Advice on Sola lights

[gasgirl]

I borrowed a Sola 600 Divelight for a night dive last week which, of course, I loved and, as predicted, it is likely leading to an expensive purchase now.
As already stated, the Sola is compact, ergonomic, and great for use in recreational diving.
I would ideally like to be able to use it for both photo and video as well as a dive light.

The Video 1200 ($699) gives the option of flood and spot beam settings so it can be used as a primary dive light.
Supposably, you can buy a red filter (but it is not sold on the Light & Motion website so does anyone know where can you buy this filter?)

The flood beam on the Photo 800 ($499) and 500 ($299) are not great to use as a dive light so we could get a DRIS 1000 lumen light for ($89) that has very positive reviews to use as a primary.
Pros: Burn time of 300 min for the DRIS 1000 vs 70 min for the Sola 1200 – and now you are diving with a primary (DRIS) and a back-up (Sola).
Cons: Heavier/bulkier aluminum of the DRIS that needs 3 C batteries.

Questions:

I am not sure how much difference in brightness between the 500/800/1200 actually translates into and what is the optimal for video/photo. (ie. Do you need a minimum of Sola 1200 for video?)
Also, do we need to get two Solas in order to minimize backscatter and to get more even lighting? If so, does two Sola 800 equal one Sola 1200?

Thanks in advance for any "light" you can shed to aid in my decision making!!

 

[drbill]

I have a pair of Sola 1200s. Absolutely love them when they work, but I've had problems with both of them (they're at L&M as I type this for repairs). However, I bought mine a while ago so the new ones have improved "innards" which should eliminate the problems I've had and L&M's customer support is excellent.

 

[Imla]

Why are you not considering the Sola Dive 1200. This one has the opportunity to change between spot and flood.
I have both this one, and the Sola Dive 800. Love em both! Small, good light, and great for photo.

 

[gasgirl]

DrBill:

Which version of the Sola's do you have and what do you use them for - photo or video?

We have an Inon 2000 strobe for our camera so how does that work with using the Solas?

I noticed the Video does not come in 500 or 800 - is that because they won't be bright enough for video?

Do you need a pair?

---------- Post Merged at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:09 PM ----------

Imla:

Yes, the Sola Dive and Video are essentially the same except for the mount instead of a hand strap.

Is the Dive 800 bright enough? I noticed they don't make a Video 800?

Do you use both your Dive 1200 and 800 on the same rig for either video or camera? If so, does this produce any hotspots?

 

[Imla]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150898840911467.399751.546211466&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150657216761467.381927.546211466&type=3

I have a Nikon P7000 in a FantaSea housing. I have the Dive 800 on a small arm on a tray with the cam, and the Dive1200 on a bungeemount on my right arm. Depending on the photo, I tend to move the 1200 around, or just use it as flood, and use the 800 as spot...
I like to play with light, and do not do video. For Macro, I am very satisfied. I dive in Norway, where we have cold, dark waters, and very poor viz in the summer. The links are to a couple of albums with pictures taken with a combination of either 800 or 1200, or both
Oh.. And I just started doing wideangle.. so those photos are quit mediocre.

 

[master_diver_UJ]

I'm debating the Sola Dive 1200 for my primary dive light. Spec's look great.

drbill - on one of your previous posts regarding your Sola lights, you mentioned that you dive regularly but have experienced difficulty at times trying to charge these units after they've sat for a while. As a Great Lakes diver, my equipment sits for months at a time during our winter. Sola recommends charging the batteries every 4-8 weeks when not in use. Any thoughts on battery life overall ? Also, I've been looking for Sola's warranty online and haven't been able to find it ?

Let me know.

Thanks !

John

 

[diversteve]

For video you probably want around 1000 lumens minimum. But it depends, I've seen very good video shot with an Ikelite video light (350 lumens) But it was close-up work.

Two lights is obviously better for more even dispersion and less shadow.

IIRC there used to be a Sola 500 Video light - probably just superceded by the 1200 for not much more $$. I think they were around $500 new.

does anyone know where can you buy this filter?

Try Backscatter - Backscatter : Underwater Video Housing, Underwater Photography, Waterproof Camera or Reef - Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

Did you register here? http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lights/announcements.html

 

[gasgirl]

Try Backscatter - Backscatter : Underwater Video Housing, Underwater Photography, Waterproof Camera or Reef - Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

Did you register here? Announcements - Lights

Thanks for the suggestions. We live in Canada and we have had enough bad experiences with orders being delayed by Customs that it is just easier for us to stick to ordering within Canada.

And yes! I registered but being a good diver, I am not holding my breath ; )

 

[master_diver_UJ]

Did you register here? Announcements - Lights

Thanks for the tip on this contest, diversteve. I threw my name in the pot as well !

 

[drbill]

Just got my Sola 1200s back from L&M after they replaced the innards. They both worked fine on a 75 min night dive two nights ago. Last night one of the lights went out at about 65 min into a 75 min dive. The other worked fine throughout the dive and was still in the green indicating plenty of battery life left. The Solas were both on low power throughout the dive which should have yielded about four hours of use. I can't believe I'm having this much trouble with one of their lights. L&M customer support has always been great though, but sending the light back in a third time is just not right.

As for charging the Sola 1200s. I am doing 30-50 dives a month these days so they get charged almost every night. The only times they haven't been used at least weekly was when I wsa in Florida for three months and then later for another month.

As I've written, when these lights work they are fantastic for my video (mostly within 10 ft and usually within three). Very even lighting, no hot spots. I had to pull out my old NiteRider HIDs while the Solas were in the shop this last time and the difference was significant... the NiteRiders have poor dispersion and a bad hot spot.