Blinded by the Light

[aquacat8]

When I started diving dive lights were weak and yellow, and the latest greatest was an HID light, so expensive few people had them. Well those are nothing compared to these cheap high intensity LED lights that we have now, and it seems like most of my buddies have lights that you could shoot an underwater film by. I hate night car driving now because of the blinding new headlights, and they recently changed out our street lights to LED to creating sharp pools of light with fractured multiple shadows, making the dark areas by contrast seem even blacker, blotting out the stars, and irradiating away the delicious feeling of an evening walk.

In sailing traditionally interior chart lights for navigators were red, which preserves night vision, though going from paper charts to digital I suppose this has changed? And diving I found that my weak little flashlight can do the same if it’s twilight, not cave dark. Furthermore, I feel bad for the aquatic life, as diver after diver shines blinding light into their eyes, and I make a point of shining my light on the body but not the eyes of creatures I am looking at.

So I’m wondering what do you think, can there be too much light, do you prefer a super bright light or do you have an old weak light that you actually still like to use?

 

[gcarter]

My last purchase was a 1K lumen light, single power. Great for cutting through silt / bad vis on day dives, definitely bright for night dives or darker environments.

My most recent purchase is 1K on high but it also has a medium and a low mode. I will like this one on lower powers much better on night dives, but still love the 1K punch in bad vis.

 

[GJC]

When I did my first night dive, I remember my dive instructor saying "You can never have too much light, get the brightest light you can get." And that is still true if you want to see as much as you can, as far away as possible. It helps keep you oriented and makes you feel more comfortable in the dark.

However, I now know that bright lights really disturbs the sea life a lot. I have a very small red light and a separate UV light that I like using and I am considering buying a light that allows you to vary the intensity and switch from white to red. I will still carry my really bright light for those times when things get confusing, scary or dangerous. But I think I will be using it a lot less in the future.

 

[aquacat8]

I didn’t know they had lights with multiple settings, that sounds like a great idea for my next light, what kind did you buy?

 

[aquacat8]

When I did my first night dive, I remember my dive instructor saying "You can never have too much light, get the brightest light you can get." And that is still true if you want to see as much as you can, as far away as possible. It helps keep you oriented and makes you feel more comfortable in the dark.

However, I now know that bright lights really disturbs the sea life a lot. I have a very small red light and a separate UV light that I like using and I am considering buying a light that allows you to vary the intensity and switch from white to red. I will still carry my really bright light for those times when things get confusing, scary or dangerous. But I think I will be using it a lot less in the future.

Wow what do things look like under the UV light? I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about lights!

 

[GJC]

Dull drab coral and fish have pigments that reflect only under UV. Colors pop that you would never see with normal lighting. It' pretty amazing.

 

[gcarter]

I didn’t know they had lights with multiple settings, that sounds like a great idea for my next light, what kind did you buy?

I bought this

Piranha Dive Black Star 1000 Lumen Dive Light with Battery & Charging Kit , Piranha Dive Shop |

which is really an OrcaTorch D500+, and is was branded as such. Not sure why they list it as Blackstar.

 

[aquacat8]

Looks good!

 

[aquacat8]

Dull drab coral and fish have pigments that reflect only under UV. Colors pop that you would never see with normal lighting. It' pretty amazing.

OK now I definitely want one!

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Yes....you can have too much light. Especially with night time lake diving around here. Lots of silt, etc. in the water and rather than being able to see much distance, all the silt particles reflect light back at you making visibility even worse on higher brightness settings.

I have an iTorch Venom38 that has 4 brightness modes of white light, 2 red modes, and a UV mode that does wonders on coral, anemones, etc. It's what I use for video.

Here's a video someone did showing the modes. Can't really see anything cool with the UV mode in this vid, though.


Not my video and a higher model light, but you get the idea