Underwater white balance - got an idea

[CanadaDan]

Another for the white fins... I use them all the time. Easy part is you don't have to have a slate in one hand and the camera in the other.My full camera rig is a little cumbersome one handed.

I use the Mares X-Stream's fwiw.

 

[scubadada]

Not everyone wants fins that come in white

 

[UFOrb]

How about a pair of these (or just one, if you like the Michael Jackson look)?
Showa 370 Assembly Grip Gloves - SafetyGloves.co.uk

They add a little thermal protection and can protect your hands on descent/ascent lines and if you need to hold on to a rock or something...
I have some I use for gardening etc but haven't used them on a dive...yet.

 

[UFOrb]

...you can possibly get white / grey neoprene gloves too, although I haven't specifically looked.

 

[Interceptor121]

This is really entertaining.
It is called white balance but is performed on a neutral grey card besides white is reflective so it should not be used for white balance in any environment!
Understanding White Balance

 

[tursiops]

white is reflective so it should not be used for white balance in any environment

arguable....white is not necessarily reflective.
Gray scuba tanks work pretty well, too!

 

[al248005]

Great, so those of you who carry a slate, where you store it between uses - in a BCD pocket? Do you find the slate and its storage / use cumbersome in any way?

I have a small slate I clip off to my tray

 

[tridacna]

OK, so I may be way off with this, please bear with me for a second. I like UW photography, and I prefer using natural light (just a personal preference - I'm a bit more of a landscape person (or sea floor scape in this case). I use Sony RX100, it's small yet functional enough for me under water. I'm however struggling with setting white balance - automatic WB is painfully bad and is a mess to try and fix in post-processing (shooting RAW of course). The only thing that worked for me was presetting WB off some target underwater. I have to do it every 5-10 ft of depth to keep it accurate but it beats having nearly unfixable blue/green tint.

My problem is that it's hard to find a more or less accurate target for WB preset when under water. When I can, I use my buddy's grey tank, but it's often a bit too far to be convenient - ideally it needs to be 1-2 ft away to be a reliable target. Sand patches don't really work either, they are off yellow or some other crazy tints. I even contemplated carrying 18% grey plastic cards but it becomes unmanageable since you now have to hold two things when presetting WB, and keep doing it every 10 minutes as your depth or lighting conditions change.

I think I came up with an idea to fix this problem. Before I continue though, is it just me living under a rock and the rest of the world solved this somehow? Is it even a problem worth solving for you all? Or do you just bring lights and preset your cameras at 5000 K or whatever your strobes / floodlights give you? Interested to hear any comments.

OK Arty. It’s two days later. What’s the big idea you have?

 

[Interceptor121]

arguable....white is not necessarily reflective.
Gray scuba tanks work pretty well, too!

i will do a last attempt with an example
When you white balance in post on an editor that has IRE level you can white balance on white if there is a highlight it will refuse
When you white balance in capture for the same reason you need a non reflective surface while indoor it is generally not a problem to white balance on a piece of matt paper if you try on a tank that is aluminum or on a white fin the risk of capturing a specular highlight increases and typically the camera takes it unless is too bright or even too dark for that matter
So the only way to ensure the white balance is accurate is to use a non reflective spectrally correct card
A hand or sand have a higher chance of giving a correct white balance of an actual white object because they almost never reflect
A tank will reflect and a white fin filling the frame will saturate the exposure and will give an inaccurate reading
We have done several tests along years and underwater the highest rate of success are
1. A balanced grey card
2. Sand
3. Palm of your hand

tanks and white card are better used in post i.e. once you have already taken the shot and are suitable for raw not for videos where you need it accurately before you shoot

I have tried my best now onto ebay to buy some white fins lol

 

[tursiops]

i will do a last attempt with an example
When you white balance in post on an editor that has IRE level you can white balance on white if there is a highlight it will refuse
When you white balance in capture for the same reason you need a non reflective surface while indoor it is generally not a problem to white balance on a piece of matt paper if you try on a tank that is aluminum or on a white fin the risk of capturing a specular highlight increases and typically the camera takes it unless is too bright or even too dark for that matter
So the only way to ensure the white balance is accurate is to use a non reflective spectrally correct card
A hand or sand have a higher chance of giving a correct white balance of an actual white object because they almost never reflect
A tank will reflect and a white fin filling the frame will saturate the exposure and will give an inaccurate reading
We have done several tests along years and underwater the highest rate of success are
1. A balanced grey card
2. Sand
3. Palm of your hand

tanks and white card are better used in post i.e. once you have already taken the shot and are suitable for raw not for videos where you need it accurately before you shoot

I have tried my best now onto ebay to buy some white fins lol

One advantage of a 18% grey card is it can fill the frame and not mess up the exposure, since the exposure is "calibrated" for a scene that is, on average, 18% grey.