# GoPro Red Filter



## beprowlin (Aug 10, 2009)

I actually just picked up a new dive housing from gopro.com for my Hero2. I also have been trying to decide if i want to pick up a red filter or not. Anybody use one on your GoPro? If so what brand and how well does it work? I have watched the videos on you tube but I am wondering how it performs in deeper water (90' -120') compared to the recommended depth (from Polar pro 10'-65').


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## DVR6 (Jan 28, 2009)

I have been told that below 70 it cuts too much light and the videos suffer. I have used mine for a few videos in 40 feet and it did ok but I find myself leaving it off. I'm using a gopro 3 black though and shoot in raw so I have no white balance issues to contend with. Below 70 requires a light IMO if you want to bring back colors and even then you have a very limited range.


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## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

Agreed with the above. The gopro 2 suffers from poor low-light sensitivity. I wouldn't use a red filter any deeper than 40-50 feet in a bright tropical area.


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## jer4011 (Oct 6, 2007)

aquatic argobull said:


> Agreed with the above. The gopro 2 suffers from poor low-light sensitivity. I wouldn't use a red filter any deeper than 40-50 feet in a bright tropical area.


 
Is the Go Pro 3 any better with light sensitivity? Would the red filter be more beneficial on the 3?


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## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

I can say, having owned both, that the gopro 3 BLACK is better with light sensitivity. The silver is the same as the gopro 2. Having said that, I'm not sure I'd use the red filter unless I was in shallow tropical waters.


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

I have also used red filters on other video cameras, some with much better light handling than the GoPros. To me the red filters seem to provide a marginal improvement when filming in our area. I usually leave it off.


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## beprowlin (Aug 10, 2009)

DVR6 said:


> I have been told that below 70 it cuts too much light and the videos suffer. I have used mine for a few videos in 40 feet and it did ok but I find myself leaving it off. I'm using a gopro 3 black though and shoot in raw so I have no white balance issues to contend with. Below 70 requires a light IMO if you want to bring back colors and even then you have a very limited range.


Ok...That makes sense...I'm probably just going to pick one up just to try it out at more shallow depths.


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## beprowlin (Aug 10, 2009)

I have just started editing my dive videos with some success but haven't messed with any filters or fancy stuff in the editing process.

Does anybody use this when making videos? How do they generally come out?


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

The red filters are an outdated technology. Anything you would want a filter to do....can be done in editing now.
They also starve the camera for light....which causes the camera to increase the gain level...causing grainy, horrible video.....which cannot be fixed in editing.
I'd suggest getting a better editing program which will let you do what you can to fix the color.
The bad news is that the codec that the gopro uses to compress the video throws away a lot of information that would otherwise be able to be manipulated in editing.
The only true fix is to add lights .....or get a bigger camera-with lights.


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

beprowlin said:


> I have just started editing my dive videos with some success but haven't messed with any filters or fancy stuff in the editing process.
> 
> Does anybody use this when making videos? How do they generally come out?


Here is a frame from one of my videos before editing, and after.
I am using a LOT of light....but you cant tell that it helps until after the color correction.


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## almo100 (Mar 1, 2013)

The red filter is used to counteract the blue/green in the water which colors everything that hue as light passes through it. Although a red filter will correct this, it will also reduce the amount of light that passes through the lens making it use more gain when you shoot in low light situations.

You can make this color correction in post but it is limited as the codec used is compressed and if you push it too far you will get artifacts in the video. Most of the time you won't have to push it far but if you have a lot of grain from gain it will be more pronounced.

You can use the ProTune update to the Hero 2 to get a bit more dynamic range but it will only help a little with low light situations and you'll need more editing in post as it will give you a less contrasty image to give you that extra dynamic range.

I would also use CineForm Studio, a free program from GoPro, to convert the clips to a more edit friendly format.

All in all as it has been stated, when you go too deep and there is less light, the solution is to use lighting or use a more expensive DSLR which will be much better in low light than any GoPro. The only thing is that the enclosures for the DSLR's are pricey. You can rent them a lot cheaper but they have to be shipped in, so planning is crucial.

Let me know if you have any question on this or on editing. It's what I do for a living.


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

almo100 said:


> The red filter is used to counteract the blue/green in the water which colors everything that hue as light passes through it. Although a red filter will correct this....


Just want to point out that this is two separate issues:
Red light is absorbed by the water - mostly in the first 30 feet....leaving NO red light available at deeper depths......causing a shift to blue.
The green cast IS caused by a top layer of green water - which acts like a giant green filter.....absorbing red and blue....leaving only green

A red filter will filter the unwanted colors - but it is not dynamic ...and will indiscriminately filter the same levels without considering the need to do so.....leaving you with a pink to red tint in some of the shots. 
The worst part about the red filter is that it can only BOOST existing red levels - since it is filtering everything else out. This means that if there is no red available ( deep ) .....it will just filter out the remaining light....leaving you with nothing.

A cool side note - is that deep water creatures sometimes use red colorings to become invisible....since there is no red light available to reveal them.


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## beprowlin (Aug 10, 2009)

almo100 said:


> The red filter is used to counteract the blue/green in the water which colors everything that hue as light passes through it. Although a red filter will correct this, it will also reduce the amount of light that passes through the lens making it use more gain when you shoot in low light situations.
> 
> You can make this color correction in post but it is limited as the codec used is compressed and if you push it too far you will get artifacts in the video. Most of the time you won't have to push it far but if you have a lot of grain from gain it will be more pronounced.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info... I will look into the Cine Format Studio.


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