Re: TG-5 lens flare or defective camera?
rprice54 wrote:
This just stinks. Any shots I have using the zoom underwater have this. The zoom is worthless. I debated between this and the new SeaLife camera with a 1" sensor but fixed focal length. I thought the zoom might help me get in closer to some of these sea creatures. I thought the zoom would be a step up from my iPhone on land.
Normally you don't want to use that much zoom underwater. Even if the water is very clear, you want to minimize the water between the camera and subject. For best results, shooting distance should be limited to the 3-5 ft range. As it is, the TG-5's 25mm focal length is barely adequate for underwater use. The fixed 31mm lens on the Sealife DC2000 is almost useless for underwater use. The bad reviews prompted Sealife to start including a free wide angle lens.
From your picture I see the TG-5 continues their strange behavior of significantly underexposing when using the wide underwater mode. Many of us start with +1/3 EV compensation for very shallow water and switch to +2/3 EV if shooting below 3 ft with normal low contrast scenes. I've recently started following the practice of some of my friends by using normal Program mode with UW white balance selected. It removes the UW scene mode tweaks that appear to do more harm than good to JPEG IQ.
I also noticed you used a custom white balance. It appears it wasn't correctly registered. I'd suggest sticking to the standard UW white balance for those shallow water shots. It uses auto white balance with a bias to warm up the colors. It works better than expected in removing the typical blue color cast. Of course, shooting RAW is a better technique.
Does the tele lens accessory have this same limitation? I can't use it for scuba but it might salvage the camera for land use but it would add bulk too
Probably not as bad. I've never heard of anyone testing that configuration. You probably could minimize the problem by kludging up a lens hood. That would somewhat negate the compact nature of camera.
would a polarized/UV filter screwed onto the dive housing help?
Adding a filter could make flare worse. Using a PL filter underwater doesn't seem practical.
i guess I now have a fixed focal length underwater only camera.
Again, you really shouldn't be using much zoom (if any) underwater. And due to so much light scattering, it's normal practice to keep the sun behind the camera. Underwater photography has its own techniques to master.