Lights, filters, both?

[Seaweed Doc]

My limited experience with UW photography (over many years, dating back to film cameras) always had me upping the light intensity to get the good color quality I wanted. With GoPro having the option of various colors of filters (red, magenta, etc.) I wonder what happens when you have both (let's say hypothetically) 2,000 lumens AND a filter.

Would you want both? Does the filter add something?

I've only been using a weak light source with my GoPro (maybe 300 lumen) and it works fine for close up work, but fails (obviously) at any distance and for reasons I can't figure out seems to lose colors I thought penetrated pretty well in seawater (e.g., yellows before reds, some brighter greens, etc.). I was planning on upgrading the light source to 2K lumens. Do I need more? Would doing both the filter and added light help?

Hypothetically let's say I'm particularly annoyed that Caribbean parrotfish won't show good color when they're 10-20' away. What would serve me best? What if on the same dive I want to take pictures of juvenile damsels at 2' distance in water 2' deep. Do I change or remove the filter? Or does the screen view give me a good sense if things are weirdly red with the filter in place? And what's up with the magenta filter they sell? Too many options! I'm so confused....

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered.....

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Grazie mille. Parlo un po d'Italiano, ma male. Sottotitoli sono buoni.

It does look like you can overdo, and get a "red haze" in the foreground, but by adjusting light intensity you can get around it.

 

[Divenut1959]

My limited experience with UW photography (over many years, dating back to film cameras) always had me upping the light intensity to get the good color quality I wanted. With GoPro having the option of various colors of filters (red, magenta, etc.) I wonder what happens when you have both (let's say hypothetically) 2,000 lumens AND a filter.

Would you want both? Does the filter add something?

I've only been using a weak light source with my GoPro (maybe 300 lumen) and it works fine for close up work, but fails (obviously) at any distance and for reasons I can't figure out seems to lose colors I thought penetrated pretty well in seawater (e.g., yellows before reds, some brighter greens, etc.). I was planning on upgrading the light source to 2K lumens. Do I need more? Would doing both the filter and added light help?

Hypothetically let's say I'm particularly annoyed that Caribbean parrotfish won't show good color when they're 10-20' away. What would serve me best? What if on the same dive I want to take pictures of juvenile damsels at 2' distance in water 2' deep. Do I change or remove the filter? Or does the screen view give me a good sense if things are weirdly red with the filter in place? And what's up with the magenta filter they sell? Too many options! I'm so confused....

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered.....

I have a gopro5 and use the backscatter flip filter product. Initially, I used a small 700 lumen light thinking this would be good enough for video and it was barely ok and I knew I had do something much brighter. I bought a SOLA 3800 light from Backscatter during the holiday period at a killer price. I did diving with this in the Philippines in late Feb. and this was the ticket. Actually most of my diving I was only using about 50% of the power so around 2000 lumens and it was so much better and really made a difference. As shown in the video a red filter does make a huge difference below depths of around 40-50 feet. Besides the video I also have done some macro video using the Backscatter macro lense for the gopro and when shooting macro you can get by without the red filter as you are so close to the subject.

Long and short is your 2000 lumens should give you decent lighting for objects 3-5 feet but further away you will need alot more light and very expensive. Checkout the Backscatter website as they have a number of video to explain filters and show you the differences and the products they sell for GoPro. Hope this helps.

 

[oly5050user]

Colors that have longer wavelength affected first (red) the greater the distance it travels from light source to subject. Water filters out colors as light travels thu it. Any distance much greater than 4 to 5' will lose red, orange ,yellow . A stronger light will not help as it is not so much the intensity of the light, but the distance traveled. A wide angle lens will let you get closer to subject and fill frame. Try to stay 2' to 4' from subject for best results with any light source you have. Use a light with a wide angle beam to cover area. Do not use a red filter with a light , you will not like results. Use either a filter or a light, not both at same time.

 

[Hatul]

For day dives I use both a filter and a video light with my Hero 4 and I set the White Balance to Auto. For night diving video I flip out the filter and just use the video light.
I don't do macro video but if you do get very close you should flip out your filter and just use the video light, like in night diving.

 

[wreckdiversam]

If I went with a Sola 3800 do I need two of them or will one suffice?

 

[Hatul]

If I went with a Sola 3800 do I need two of them or will one suffice?

I don't use Sola but most people who use them use 2. But why not just try with one and if you need to you can buy another later.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

@Hatul makes a good point. I was initially going to suggest two lights, because you can get better "fill" of the space. It will avoid angled shadows.

That said, I've only use a two-light system at one time in my life. Got consistently good photos, though....

 

[Divenut1959]

Good discussions....a few weeks in Sabang I was diving a wreck at 90 feet and my setup is 2 Sola 3800 lights with the backscatter flip frame with 2 red filters...20-50 feet and 50 feet Plus. For distances of 3-4 feet running the lights at about 2/3 power was more than adequate and in some cases I would lower to minimum level if I was up closer.. I did find with the lights I have the 50 feet + filter was actually to red and when I switched to the 20-50 feet filter the reds were pronounced but not over powering. This confirms the earlier posts about the filters and lights. With out the filter some color was lost but for my preference the 20-50 filter was a good balance.