divinh
Contributor
My first foray into underwater photography was with a GoPro Hero 2, which was terrible for taking photos (shutter lag), but okay for videos, especially after I got a red filter (though it was more orange).
My second foray was with a Sony NEX-5 and a Polaroid housing (which is more or less, a Meikon housing). The pictures were sharp, but everything was tinted very blue. I didn't have an equivalent red filter and didn't know how to white balance.
My current foray is with a Canon G12 and a Canon housing. What's nice about it is the ability to zoom, built-in underwater white balance mode (which isn't perfect, but makes post correction pretty easy), and the ability to switch between macro with flash and wide without flash. The disappointment is with low-light for deeper dives and resolution.
What I'd like to do is go back to the Sony NEX-5 for another go for low-light and resolution...
1. Dive red filters for the housing are fairly cheap now, $15-20 USD. Is it worth getting and leaving installed all the time? On the Canon G12, I switch on built-in underwater white balance and get pretty good colors on wide shots. On macro, I will turn off the built-in underwater white balance and rely on the flash, but even when I forget to turn off the built-in underwater white balance, the colors are just more vivid...
2. Is the manual white balance on the Sony NEX-5 good enough where I don't need a red filter? I saw a video showing someone use brown coral as a white balance reference and it looked pretty good. (For some reason, the typical white slate doesn't work as well.) The reason I ask to see if a red filter is optional is because in macro mode, it would be nice to not have the red filter, as I will be using flash.
3. For the Sony NEX-5, the flash on/off is usually toggled by flipping up/down the flash module. Is there a way to do it via menus, i.e. flip it up but have it not flash? The reason for this is for wide shots, where a flash usually will light up particulates in the water and cause dots in the photos.
4. I currently use the 18-55mm lens. I also have the 24mm/f1.8. 19mm/f2.8 and 30mm/2.8, which all seem to be roughly the same size. Anyone have experience with these?
Thanks!
My second foray was with a Sony NEX-5 and a Polaroid housing (which is more or less, a Meikon housing). The pictures were sharp, but everything was tinted very blue. I didn't have an equivalent red filter and didn't know how to white balance.
My current foray is with a Canon G12 and a Canon housing. What's nice about it is the ability to zoom, built-in underwater white balance mode (which isn't perfect, but makes post correction pretty easy), and the ability to switch between macro with flash and wide without flash. The disappointment is with low-light for deeper dives and resolution.
What I'd like to do is go back to the Sony NEX-5 for another go for low-light and resolution...
1. Dive red filters for the housing are fairly cheap now, $15-20 USD. Is it worth getting and leaving installed all the time? On the Canon G12, I switch on built-in underwater white balance and get pretty good colors on wide shots. On macro, I will turn off the built-in underwater white balance and rely on the flash, but even when I forget to turn off the built-in underwater white balance, the colors are just more vivid...
2. Is the manual white balance on the Sony NEX-5 good enough where I don't need a red filter? I saw a video showing someone use brown coral as a white balance reference and it looked pretty good. (For some reason, the typical white slate doesn't work as well.) The reason I ask to see if a red filter is optional is because in macro mode, it would be nice to not have the red filter, as I will be using flash.
3. For the Sony NEX-5, the flash on/off is usually toggled by flipping up/down the flash module. Is there a way to do it via menus, i.e. flip it up but have it not flash? The reason for this is for wide shots, where a flash usually will light up particulates in the water and cause dots in the photos.
4. I currently use the 18-55mm lens. I also have the 24mm/f1.8. 19mm/f2.8 and 30mm/2.8, which all seem to be roughly the same size. Anyone have experience with these?
Thanks!