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Dive4Photos: Thailands Official Dealer

Magic Filters were designed by Dr. Alex Mustard & Peter Rowlands, specifically for digital cameras and have revolutionised how available light photos are taken underwater. Simply, Magic Filters allow you to produce colourful photos or videos without having to use strobes, flash or lights.

The original Magic is designed for digital SLR cameras, shooting available light stills or video, although can be used successfully on compacts and video cameras. This filter is designed to work with the adjustable manual white balance of the camera, and give high image quality while working over a wide depth range and without causing too much loss of light.

The Auto-Magic filter is designed to produce colourful underwater photos with digital compact cameras without the need for flash. They work equally well for shooting still images or video. The principle of this filter is similar to a standard red filter. However, a Magic Filter is a more complex recipe, not just a single colour. The unique formula was refined simply by Alex & Peter testing different filter recipes by taking real underwater photos with digital cameras underwater. The Magic Filter recipes are not available off the shelf and other filters sold for underwater photography do not use it. The original Magic filter looks orangey and the Auto-Magic filter looks orangey-red, but there is much more to it than the colour.

Do I Really Need A Filter?
The main advantages of using a filter, as opposed to white balance alone, are more subtle variations of foreground colour, and probably most noticeable, you get these colours with a richer blue background. Many photos taken with manual white balance are characterised with a completely washed out background water colour. Filters produce a much richer blue. A strong blue background is an important aesthetic element in an underwater photograph.

Filters do much of the work of correcting the colour balance, so the camera's electronics don't have to push and pull the colours so much. This means that small differences in colours are recorded in the foreground. Also filters attenuate (block) blue light. This makes the background water appear much a darker and richer blue than in non-filtered shots. At deeper depths, a photo taken with manual white balance and no-filter will often have grey water.

Filters are also a benefit if you do not want the hassle of using manual white balance at all. The Auto Magic filter has been designed to be point and shoot simple. In shallow water there is no need to use manual white balance at all. Just fit the filter and take colourful shots with full automation. The Auto-Magic can also be used with manual white balance for fractionally more accurate colour reproduction, especially when diving deeper.

The final problem with making large manual white balance adjustments is that they introduce electronic noise and reduce the dynamic range shown in the shot (with highlights more liable to blow out). Using a filter is better because it does most of the work and the electronic processing in the camera does less, so you get less noise. (Note: DSLR cameras control noise much more than digital compacts)

Alex Mustard took the two images below on the same dive with a Canon S90 compact camera with AUTO white balance. The image on the left is taken without a filter; the image on the right was taken with the addition of an external mounting Auto Magic filter. There were no other changes:

The photo with the filter has much more neutral and correct colours on the reef. The blue water is also slightly richer.

Strobe or Filter?
The choice between using strobes or filters depend on the subject matter, the type of shot you want and the conditions. Filters excel at shooting large scenes that are too big to light with strobe. Reef scenery, schooling fish, large pelagic creatures and wrecks are classic filters subjects.

Recommended depth range
The Auto-Magic works best between 3-12m (9-40ft) on Auto-WB (depending on your camera) and can be extended down to 18m (60ft) with the use of manual white balance (if your camera has this feature).

The original Magic Filter is designed to produce great results over as wide a depth range as possible. It will produce vibrantly coloured images from the surface down to 15m (50ft), and then subtler, more muted tones there after, which are still an improvement on reality. That said the filter is designed to work best for available light shooting, in clear blue water, on bright sunny days between 3 and 13m, but users keep sending in great images taken down to 20m or more (the propeller in the video, below, is at 20m).

Dive4Photos currently stock both the Auto-Magic & Original Magic as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ 50x50mm sheet. You then cut this filter so it fits your camera’s lens. We also have a small stock in 85x85mm sheet to accommodate lenses with a larger diameter, like the Nikon 10-24mm & Canon 16-35mm, as well as some pre-cut to fit the Nikon 10.5mm & Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lenses.

Depending on your camera you may be able to get up to 4-filters out of the 50x50mm sheet. Auto-Magic comes complete with detailed fitting instructions and the Magic Filters website has a Fitting Filters page with both photos and video.

Dive4Photos accept credit/debit cards from MasterCard & VISA for the purchase of camera equipment and dive gear.

Dive4Photos accept credit/debit cards from MasterCard & VISA for the purchase of camera and dive equipment.

Dive4Photos accept credit/debit cards from MasterCard & VISA for the purchase of camera equipment and dive gear.

Dive4Photos accept credit/debit cards from MasterCard & VISA for the purchase of camera and dive equipment.

To purchase any of the above items, please email Dive4Photos

To purchase any of the above items, please email Dive4Photos

To purchase any of the above items, please email Dive4Photos

Dive4Photos, 9/16 Moo 2, Koh Tao, Surat Thani 84360, Thailand
TAT License No. 43/00981
Tel: +66 (0)908 718734
Email: info@dive4photos.com