White balance

[nshon]

Okay, my Ikelite casing for the Sony HC40 has arrived. Problem now is I cannot set WB underwater since the the function is hidden in the touch screen menu. :11:

Will red filter and auto WB do? I have a grand total of two manual WB settings available

• Outdoor &
• Indoor
• Auto
• Spot

I think I bought the wrong camera.

 

[Otter]

I have a PC110 with a Mako housing and don't have access to the WB. I use the filter and generally I am pleased with it (you can check out my videos). There are a few cases where not being able to control my aperture has actually caused me to lose more footage than poor white balance.

 

[nshon]

Thanks for the reply. I dived (dove?) with the setup yesterday for the first time and results were not satisfactory with auto WB and a red filter. Nothing but blue and green, this is without any lights of course.

I'm pretty sure your videos (Cozumel shark particularly) were shot without any lighs? It seems the PC110 is much better at correcting the colour shift than the HC40.

 

[JRO]

Is the water you're diving in blue or green?

 

[nshon]

Is the water you're diving in blue or green?

More green than blue. I can't figure out the reason behind the question though, hence the result I guess. :10:

 

[ronrosa]

More green than blue. I can't figure out the reason behind the question though, hence the result I guess. :10:

There are blue water filters and green water filters. You probably have a blue water filter.

 

[ChrisA]

Thanks for the reply. I dived (dove?) with the setup yesterday for the first time and results were not satisfactory with auto WB and a red filter. Nothing but blue and green, this is without any lights of course.

I'm pretty sure your videos (Cozumel shark particularly) were shot without any lighs? It seems the PC110 is much better at correcting the colour shift than the HC40.

Two comments:

(1) The shot of the shark looks like it was taken in relative shallow water that is also very clear.
Perhaps the HC30 is being used at greater depth with less then tropical-bright sunlight at the surface or less then clear water? Differing conditions could make more difference than different cameras

(2) Have you tried correcting the color in post production? If there was any red light at all you may be able to bring up the reds using the computer

 

[JRO]

There are blue water filters and green water filters. You probably have a blue water filter.

Exactly, the red filters are generally for blue water (I noticed in the first post in this thread that you were using a red filter) and a different type of filter (orange I think) for greener water. Maybe just a simple filter change will fix your problem.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

[diversteve]

Quoting from the top post:

I think I bought the wrong camera.

Or maybe the wrong housing? I think an electronic housing could control the white balance through the LANC port. I'm not sure if this is the case with your specific camera model though. Might be worth checking into

To further elaborate on what JRO (correctly) posted. UR/Pro - who makes u/w filters used by a lot of the housing manufacturers - sells two different types: Their CY filter for tropical blue/green water and their GR filter for green algae/saltwater. A really good explanation is on their website here:

http://www.urprofilters.com/content.do?region=FilterInstructions

They also have a pretty good reference guide to what filter to buy for the various camcorders/housings they support.

 

[nshon]

Quoting from the top post:Or maybe the wrong housing? I think an electronic housing could control the white balance through the LANC port. I'm not sure if this is the case with your specific camera model though. Might be worth checking into

To further elaborate on what JRO (correctly) posted. UR/Pro - who makes u/w filters used by a lot of the housing manufacturers - sells two different types: Their CY filter for tropical blue/green water and their GR filter for green algae/saltwater. A really good explanation is on their website here:

http://www.urprofilters.com/content.do?region=FilterInstructions

They also have a pretty good reference guide to what filter to buy for the various camcorders/housings they support.

The camera has a LANC port but cost was a major consideration and I chose the Ikelite instead. Well if I'd known... I might be able to work around it somehow though, I'll post back any results.

Thanks for the link, I've send an email to them to enquire about a filter.