International Magic

I have now shot with the Magic Filter in the Red Sea, Bali and Cayman and the filter has worked well in all areas. I thought it might be helpful to start a thread where folks could post their Magic filter from around the world in one place.

Alex

So here are some Red Sea shots:

Reef at 13m:

Stingray at 15m:

Wreck at 17m:

These are all a little deep. I think that the filter works best between 3 and 9m. But as you can see is still good at these depths.

Alex

Now to Bali:

Seafan at 12m:

Corals at 7m:

Manta at 7-8m:

Alex

And here are some Caribbean shots from yesterday. Couldn't FTP all of them to my website for some reason so two are attached

This one was taken at 17m of a barrel sponge. I wanted to test if I could push the max depth of the magic in clear cayman waters. It was pretty good at 17m:

The other two are yellow tube sponge at 11m and gorgonian at 8m:

3 dive trips in the last few months. Alex, how do you have time to do all this traveling? Don't you have a job?

Well Alex, I was going to send this to you privately, but what the hey...

I have been involved in a lot of discussions re: the Magic Filter. You have shown some excellent shots from differing locations, and even some where you "broke the rules" that look pretty darn good.

HOWEVER,

It seems that most (many?) of us are not shooting the filter in the way you designed it, and then debating the quality of the result. My shots were no exception. I was at 55ft, mid day, shooting up (for the most part) and not white balancing often enough (but I shoot RAW).

That said, we had a "club" competition last night, and my "winning" shot was one of my Magic Filter shots from Turks and Caicos. I am pretty sure you have seen it, but will repost anyway. When I get some time I will post some more examples from this dive...

Yep Richard. We don't like to follow the rules. My only magic dive yet was definitely not following Alex's guidelines.

From Miami @36m

Does this Magic Filter come in 77mm?

Yes, dawktah, it does come in a 77mm version

This page http://www.magic-filters.com/filters.html on the Magic Website will show what size the filters come. The filter does come as a 77 - but you have top mount the gel behind a dioptre or UV filter.

I am actually going to try the Magic 77 for the first time after lunch today!

Alex

I wanted to test the shallow water capabilities of the Magic Filter today at Stingray City in Cayman. At 3m depth it was great (even though the photos are nothing special):

With 12-24mm @ 12mm, which isn't really wide enough for SRC (at 3m):

And with 10.5mm at the same depth:

The second one was a bit warm as I had white balanced on the seabed and then come shallower to shoot (and I don't have a RAW converter with me to adjust the WB)!

I also tried the filter up on top of the Sandbar in waist deep (1m) water:

In these conditions (less than 1 metre) I wouldn't usually shoot with the filter - but I wanted to test its performance in case I am ever in a situation where I want to shoot this shallow and I don't have a chance to take it off. I certainly think you need a filter at 3m. Available ight only at this depth does not produce good noise free colours.

Alex

I meant to say congrats to Richard for his competition win. That's a Magic first.

Alex

p.s. this is me Magic safety stopping at 5m today - the 10.5 is a very flattering lens! But I do love diving in the Caribbean at this time of year, its so warm compared with freezing Indonesia.

Pretty in Pink

Thanks Alex.

you want to see me REALLY step on your filter, I am leaving for Port Hardy BC on Thursday... what do you mean it isn't designed for green water...

Turks & Caicos.....first dive with the Magic Filter......35 feet.....75'viz.....and I shot up

Karl

Note: I did everything wrong with the following picture. I shot up into the light, had WB set to Auto and the light was not coming from behind me. I had no dome shade at this point and water had a lot of sediment in it, turn a milky green. That said 1st shot I just used the Color Balance on the second is straight from the camera. I'm sure you Photoshop wizards could do much better.

NWDiver, I like the unedited one much better...Did you shoot RAW or JPG?

Hi Alex, comparing the first Red Sea shot at 13m with the first Bali shot at 12m it looks as if the blue in the red sea shot is very saturated. Are the blues affected by the magic filter?

Cor

Her some Macig Photos.. not mutch reefs and fishes but the skin color is perfect.

Lambis

I have posted a few of my Magic Shots from Cayman online at:

http://www.amustard.com/cay_magic/

I tried the Magic on the 28-70mm for the first time in Cayman and used it to take some fish shots. Very easy with an original effect. Best on sunny days - rather than the rain we had - so you have more light and can use faster shutter speeds and/or get more depth of field.

I also used the Magic on the 12-24mm, which is a nice lens for it. This image is of the Mermaid at Sunset House, for those that know her. I like the lighting in this shot.

Alex