Green Magic

[TimIngmire]

A while ago I mentioned that I would love to see a green water version of the Magic Filters that have proven a bit of a hit for blue water. Well, Peter Rowlands was kind enough to send me a beta version of such a filter to have a play with. Now I was planning to try this out at the Farnes next month but managed to get a couple of dives at Stoney Cove so loaded the filter onto my 10.5mm Fisheye lens to see what it could do.

Note that all the photos below are direct from the camera and resized slightly for uploading. None of them have been edited in any other way - no colour correction etc - just the jpgs from the RAW + jpg setting. Also, for a Friday, the viz was really not very good and there was little direct sunlight which would have been a real help at times.


On the Nautilus at about 4m









The Viscount at about 7m







The Stanegarth at 20m



Snells Window from 3m



Ladder to the Bus stop at 7m



Above the APC at about 3.5m


As it's a filter it works by subtracting light so, in order to get fast enough shutter speed, I upped the ISO to 640 and still had to bring the Aperture to the lowest possible setting - I was running in A mode with a mix of spot and full metering. I didn't manually WB at any point - just used the Auto setting.

Obviously the filter works well in the shallows but struggled at deeper depths. It was a shame the weather was so overcast when I hit the tug as I can imagine that much better results are possible when the sun is shining.

Any comments?

[Mike W]

Colours look good to me - obviously more green as you go deeper, but the weather wouldn't have helped, especially deeper.

When you get around to the RAW files - has the filter given you a better result at depth?

[Honza]

Looks nice

[TimIngmire]

I've put some converted RAW files into my gallery space for comparison they can be found at: http://www.digigreen.net/gallery/thu...s.php?album=25

TBH, in the shallows, I don't think there is much between them - it's just a matter of personal taste.

Having said that, I think it's easier to get a better result having the filter in place than without it.

Tim

[PeterRowlands]

Hi Tim
The shots look good apart from the deeper and shallower ones. This is because the Greenwater Magic filter is designed to work with the Manual White Balance facility of your camera. This will produce much better colours from about 5-25 metres because the cameras electronics will also be contributing colour to the picture.
I shot some comparisons yesterday to show the difference between Manual and Auto White Balance settings
but I haven't been able to figure out how to add images to this text.
If anyone can advise me how to do this I'll add the pictures
Best wishes
Peter Rowlands

[PeterRowlands]

Lets see if this works

10 metres Auto White Balance


10 metres Manual White Balance


19 metres Manual White Balance


All pics are at F2.8 and 800asa so there is some colour noise and the shutter speed was under 1/30th

I'm going to post more pics in a gallery on a website in a few days time and will let you know the link when they are posted

Best wishes
Peter Rowlands

[TimIngmire]

Thanks for that Peter, the colours on your photos look really good, I'm impressed with the 19m metre shots. TBH I was quite pleased with the results without having to Manually WB. I'll have to learn how to do it on my camera tho so that I can give it a go on the next dive.

I think the biggest thing to get used to is the need to shoot downwards. By shooting upwards there is strong chance of having the top part of the frame blown out. That of course is counter to what we are used to doing and so it does feel a little strange.

I have to admit that it was fun not having to mess with strobe settings and positions and all that jazz, very liberating.

[desert diver]

Sweet shots!I'm going to have to get one of those too.When do they come out,Peter?Also could someone explain how to add pics to the post?I am able to use the gallery,but can't figure how to add to the post.Any help out there?

[TimIngmire]

The following describes how to add the images to your post

www.digigreen.net/forum/index.php?topic=508.msg2863#msg2863

Let me know if you still have problems.

[PeterRowlands]

Desert Diver - I think the GreenWater Magic filter should be available by the beginning of October

Tim - I'm glad you appreciated the strobeless set up. It leaves you much free-er to concentrate on composition and lighting.

I too find posting pics time consuming. If there was a quicker way it would be nice!

Best wishes

Peter