Where to buy Plastic Filters for Underwater Photography using Ambient Light

[hyperdash]

Hi all,

Hope you can help me.

I am looking for plastic filters for Underwater Photography for using ambient light.

May I know which shop in Singapore can I buy them ?

I am new to underwater photography. Please recommend some shops that I can visit to buy my gear.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you !

[lovells19]

Quote: Hi all, Hope you can help me.

Hi first of all, welcome to clubsnap

Quote: I am looking for plastic filters for Underwater Photography for using ambient light. May I know which shop in Singapore can I buy them ?

why plastic? the picture quality will be compromised i believe, we use glass filters, mainly by hoya. most of the photograhy shops carries them, i have a a25 red filter for shallow water, and fl-D for deeper waters, but the truth is i hardly use them

Quote: I am new to underwater photography. Please recommend some shops that I can visit to buy my gear. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you !

what kinda of gear you're looking at? and what set up are you using?

try Oceanic Focus

[Luv4nature]

If you are looking for colour filters to mask the strobe, go to cathay photo and ask for studio gel filters. They are reasonably cheap, comes in large piece and can be treated as disposable.

If you're looking for the filters for lenses, there used to be UR pro UW filters in the market, but they are not so common anymore as uw colour filtering is kind of replaced by digital colour management nowadays. However, plastic lens filters such as cokin or the gel filter such Lee are also available from Cathay photo. But be prepared to pay more.

[beivied]

not necessarily to use glass filters. i myself dun. depends on your needs. it doesnt compensate soo much on the picture quality that you must use glass filters instead of plastic.

[lovells19]

Originally Posted by beivied not necessarily to use glass filters. i myself dun. depends on your needs. it doesnt compensate soo much on the picture quality that you must use glass filters instead of plastic.

oh ic.. but the plastic quality must be very good lor?

ehehe glass ones are very cheap leh

[beivied]

plastic is cheaper. glass is more expensive, especially hoya's.

siaoon xian shen also say,plastic does compensate a bit on the pic quality, but not a lot, especially when you are using consumer and/or prosumer setups. unless you are using dslr, and/or very particular about the pic of the quality that you cannot or dun want to lose any bit of quality pic, then glass filters is better. if not, the difference cannot really be told, unless you stack a lot of filters.

[siaoon]

hi hyperdash... welcome u to UWCS..
do enjoy yr stay here.. hee..

hmm.. think we need to know what you want to achieve.. and wats your setup (wat camera model?? etc) 1st... b4 the experts here can give u the best advices and recommendation..

if the reason why u want to get the filters is bcoz your pics always turn out too blue.. too green.. etc.. maybe u can try white balance mode (if your camera has that function..) or try to go nearer to your subject..

hmm.. with current digital imaging tools around.. most ppl here dun use filter liao.. unless u wanna to play with SPECIAL effects.. hoho..

curious.. y u ask for PLASTIC filters in the 1st place ar?

err.. to add on the wat beivied quoted on my behalf ..
quality loss of using plastic to glass medium is acceptable to ME.. so its up to individual preference loh..

[lovells19]

glass is already very cheap leh.. means plastic even cheaper lor

[siaoon]

hmm.. depends loh.. for what i know... i dun think theres any filters made specially for UW.. (experts correct me if i'm wrong...)

as for land filters.. cokin and hoya are one of the those cheapest around...

hoya are circular thread based.. where u can stack it on yr lens.. whereas u need to get a cokin filter holder for its squarish type of plastic filters..

if comparing same kind of filter type for both brands.. yes.. cokin plastic r cheaper.. and since the medium on land is air.. quality loss shld be minimial for plastic...

but underwater... as the medium is water.. so the quality loss may be greater.. (i dunno abt the quality loss.. coz i nvr did a test on that..)
got this theory from one of the inhouse experts here..
hee.