Topic: Underwater

[patois]

It was super hot around here so I decided to buy a cheap disposable underwater camera and waste some film underwater.






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[Rafael Morales]

awesome and inspiring! Thanks for sharing!

[euge...]

Ive always been pleasantly surprised by how good some underwater disposables were.I got a canon sureshot A1 because of the amount I was spending on them.

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[db]

hmm Nice work
There's something to be explored here with diptychs of above and below water linked like this. Underwater is such
an other world within our own. Yet it's dependent on the world above- environment, trees, humans, pollution etc..
Lots of interesting concepts to play with, and the visual potential is cool too.

[patois]

I'm going to have to look into the canon sureshot A1. What film do you shoot in the A1?  I like the idea of shooting underwater in places that are heavily photographed because few people bother to look below the surface. 

[calbisu]

Shooting people underwater... mmmhh, you surely are gonna be arrested. No doubt. 

[Miles]

I've just picked up an underwater A1 as I though it might help keep my youngest busy on holiday this year now that his siblings are no longer about as much. It's a lovely solid little camera.

I too was going to ask though, what would be the best 35mm for it ?

[Ed Wenn]

Not knowing very much about the vagueries of underwater shooting (although I am the veteran of a few disposable underwater 35mm cameras) I'd say you want something fast which gives you nice rich colours. Usually these are mutually exclusive, but those nice people at Fujifilm have made a great job of delivering fast, colour rich films. The Superia range is the standard, consumer range obviously and you won't be disappointed by the colour you get from the 400ASA. However, if you want to go faster the 1600ASA is also really impressive. I've used it at gigs to shoot with no flash and the colours have been really impressive.

I'm waiting for Francois to chip in with the hard science behind choosing the right film to shoot underwater with, but those two are my suggestions.

[Ed Wenn]

...erm, there's also always black and white film too obviously and in that case I'd suggest the Fujifilm Neopan ASA1600...just 'cos it's fast. I like the Ilford 3200ASA (which I understand is 'natively' 1600ASA anyway), but it usually comes out with a little less 'oomph' than the Fujifilm if you send it off to a lab.

Do Kodak still make Tri-X 400? I loved that film for it's versatility and it's forgiving nature.

[Francois]

True Ed, sensitive film is a must. (I thought it would be a must but it doesn't seem so) Thing is the amount of light changes depending on the depth. Light tends to absorb many wavelengths making everything look blueish (especially all the warm colors of the spectrum like red, orange and yellow).
To get good colors, you also have to be quite close to the subject. In the Time Life encyclopedia, they say that if you have 15 meters of visibility, your subject should be only 3 meters from you maximum (remember 5 to 1 ratio).

I don't know if it still in production but there used to be special underwater emulsions made for divers in order to counteract the effects of uneven light absorption.

But if you stay under 5 meters depth, you should be OK and not worry much about these considerations.

I did find this in the Photographer's Handbook which I think answers your questions about film sensitivity and exposure:


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[euge...]

I usually use a whichever 400  fuji or kodak  multi pack is going cheapest.No real chin stroking involved.But  Im not a diver.

[Ed Wenn]

I usually use a whichever 400  fuji or kodak  multi pack is going cheapest.No real chin stroking involved.But  Im not a diver.

You didn't expect Francois not to give us the full on technical answer though, did you?

 

Actually, I found the fact that fast mono films are kind of pointless underwater to be pretty interesting...but then I am fast becoming the photo geek I swore I'd never be!

[Francois]

Actually, I found the fact that fast mono films are kind of pointless underwater to be pretty interesting...

I was surprised too.
In another book, they say that underwater film is pretty similar to aerial photography film... which I found interesting too.
Light scatters under water in pretty much the same way as it does in the air, only over a much shorter distance.

I was also thinking that no matter what type of film you use, shooting in the Thames would probably result in overly brownish tints 
(I know doing so in the Saint-Lawrence would definitely be a big no-no)

[Skorj]

Some comment on UW stuff here: http://filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=1458.0. Have fun! Skj.