Adding 2x Sola 1200 to GoPro; useful or waste of money?

[JasperLuijkx]

Thanks for responding guys!
In the meantime I bought the 2x sola 1200 lumens, thinking that it would be better than having no lights at all.
Like Tursiops said; I can always sell them for about the same price if I won't notice a lot of difference when filming with lights on.

In two weeks I will be diving at the "grevelingenmeer" in the Netherlands, so might be a nice first timer with these lights

Jasper

 

[HKGuns]

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Now I’m thinking of shooting video with 2 of 5000 lumens. Also I get tired of carrying bulky strobe light with fiber optic connection for taking still picture of little stuff like 1mm Pontohi Pygmy seahorse, as sometimes I mess up the flash setting and get too bright or too dim or no flash, due to mostly operator error (me). With the 10,000 lumen video lights on I’ll have 99% of getting a good picture of that tiny seahorse.
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Are you shooting your stills in RAW or JPG? I've not done any underwater photography yet, but shoot in RAW on land so I can fix stupid stuff like flash blowouts and white balance in post. If you're not shooting raw it would be something to consider.

Interested in your setup there if you could share your rig details.

 

[Dan]

Are you shooting your stills in RAW or JPG? I've not done any underwater photography yet, but shoot in RAW on land so I can fix stupid stuff like flash blowouts and white balance in post. If you're not shooting raw it would be something to consider.

Interested in your setup there if you could share your rig details.

In JPG. I'm not into photography. I just use Picasa to fix the white balance issue. I may try RAW someday. Thanks for the tips.

That 10 years old camera is Sea & Sea 12MP DX2G. It's good enough for me and small enough for travel.

 

[HKGuns]

Thanks very much for your response, that setup looks very nice. I guess I'm more into photography than diving at this point since I am not yet certified......But I am close.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Thanks very much for your response, that setup looks very nice. I guess I'm more into photography than diving at this point since I am not yet certified......But I am close.

Take it slow. Underwater photography is a significant task load for many people, and more so when one is a newer diver managing buoyancy, weighting, and air consumption. I highly recommend that you dial in those 3 things before you go down the path of underwater photography or carrying a camera. You will see yourself improve drastically if you are focused on just those 3 things vs trying to do all those things and manage a camera. Have fun and good luck with your certification!

 

[HKGuns]

Take it slow. Underwater photography is a significant task load for many people, and more so when one is a newer diver managing buoyancy, weighting, and air consumption. I highly recommend that you dial in those 3 things before you go down the path of underwater photography or carrying a camera. You will see yourself improve drastically if you are focused on just those 3 things vs trying to do all those things and manage a camera. Have fun and good luck with your certification!

Great advice and yes, that is definitely my plan. I need to get very comfortable with just the diving part before I branch out into other stuff. I'm having a blast learning this stuff and thanks very much for the well wishes Ms. Office.

 

[Navymarkv]

It will work but just get close to your subjects. Like less than 3’ close!

 

[JasperLuijkx]

This is my new gopro set-up after adding the two sola 1200's

 

[JasperLuijkx]

Hi all!

I used the lights yesterday for diving in the Netherlands, I'm really glad that I bought the lights!


Only thing is that one of the two lights had a empty battery halfway the dive. They where both fully loaded. Maybe I forgot to lock the lights during transport, so they may have been turned on while in my backpack.
Let me know what you think of the video!

Jasper

 

[large_diver]

Nice work. I like the shot of the fins and sunlight at the end. In the beginning there were a few shots where the light angles need adjusting (shadow in the middle of the frame due to beams not overlapping)....but shorter distance shots later in the video you had fixed this.

I have been using dual SOLA lights with multiple GoPros for the past 3 years (2100) - really like them. Not sure what to say about battery life....I can normallly get 2 dives in cold water on one charge with the lights on low brightness and turned on for most of each dive.

This is from a few weeks ago here in Boston, USA. GoPro Hero 6 with Backscatter macromate macro lens and my dual Sola lights. Water temps were about 46F / 8C at 60 feet/20 meters depth that day. You can get really nice results with a GoPro and good lights, especially at macro distances. Visibility that day was about 15 feet / 5 meters