International Magic

Also see Mike Veitch's Magic Filter Review:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/magic-filter-review/

Great review that mike have written.

One think that is very tue. SPLIT LEVELS - The magic filtyer is exelent to do this job. Due the weater contitions and my small dome I have not great photos to show you but believe me... Its work great

Personally, I wouldn't use a Magic Filter for split levels. It works fine, but actually I think it is unnecessary for split level shots.

Of course, the flexibility that Mike reports is great news. It means that you can use and Magic Filter on your dive and if you happen to surface to see the most beautiful split level photo opportunity then you can snap it knowing it will be fine.

But when I get in the water specifically to shoot split levels then I wouldn't use a filter.

Alex

Alex

What I have see on split levels and Magic filter is that if you have the camera faced lite down and you have a reef that is goint to 10-15 meters deep you get more colors on the bottom of the reef with magic filter.

lambis

I had a chance to play with the Magic filter a bit in "freezing Indonesia" recently on a couple of dives (yes, I froze). Conditions were not optimal: wall dive in shadow with intense morning light coming over the top. These were all at or under 15m.

I liked having no strobes on my rig, but I was unused to having to WB before each shot. To find the right conditions to use this filter optimally requires a different WA mindset than I usually have, so it was an adjustment.

I'm intrigued with Mike's mixed usage with the filter and strobes, and I think that might work better for me, so that I can choose the right technique for each shot.

And on a completely different tangent, I had taken my camera out of the housing to make some settings changes in the menu, and was walking on the beach back to the camera room from my bungalow in the evening when I saw the most awesome sunset. As I whipped the camera up to take some photos, I remembered that I had the Magic filter on, and the WB was still set to the last setting from my earlier dive. Ah well, I thought, but then I rather liked how it turned out:

Perhaps there's a future for Magic with land photographers??

Equipment: D2X, Sigma 15mm FE, Subal ND2 (except for sunset), white plastic tupperware lid for WB setting

Wow Linda. I think that those are excellent. Especially considering that you were shooting in the shadow of the reef.

I hadn't thought about using the magic filter for sunsets. It certainly works pretty well.

This is the real reward for me with this filter, seeing other photographers producing fantastic results with it - as using it ways I never imagined (like sunsets).

Thank you for sharing these,

Alex

For those with an interest, I have updated the Magic Website. I still have the galleries to add (and anyone who would like to be featured should email me). The more linked galleries the better - as far as I am concerned!

The URL is still: http://www.magic-filters.com/

There is quite a bit more info on the new site about how to shoot with the filters in the TIPS section.

Alex

My contribution for the all around the world magic:

The shots where taken with P&S camera (canon S50), I had to cut the filter to the dimensions of the inner side of the small Canon housing's port.

Dept of 6-7 meters:

Photo taken by my wife at dept of 4-5 meters:

The second frame again with different WB (Thanks Alex)

The original post was with the 'as shot' WB this time I used the sand as my white reference in the ACR.

I've only used the Magic Filter on one dive, recently in Raja Ampat. The vis was mediocre, and it was a cloudy day, so the results were understandably disappointing. Even so, you can certainly see how the filter brings out a lot of color farther away on the reef than strobes. I'm really looking forward to using the filter in clearer water on sunny days!

This was taken at 7-8 meters using the 77mm filter between lens and screw-on UV filter (at 17mm with a 17-40mm lens).

BTW, I found re-setting WB at various depths (in strong current) a real hassle. Do I understand correctly that if I'm shooting RAW, I can forget about that, just leaving the camera on AWB (or my usual setting of 5200) and then "fixing" it later in CS2? If that's the case, it would make using the Magic Filter WAY easier and more fun to use...

Yes, that's correct.

Cheers

James

Bruce, as you can see I uploaded 2 versions of the same ugly diver, in the first one it’s with the 'as shot' WB, the colors are green (its quit close to the actual colors I remember) in the second version I took the sand as the white reference in the PS during the converting to jpg.

The ease in which you can set WB seems to vary quite a bit on different cameras/housings. By far the easiest seem to be the Nikon D70 and D2X. These you just press and hold a button and take a picture. It is no more complex than taking two pictures of the subject. Other cameras like the Nikon D100 and some of the Canons seem to be more tricky. I have heard that some housings don't even allow access to the button(s) you need to set WB!

As James says, if you shoot RAW then there is no need to set WB underwater. But setting WB underwater can be a big help as if allows you to see what the finished image will look like and may mean you change the composition/framing.