srs red filter saturation troubles with hero 3

[caribean-ted]

Hi gang,
Just got back from Cozumel where the sea life and colors were awesome, used a red filter srs tiffen with my hero 3 for the first time. What a huge disappointment.

My video without a red filter was far superior last year using same camera. Not sure what went wrong but all my video is dark and over saturated by red.

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem, im going to roatan for the scubaboard invasion in april and I need to correct this. Even using the lights it was all the same and no difference.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Do you have a link to the red filter you were using? Aside from a camera malfunction the only think I could thing of was using the wrong type of filter. If this is what you used Amazon.com: Tiffen 52mm 25 Filter (Red): Camera & Photo then it's probably too dark and/or the wrong shade of red. Caribbean blue water red filters are typically not plain red. They have an orange like hue to them and are relatively light in transparency.

 

[caribean-ted]

Do you have a link to the red filter you were using? Aside from a camera malfunction the only think I could thing of was using the wrong type of filter. If this is what you used Amazon.com: Tiffen 52mm 25 Filter (Red): Camera & Photo then it's probably too dark and/or the wrong shade of red. Caribbean blue water red filters are typically not plain red. They have an orange like hue to them and are relatively light in transparency.

Yep, thats the filter I used alright. So your saying its the wrong one? I bought it from henrys camera shop, said it was good.
Any suggestions? Maybe settings or another filter?

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Use a filter designed for UW like any made by SRP, Polar Pro or Backscatter.

As far as your video is concerned, you can try to fix it in an editor. Try using GoPro Studio 2.0, its free. Maybe adjusting the contrast/brightness. As for color, maybe color adjustments (turn down the red levels I figure) or WB picker.

Good luck

 

[johnny sea ranger]

Hello Ted,
Aside from filters (which I don't use) I think (not certain yet) the best video setting to capture colour uw in low light is 1080/24 W no protune. You will still need to edit to enhance the reds, but you will be starting with the best the camera can deliver.
Johnny

 

[caribean-ted]

I definately need a red filter for saving the light batteries and bringing out the reds.
So far the srp is the best one, however I would like a flip filter, flip 3.1 by blurfix looks easy to break, and polarpro not much better, video comparisons seem to show srp was best in color correction. Images were much more colorful and sharper. Unfortunately I wanted a macro lens that I can change underwater, I dont trust taking a lens off and trying to screw one on without dropping it. Especially in 40 degree water with 7mil gloves on.
I cant build my own and it seems the products that have this feature dont have lense quality.
When jumping into water from a dive boat, theres a lot of force on the camera or from a backroll.
It needs to be durable.

 

[Fundive123]

I have used the polarpro red filter for about 8 dives with my gopro3 and haven't had any troubles with it yet... I can take it on/off with my 7mm gloves on underwater... however, it can get air bubbles beneath the filter when descending, so I usually take it off and put it right back on once I get to my max depth; and its fragile and will break if you drop it from height when on land. I would second the idea of using The Goprostudio 2 to fix your footage you took in Cozumel, its free and you can mess around with the contrast, saturation, exposure, temp and tint until it looks right.

 

[SeahorseDeb]

Everyone who has posted so far has hit on several crucial factors! Let's go back to basics, remember our color spectrum that they teach in our basic class..Roy G. Biv, that's the color loss we experience based on our depth: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. If we use a red filter in tropical water, the
true red color reaches deeper (cloud cover will affect it) there than in say green waters. If I used a red filter snorkeling, my red color is blown out. If I go deeper than 40 feet, the color looks more realistic. Pro tune also, as pointed out will over enhance your color saturation. I've a very good friend whom I'm not related to, and you've all seen his images in the top 3 scuba magazines..and Alert Diver too, tell me "turn Pro Tune off." He cited the color correction isn't necessary when using a filter and also that it writes more data to the disk which hogs unnecessary space. I did see that Backscatter had a shallow blue water filter, and I'll buy that one next trip for my surface interval snorkeling. I hate my snorkeling video without the red filter. I also like the Polar Pro too for my green water dives, however on the surface those reds really pop up. I used Polar Pro blue water in Hawaii...and wow...at 85-110 feet I was seeing my colors pop. I was skeptical of any color correction achievable at that depth, but it was very blue-saturated without the filter. As for macro, my friend learned at DEMA that Backscatter came out with a 55 mm macro lens. I may have seen a YouTube vid, but I know I saw one on their site. I do order the reviews and vids of users, they are my "real life." I'm always experimenting and learning, that's the other reason for following the GoPro forum...I'm always a student! (I'm an average diver, not an employee of any scuba or camera shop, just a diver who wants to help) Hope this helps!

 

[JennPenn]

Hi Caribean-Ted!
It's JennPenn from Backscatter... just wanted to let you know that we just came out with a true macro lens for GoPro called the MACROMATE MINI. It's used with our rugged FLIP3.1 system. Check out my post:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/go...i-gopro-true-macro-lens-underwater-gopro.html

Cheers!

 

[caribean-ted]

Sorry Jenn,
Decided to go with another srs setup. its in the mail as I ordered it right from polarpro with the right filter.
also ordered the macro lense. Hope it works out this time.

So from what im hearing, protune off. its set for 1080 60p I believe. red filter is good up to 70ft, if no sunlight then should use lights and still the red filter is best used within 14ft I think they said. Anything more will be blue anyways.
Any other suggestions. Im still wondering about the best method of getting close up shots when im diving if I see something for macro. I will already have the red lens on, switching I think will be difficult always worried about dropping or drifting while struggling to change the lense underwater. That's when you look up and everyones gone LOL Needs to be quick and effortless. Hope the people from srs are working on this now.