Blue filters on Inon Z330's - an experiment

[Interceptor121]

I have written an article on the subject on wetpixel mostly was related to video and keldan filter
Review: Keldan Spectrum and Ambient Filters by Massimo Franzese ::
but I also take stills with the same set up example below

Looking at me by Interceptor121, on Flickr

Looking at your shots you can see that your strobes are excessively cold that is because bluewater is not actually blue. The filters you are designing are too dark and probably take 3 stops of light

Water color is aqua and depending on where you go has tinge of green. Typically you are looking at taking 1 1/2 to max 2 stops of light away that is still manageable. At the extremes when you are too shallow or you go past a certain depth the white balance does not really work so you need to take filters off from everywhere

I cover between 6 to 12 meters outside I do not use this technique

 

[Laurie S.]

I found them at Backscatter but they are $189 apiece. Thought I would take a look at Reef Photo where I usually buy my stuff and they had another type that is blue and straps on the strobe for easy on and off. They are $65 apiece, so I went with those. Headed to the Red Sea, Philippines, and Indonesia in August and I'll try them out there and report.

 

[Interceptor121]

I found them at Backscatter but they are $189 apiece. Thought I would take a look at Reef Photo where I usually buy my stuff and they had another type that is blue and straps on the strobe for easy on and off. They are $65 apiece, so I went with those. Headed to the Red Sea, Philippines, and Indonesia in August and I'll try them out there and report.

Use flat strobes not the inon z330 and buy sheets of gel filters of the colours you like. Costs $5 for a large sheet that is enough for few years this is what I do and the reason I do not use strobes with dome shape

 

[Laurie S.]

I have some red gels that I want to try. I was thinking of placing a gel filter inside the domed diffuser on the Z330. I love that strobe!

 

[Interceptor121]

I have some red gels that I want to try. I was thinking of placing a gel filter inside the domed diffuser on the Z330. I love that strobe!

Why would you use a red gel? Inon strobes are already warm 4600K is the lowest you want to go or your camera autowhite balance will start going berzerk

 

[Laurie S.]

Sorry, not for the uv light, but in open ocean with only ambient light. I don't want to pay $90 for a Magic Filter, so I'm trying to make my own.

 

[Interceptor121]

Sorry, not for the uv light, but in open ocean with only ambient light. I don't want to pay $90 for a Magic Filter, so I'm trying to make my own.

I think you are confused the magic filter is for the lens not for the strobes and if you use a red filter on the lens (the magic filter is not red by the way) you then shoot without strobes or you need ambient filter on the strobes that from what I can see it is a misunderstood subject (ambient filters are not blue as blue water is not actually blue)

If you don't understand how it works your experiments are going to produce weird results you better stick to standard paths

 

[aviator8]

Use flat strobes not the inon z330 and buy sheets of gel filters of the colours you like. Costs $5 for a large sheet that is enough for few years this is what I do and the reason I do not use strobes with dome shape

I think this thread has confused two subjects. The op was doing an experiment like @Interceptor121 wrote up in the link above. Where the light strobe or video light is filtered to a blue/aqua output then red , really orangish, filters are used on the lens. Laurie S then posted about night fluorescing images. The two use two totally different filtering techniques. Interceptor is referring to lighting gels. I have tried them on the lens as a cheap diy and they are not optical grade and you loose some sharpness. These two subjects should really be split to two posts so as not to mix the techniques.

 

[Laurie S.]

I know the Magic Filter is for the lens. I've been trying to see the its color and it looks orangish to me. Just playing around with it for now. I mainly do macrophotography but am interested in doing more wide angle. It's been awhile.

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Looks great! I'm trying to figure out a way to put yellow filters on my strobes for when I'm doing flurophotography.

I always understood the yellow barrier filters to be for your lense and mask not the strobes. for stobes you would use excitation filters or video lights using the UV spectrum.

Hi, that's next on my list. I have some excitation filters and gels, just need to print out the holders for them. Going to be tricky on a Z330, but we'll see how it goes.

Tony