Color on night dives

[NAIBdiver1]

To bring out good color on night dives are 2 50watt bulbs enough? If you're having good sucess with color on night dives what lighting are you using ?

Two 50watt lights are about 45-50 minutes of battery for me, 100watt cuts that time in half.

Thanks

NAIBDiver1

 

[howard4113]

I use 2 light cannons at night (about 10 W each) with 2 diffusers each. These have great color balance and light up subjects very well up to a distance of 10 or 12 feet. The light drops off pretty dramatically from there.
I'd guess that 2x 50w would be more than enough. HID lights should provide good color balance.

Mark

 

[ChrisA]

I use 2 light cannons at night (about 10 W each) with 2 diffusers each. These have great color balance and light up subjects very well up to a distance of 10 or 12 feet. The light drops off pretty dramatically from there.
I'd guess that 2x 50w would be more than enough. HID lights should provide good color balance.

Mark

Have you tried the the two HID lights in the daytime?

My understanding is that you need more powerful lights in the day than at night because in the day you have to overpower the bright blue light that is naturally present.

Getting a light is my next step. but I want to explore some DIY options. (I'm looking a bulbs designed to get in 12V track lighting and PVC pipe)

 

[ronrosa]

To bring out good color on night dives are 2 50watt bulbs enough? If you're having good sucess with color on night dives what lighting are you using ?

Two 50watt lights are about 45-50 minutes of battery for me, 100watt cuts that time in half.

Thanks

NAIBDiver1

I use a one 50 watt halogen on night dives and think it works great. I would only use two 50 watt bulbs if I was shooting something really wide angle like a wreck. IMHO, two 100 watt bulbs on a night dive is just a waste of battery power.

Here's a clip of a squid shot on a night dive in Cozumel using one 50 watt halogen.

www.ronrosa.com/squid.wmv

 

[Mike Veitch]

I use just two little L&M lights on night dives, not sure of the power but is great for macro, which is what night dives usually consist of.
If your camera and housing are capable, leave your red filter on and manual white balance using the lights to light up your white slate, colour definitely better that way.

 

[ronrosa]

If your camera and housing are capable, leave your red filter on and manual white balance using the lights to light up your white slate, colour definitely better that way.

I've been using filter + manual white balance w/o lights on day dives and no filter + auto balance + lights on night dives.

Does the red filter + lights + manual wb work a lot better than no filter + lights + auto wb on night dives ?

 

[Mike Veitch]

I've been using filter + manual white balance w/o lights on day dives and no filter + auto balance + lights on day dives.

Does the red filter + lights + manual wb work a lot better than no filter + lights + auto wb on night dives ?

HI Ron, yea i think so. I have been doing a lot of experimenting with that lately with Mandarinfish and colours look a lot better with filter+manual white balance to me. Certainly brings out more bang if you ask me. The mandarins are very colourful and the hard coral they hang out in is very rich as well, i find doing the WB brings a warmer colour. I used to do it the same as you but after someone suggested i do it the other way i won't go back

Mike

 

[NAIBdiver1]

colours look a lot better with filter+manual white balance to me. Certainly brings out more bang if you ask me. The mandarins are very colourful and the hard coral they hang out in is very rich as well, i find doing the WB brings a warmer colour. I used to do it the same as you but after someone suggested i do it the other way i won't go back

Mike

Could you explain how and why manual white balance as opposed to auto white balance. ? I know absolutly nothing about this

By filter I assume you're meaning the red filter ? When Manual W/B what are the steps? Filter on then W/B Like I said - I'm clueless

Thanks

 

[Mike Veitch]

Could you explain how and why manual white balance as opposed to auto white balance. ? I know absolutly nothing about this

By filter I assume you're meaning the red filter ? When Manual W/B what are the steps? Filter on then W/B Like I said - I'm clueless

Thanks

This all depends on camera and housing you are using, some cameras (mostly 3ccd) do manual white balance, others do not. EG my TRV 950 does, my PC100 does not.
also some housings do not offer manual WB even for cameras that do have it.

SO, first find out if your combo can do it. What the manual white balance does (someone can give more instructions here i am sure) is resets your colours(proper spelling ) to each depth you go to. As you know from open water, you lose red at 10 ft and so forth. So, the video gets fooled at depth, cameras are made for surface not underwater, the filter helps but auto WB gets fooled pretty easily. It can't handle all that blue. Also, depending on where you are diving you need different coloured filters. www.uwpro.com (i think)or is it www.uwprofilters.com offers a blue water filter and a green water filter.
Using your red/orange filter and manual WB on a slightly offwhite white card every ten feet or so as you change depth resets the white to white. Therefore the colours pop like you were using lights, this is especially good for wide angle.
What you need to do is make sure your WB icon in camera is turned on, point the lens at the card with red/orange filter on, in the direction you are going to shoot and then press the enter button. (on Sony this is pushing the dial in)

hope this helps
Mike

Probably not the best explanation but i hope you understand what i am trying to say.

 

[NAIBdiver1]

Thank you Mike for your imformative reply ! I've learned a lot since starting to read this forum.

I read theWB section of my camera's instruction book and I do have manual WB, but where the button is to re-set the WB, my housing doesn't have a button, so I guess it's OBE (overcome by events).

I did go to the website (filters). That's also a big help. I'll be getting a green water filter as I do dive quite often in New Jersey (US). It'll be fun to play with and experiment. I have the blue water filter that came with my housing.

Thank again for you time

NAIBDiver1

Canon ZR70, Ikelite housing, 2 Ikelite ProLite lights (50watt)