The GreenWater Magic filter

GreenWater Magic filter is designed for DSLR users shooting available light stills or video, although can be used succesfully on compacts and video cameras. This filter requires the camera’s white balance to be set manually. This filter produces remarkable images, particularly of still life subjects such as wrecks. It is particularly suited to video use:

Video of seals in Lundy, UK. Shot by Peter Rowlands with a GreenWater Magic filter.

The principle is similar to a traditional red filter. However, the GreenWater Magic filter is not just a single colour, but a precise recipe derived from extensive real world underwater photography tests with digital cameras. Our recipe was derived by us for our own photography. It is not availble off the shelf and other filters sold for underwater photography do not use it. The GreenWater Magic filter looks orangey-red.

Filter photography in dark green waters is more of challenge than using the original Magic in brightly lit blue waters. The GreenWater Magic filter is our most technical filter and may take you a couple of dives to discover the best settings for your conditions and camera. We have tried to include as much helpful and honest information in these pages as possible so that you understand the filter before you buy it and to enable you to get the most out of it once you have.

The main advantage of using filters in green water is that they allow us to photograph large subjects, such as shipwrecks, in colour without the risk of backscatter – which can be a big problem in turbid green waters. The filter also seems to cut through the murk and the gloom often surprisingly revealing more on the viewfinder than you can see with your eyes at the time (wait until you try it). Several new SLRS offer high definition video capabilities. Magic filters allow you to switch between shooting stills and video in full colour, and are the only filters designed for underwater use that fit on the popular fisheye lenses.

The main disadvantage of filter photography in green water is the lack of light – which necessitates long exposures or high ISO settings.  This is less of a problem with the latest generation of digital cameras, which have remarkable high ISO performance. It is also less of a problem for video shooting. Even so fast moving subjects are probably best photographed with strobes or shot as video, unless you are in  bright conditions.

Video shot by Per Ervland, testing his GreenWater Magic filter on Canon G11 compact. Taken on shipwreck in Olso, Norway. Depth 16-18m (60ft) Note that this is an independant test video shot by a Magic customer. We saw it on YouTube and asked if we could link it.

The GreenWater Magic works over a wide depth range between 3 and 25m on DSLRs, although we suspect the maximum depth might be less on digital compacts cameras (we have yet to confirm this).

Below is a selection of trial images from the Greenwater Magic filter, taken by Peter Rowlands in the UK during summer 2006.

All of these images were taken with the Greenwater Magic filter WITHOUT strobes or the internal flash. You can see more in the gallery.