Everybody knows that as you descend into the water, colors disappear one-by-one until everything in your field of vision has a blue tint. Underwater shooters know that by placing a red filter over the lens of their camera, however, they can add the reds back into their images. So why don't divers place a red filter over their eyes and add the reds back in, too? That's the questions SeaVision asked themselves, and as a result, they've developed a line of color-correcting masks for divers. I've seen these before, and I've always wondered if they worked.
According to Divernet, these rose-colored lenses DO make the undersea environment appear to be more robustly-colored -- sort of. If you're diving in bright light conditions, this mask provides better vision in sunny conditions and "works well at putting the color back into what you see." If, however, you're diving in low-light conditions, the specially-tinted plastic lenses may actually impair your ability to see. SeaVision masks are available for around $100, or about twice that price, if you want prescription lenses inserted.
1. Not sure who made them, but one of the dive shops we were were in recently (Bird's Underwater in Crystal River, FL) had a different set of filters - instead of cutting out the blues (and lowering the light you receive) they reflected back green. Same effect (more red) but without losing as much of the light. Reportedly they worked better in low-light conditions. (We got Seavisions just before this trip - they are pretty good, although they do make it darker. And you can get your existing glass replaced in many cases, if you have a mask you love.)
Posted at 11:06AM on Dec 4th 2006 by Disconnect