G16 -- Underwater setting or Red Filter?

[Basheirt]

Just bought a new G16, Fantasea housing, YS-D1 strobe, tray, the whole shebang... also bought the Fantasea red snap-on filter. But I'm wondering if it's necessary to use the filter if the camera is set to its "underwater" setting.

Recommendations?

Diving in mostly Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and Caribbean.

Jeff

 

[Deep Water Dan]

Well, one of the reasons for buying something like a G16 is so that you DON'T have to use a filter. Return the filter if you can. I would recommend shooting everything underwater in RAW and correcting the white balance in post. You can also manually set the white balance, but why bother for stills? For video, I always use manual white balance. You can also use the underwater setting for video, but that's only good down to around 20-30 feet depending on the ambient light.

Here's how I have mine set up: I use C1 for video, and have it programmed for manual white balance with the lens zoomed in just slightly. I wear white fins, and adjust the white balance once I hit about 30-35 feet. That usually keeps it good enough to be able to tweak right in in Lightroom. Above 30 feet or so, I sometimes switch to the underwater white balance setting. If I go much deeper than 50 feet or so I'll readjust the white balance. I try to keep it set so that if something cool comes shooting out of the murk I'm ready to go. I also have C1 set up for manual focus, as you will find that the G16 tends to hunt for focus in video when there isn't a lot of contrast. So far, it has worked out super. I set it, programmed it in, and never mess with it.

I have C2 programmed for stills with the lens zoomed to about 50mm. I shoot in RAW with the white balance set to auto, because I use strobes. That way, the .jpegs look fairly normal. If you try using manual white balance with strobes, the .jpegs will look terrible and be useless.

You want to try to keep the button pushes, etc to a minimum while you're diving. Play around and find the settings you like, and program them into C1/C2. I also programmed the shortcut button to AWB, so setting the white balance is two quick button pushes.

---------- Post added June 26th, 2014 at 03:58 PM ----------

P.S. Another thing you'll find with the G16 is that is likes to overexpose by about one stop. You can adjust that with the exposure compensation dial or fix it in post. I haven't figured out a way to change it for video, so I run mine through Lightroom and adjust it there. You can get some absolutely AMAZING video out of the G16 underwater. Run it at 1080p 60 fps and if you travel, buy a large SD card or bring a computer.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

This vid is using my G16, W/ Fantasea housing in Underwater mode only with no filters.. My lights are twin 1600 lumen Blue Ray Radiants purchased from Liesure Pro.

[video=youtube;ZdGphgnsUNw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdGphgnsUNw[/video]

 

[Basheirt]

Very helpful, DWD. Much appreciated!! Hopefully I'll get the results I'm looking for with the setup. At least it gives me a starting point!

---------- Post added July 3rd, 2014 at 08:29 AM ----------

Gorgeous video, Scubadog! Did you use the twin lights for a daytime dive in clear viz? Right now I just have my YS-D1 strobe attached with the fiber optic cord. I DO have an Intovatec Galaxy light (which is a beast!) but I wasn't planning to shlep it due to the weight since we aren't doing any nighttime diving. Thoughts???

 

[spoolin01]

This question comes up a lot, and the responses are regularly conflicting.

With respect to the light impinging on the sensor, don't you have better color-balanced RAW images to begin with, if you use a filter? W/o the filter, the spectral distribution will be skewed towards blue moreso than if the filter is used, won't it? Isn't that a worse starting point for any post-processing?

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Gorgeous video, Scubadog! Did you use the twin lights for a daytime dive in clear viz? Right now I just have my YS-D1 strobe attached with the fiber optic cord. I DO have an Intovatec Galaxy light (which is a beast!) but I wasn't planning to shlep it due to the weight since we aren't doing any nighttime diving. Thoughts???

Thanks for the nice compliment. Yes, I use the twin lights on every dive, night or day and primarily only shoot video. The vis in Bonaire this year varied a bit but I'd say it was between 50 and 80 (horizontal) for most dives. As far a depth, based on memory, I'm guessing that these clips were taken probably somewhere 50 & 70 fsw, mid day and definitely with the lights on.. Also...due to the fact that this G16 shoots 60 frames per second of 1080 high def, (twice the G15 max) I'm finding that I most likely will never shoot stills again. I can just sort through the video and pic any stills I want to frame. It eliminates that shutter delay issue and also lets you pic that perfect moment that always seemed to get away with still shots.


Anyway, here's a couple of pics of my complete setup. When it's all broken down, it's lightweight and easy to pack. Also, can't say enough about these Fantasea Blue Ray Radiant lights.. At $199 per light, they pack a lot of punch with 1600 lumens each and 110 degree beam angle.