F30 samples

[David P]

OK, having been sporadically praising the F30 and wittering on about the benefits of manual white balance, I've done what I've meant to do for quite a while, and sorted out some examples.

Picasa Web Albums - David P - UW-UKTests includes a number of not very scientific demonstrations of auto and manual white balance in 10-15m depths in Dorset; "as shot" and with quick'n'dirty corrections both with my favourite (the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Picasa, which does a great job very simply) and using the underwater action in Photoshop. I tried bu generally failed to get back-to-back comparisons under the same conditions. All are un-cropped. The "more info" button will show a bit more about ISO settings etc.

Picasa Web Albums - David P - UW-F30-UKBest includes my favourites from 2007 - including some in just a couple of feet of water! Corrections are simply using Picasa (I'm feeling lazy) - for illustrative purposes rather than 'cos that's the best I could do.

Picasa Web Albums - David P - Barbados Unde... includes a selection from Barbados last autumn. There's a direct back-to-back correction included. Most are again in 10-15m.

Hope these may demonstrate why I and others think the little Fuji is a bit of a cracker!

[LaBimb]

The pics are very good
How are you adjusting the white balance ?
Are you taking a picture of a white slate to set it
I saw someone on holiday doing this and his pictures had the same kind of colour as yours .

Cheers Graham

[David P]

Yeah, take down something white - I've used a small slate, and indeed a piece of pizza base, in my time; point camera at white thing, set white balance. Different cameras have different ways of doing it. Would be a right pain with my Canon 30D I guess - the Fuji is quite simple. I've also resorted to the "point camera at the sun and set the white balance" trick that kinda works, too.

As I said, this collection isn't very scientific... though certainly, manual white balance is the biggest single step I've found to getting decent results. In shallow water particularly, you frequently have to re-check the setting - going up or down a couple of metres can make a big difference, as one or two of the samples (far too red!) seek to show.

But regardless, if it's roughly right, it's much easier to correct later, than on full auto. The F30 seems to have an awesome range of white balance corrections - it'll happily set a true white balance at 15m in the UK. Beyond that, you start adding filters and hoping.

[Rocko Diver]

Yes, great pictures. I have not used Picasso before so I downloaded it and gave it a try, I am impressed. I have tried standard photo packages in the past but with not the same results.

I have an F31, only used it on full auto mode at the moment but will try the manual white balance.

Photoshop seems to be expensive for the odd photograph. I would be interested in seeing what the software could do with a couple of my photo's though. Would you be willing to adjust a couple of samples of mine so I can see the results.

[David P]

Yeah, happily - though I don't claim to be any kind of expert at processing stuff! I think my email is accessible but I'll pm you the address anyway.

Although I keep saying it, Photoshop Elements at about £50 (if you shop around) is all 95% of people (even the serious ones) will ever need... You don't need the full version (I have it, as part of a bundle, but still use Elements most of the time 'cos I'm lazy - or busy).

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by Rocko Diver

Photoshop seems to be expensive for the odd photograph. I would be interested in seeing what the software could do with a couple of my photo's though. Would you be willing to adjust a couple of samples of mine so I can see the results.

Try Photoshop Elements, much cheaper and it is highly unlikely that you'll ever want more than that. If you do, the transition to Photoshop proper is seamless, just lots more gizmos but no complete new learning curve. That last is the important bit.