive?

The keldan filters for WWL-1 look interesting but fairly expensive?

It is a keldan product designed for nauticam products.. only outcome is expensive haha

Pajjpen how did you get on?