Solution to taking good cell phone pics

[lnevo]

Hey all,

 

There's a thread over in MR that has helped me to solve the issues with bad cell phone pictures and being unable to capture what my tank looks like when everything is glowing and looking sweet!

 

Seems an article on the topic has just been posted on reefs.com so I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention. For me this is a game changer. I added these to my webcam also, its awesome!

 

Here is the link:

http://www.reefs.com/blog/2013/12/18/blue/

 

Here's my before and after shots:

 

Here's my webcam view:

 

Hope this helps everyone to get some great shots.

Edited December 18, 2013 by lnevo

[smallreef]

Read it on R2R yesterday...thinking about getting some and trying it out....

[YHSublime]

Wow, makes a heck of a difference, reading now!

[wade]

This is very common for underwater cameras that don't have flash systems.

[matt]

Pretty neat...looks quite easy for we simpletons who have a hard time. I'd spend a few bucks on this if there was a deal at the next WAMAS meeting like we had for bayer dip recently. I might even sit down and cut squares for people at the meeting if someone more camera-literate had ordered the right stuff.

[AlanM]

Maybe the boys at Avast should include one of these gel films into their smartphone lookdown box kits and portholes as a $10 optional addon.

[AlanM]

Also, MikeC on the MR forums has a couple of beautiful tanks.

[wade]

There are many different colors to choose from. Sheets of the filter are around $6.50 each.

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=underwater+red+filter+paper+rosco&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

 

The main issue is having some form of plastic ring or other contraption to hold the paper still and flat.  You don't want it wrinkling in any way.

 

Also, some of these papers reduce light incoming by 1-3 stops (eg, 2-9 times less light entering the lens) so they may cause a little more blurring of moving subjects.

[wade]

Maybe the boys at Avast should include one of these gel films into their smartphone lookdown box kits and portholes as a $10 optional addon.

 

+1

[lnevo]

I cut strips and put them inside my iPhone case to hold in place. On my webcam, i have a fish eye lens that I added that holds on with a magnetic ring thats glued on to the webcam. I put the film between the magnets and it holds in place perfectly. Would be great with a porthole.

[JR-Tanked150]

We would be interested in getting some, a bit overwhelmed the different colors, plus how big would you really need. 20 by 24 seems big to me. Also wondering on how they would have to be stored.

[smallreef]

i may just buy a few different sheets of red and see...

there seems to be about 6 different colors...so not a bad $40 dollar investment...especially if i can figure out how to use my husbands dslr,lol would be a bit better than my phone, but even my pnone takes better pictures than my old camera....

 

and if these can be cut into 4 or possibly 6 seperate squares i think it will be easy to store them flat..

[lnevo]

The ones we are using are orange not red. They are thin and currently being stored in an envelope. Not sure how the full size or packs come as I purchased from MikeC on MR

[cbashaw]

After seeing this thread I bought this

http://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Lux-Small-Swatchbook/dp/B0002ER2YG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389146217&sr=8-1&keywords=rosco+swatch+book

 

It has tons of different variations of orange. I still need to figure out which of over 50 orange swatches will be best but here's a sample of a pic with my iPad

 

 

 

These photos are untouched.

 

Without a filter

 

 

With a filter

 

[JR-Tanked150]

How thin are they? Do they seem durable?

[cbashaw]

They are very thin. I would say they are a little thicker than the cellopane on a pack of cigarettes but not by much.

Once I figure out which one works best for me I will try to figure out a holder to protect it.

[wade]

But! Then we won't get all the supercolors that people are used to seeing on ebay! How dare you?!?

 

Please do let us know which you find works best.  Each person's light will be a slightly different colors, so a different color may work better, but for a 10k or a 12k lit tank the differences wouldn't be too great.

[lnevo]

The ones that I have are like the transparent films you use in an overhead projector. Depends what you are doing with it, but I'd consider them somewhat durable, but still need to handle properly.

[cbashaw]

I'm thinking about buying one of those I-phone clip on lenses, it looks like it would be easy to cut a small piece of the gel and fit it between the clip and the macro ring. that should help protect it, and it beats having to hold the gel manually.

[lnevo]

I cut a few of the gels and taped them inside an iphone case. I can fold them in different configurations so I can use different combos of one or more gels. The case keeps them put. It's not my usual case either so I just swap it into that one when I want to use them

[JR-Tanked150]

I cut a few of the gels and taped them inside an iphone case. I can fold them in different configurations so I can use different combos of one or more gels. The case keeps them put. It's not my usual case either so I just swap it into that one when I want to use them

 

Clever idea.

Edited January 8, 2014 by JR-Tanked150