Northwest Dive Club

So I am probably getting the Snake River gizmo for my GoPro, and it takes 55mm filters. Are there any generic colored filters that adequately approximate the effect of the expensive URPro filters? or Magic Filters I am not even sure I will want to use a filter, since it reduces light, and so I don't want do to an $80 experiment with an authentic URPro.

I thought someone must have figured out an equivalent from a cheap colored filter catalog by now, but I can't find anything. Thanks if you have any tips.

Found some info on filter substitutions but I would still love to hear from anyone with first-hand experience.

UR Pro CY: Similar to Singh-Ray FL-B
UR Pro GR: Similar to Hoya FL-D

Source: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?sh ... st&p=12448

Anyway a Hoya FL-D is a lot cheaper than the URPro GR so when I get my Snake River rig for the GoPro, I will check it out.

I used a filter on my CSI for awhile. I got it from B&H photo. Its a pain to flood the space between the lens and filter, and eliminate bubbles. So, honestly I wouldn't bother, beyond about 20ft the difference is neglible as there isn't any substantive ambient left to make colors pop anyway. A better bet is to figure out a way to get a diffuser on your HID.

In my particular case the gap between filter and lens stays dry... The setup comes with a clear 55mm filter as the outer element, but any filter will work.

Good point about ambient light though--another reason to find a filter cheap.

i use a Tiffen FL-D for my HD rig and they work really really nice ....

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=tiffen ... 86.c0.m282

I haven't gotten a chance to try mine yet, but I just got the Pursuit Diving case (glass flat lens) and red filter for my GoPro. If the red filter doesn't blow up my skirt, I think I'll try the Magic green-water filter next. I'll let you know as soon as I get to test my red filter.

I debated getting a filter for my GoPro, but as CaptnJack said, light is a limited commodity at depth around here. This is especially true with GoPros and other compact sports cameras. They take great video in the daylight, but things deteriorate rapidly as the light goes away. Having some kind of video light will massively improve the quality of your footage. Especially if you can use it at an offset angle to minimize the backscatter. Once you have a filter on there, then anything you light up well is going to have a color cast. You have options for adjusting color balance in post production, but there is no way to add in more light :P. I've been using a video reflector on a 21 watt canister light with great results. Even in clear water like Bonaire, having the light to bring the color out at depth improved my footage more than any filter could have. Anyway, feel free to test and report back, good luck .

I typically use one in warm water (the blue water version) and it's a bit annoying that the filters effect changes with depth. Really shallow you don't want/need one, then there is a maybe an optimal depth around 25-50 fsw and past that there just isn't that much color besides green and/or blue. However, in the optimal range, if there's enough ambient light it does make the pics look better and saves time with post processing. As to the price, I needed mine in a hurry and paid too much ;-)

I have the gropro and have dove it here and in the Med. I got a blue filter for it for Italy but never installed it. A buddy who is in the business of digital photos and such suggested post production work instead fo a filter.

Sometimes we get such great color here I'd hate to have that filtered and would rather learn to color change it post production when it needs it. That being said I havn't set myslef up to do it yet!