Will this work WB?

[Crewboat]

Due to a small budget for a video system I would like to post this question. Sony HC3 in a "Top Dawg" housing, it has no white balance option. If you turn the camera on and off at depth pointed at a white slate will this reset the cameras white balance? And one other question with this housing has anyone used a wide angle lens on the camera, and if so how were the results? Thanks

 

[limeyx]

Due to a small budget for a video system I would like to post this question. Sony HC3 in a "Top Dawg" housing, it has no white balance option. If you turn the camera on and off at depth pointed at a white slate will this reset the cameras white balance? And one other question with this housing has anyone used a wide angle lens on the camera, and if so how were the results? Thanks

I have heard rumors that the Sony's do WB on startup but I have not yet tried it.
Would be interested to see how it goes.

 

[JamesD]

Couldn't you test on land by just turning camera off, then on while pointing at a piece of red card?

Should white balance to "red = white" and then all other colors will be off.

I guess it depends exactly what that WB on power on really does, and what variations it will accept as thinking of as white (for underwater type looking, try a light blue piece of card, or a light green piece of card).

 

[limeyx]

Couldn't you test on land by just turning camera off, then on while pointing at a piece of red card?

Should white balance to "red = white" and then all other colors will be off.

I guess it depends exactly what that WB on power on really does, and what variations it will accept as thinking of as white (for underwater type looking, try a light blue piece of card, or a light green piece of card).

yes, quite probably. However, I have a nice new FX1 HD camera right now that has explicit WB on the housing (although it's a two person operation)

I might just try with the older camera though and see what happens.

 

[diversteve]

I've done it twice with my HC1. With mixed results. Once in really bright blue Bahamas water, pointing at a white sand patch while powering up seemed to make everything look more color correct, but at the expense of what I can only call intensity in the color, everything seems slightly more subdued than footage shot 2 hrs. earlier at the same site.

The second time was just a couple weeks ago in green water off an island in Mexico. There was so much particulate matter in the water that I'm not really sure that it did anything to help. Upon reviewing the footage, it's all more green than I perceived it to be while diving.

It's something I intend to experiment with after the 1st of the year. Maybe in Cayman where it's typically bright and sunny at depth. And the sand is very white. I've never tried using a slate to do this either. Maybe I'll try an Amphibico slate, I have their EVO housing.