Cheap video lights for cave

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Actually 100 degrees beam angle in the wurkkos is pretty good, in particular if you are using several lights. But, yes it is good to have multiple with buddies (Just the guy holding one of the lights)

Understanding Underwater Video Lights

Quoting the above:
"

Beam Angle​

Beam angle can make a big difference when it comes to the quality of your light. A beam angle measures the angle of coverage of the beam from your light. A wider beam angle means the light covers more area. Lights with a wider beam angle tend to have softer light than lights with shallower beam angles. Most lights will range between 90 and 120 degrees.



What Beam Angle Do I Need for Underwater Video?​

90 Degrees -​

A 90 degree beam angle is good for macro video. Lights with 90 degree beams tend to be on the harsher side which makes them great for creating contrast. Generally, you will want two lights if you are shooting very wide angle video.



100 degrees -​

These are great mid-range lights. You might be able to get away with shooting wide angle with a 100 degree light, but you'll want to spend some time positioning the light if you have just one to make sure you don't have too much of a shadow.



110 - 120 degrees -​

These lights are great for wide angle video. With a 120 degree video light you may be able to capture wide angle video with just one light. "

Say Hi to Carlos formerly of Xenote Experience (PDC) if you see him in those spanish caves.
 
What you mentioned about building home-made lights sounds interesting for me.... could you please suggest any Internet link ? I guess the trickiest side is the enclosure
Start with these:








Since you don't really care about the packaging, you have to build it inside an enclosure. I would buy an old underwater video camera housing and build the light inside of that. It actually sounds pretty easy, and so much cheaper than buying a professional light.




 
Start with these:








Since you don't really care about the packaging, you have to build it inside an enclosure. I would buy an old underwater video camera housing and build the light inside of that. It actually sounds pretty easy, and so much cheaper than buying a professional light.




Thanks!! Very interesting. This open a new tinkering path in my life (another hehehe)
 
I've ended up buying 3 units:

- A pair of these: Profession elle LED-Taucht aschen lampe 18000lm Cob taktische Taschenlampe ipx8 wasserdichte Blendung Videokamera Licht weiß blau rot Füll licht - AliExpress 39

- An unit of Wurkkos DL06

I have no yet put them into the water, but the Wurkkos seems to very much powerful. I think it would be better light, but there is some kind of hot spot which probably will be easily managed by using some kind of diffuser.... now I'm "investigating" which one could be OK to bring into a cave without hassles and not getting fried.
 
I have no yet put them into the water, but the Wurkkos seems to very much powerful. I think it would be better light, but there is some kind of hot spot which probably will be easily managed by using some kind of diffuser.... now I'm "investigating" which one could be OK to bring into a cave without hassles and not getting fried.

Alibaba lights are the worst on rated brightness, they don't care about their reputation as they can just started a new brand if word gets out how bad they are. Based on runtime (which is harder to lie about so that is often correct) and battery size, it probably a third of the claimed brightness if you are comparing it to established Chinese made brands like BB and Orca. And like 3,000 to 4,000 lumens when compared to Western brands.
 
I use 5000 lumens from Orcatorch and they work very well.
 
Alibaba lights are the worst on rated brightness, they don't care about their reputation as they can just started a new brand if word gets out how bad they are. Based on runtime (which is harder to lie about so that is often correct) and battery size, it probably a third of the claimed brightness if you are comparing it to established Chinese made brands like BB and Orca. And like 3,000 to 4,000 lumens when compared to Western brands.
I agree with you. My expectations on these lights were not pretty high, I've just bought them because some friends of mine already have, so I already know their limitations.

From the Wurkkos you get far more brightness and mush better quality for few more €€€.

I don't have a proper way to measure the brightness but I'm sure these light could compared with 3000-4000 lumens from Wersterns brands, but lasts ones are far more expensive and, for an amateur usage....

I don't make money shooting cave videos nor it's my passion doing it, so don't see my self expending 1000€ in a video light.
 
There are some apps that you can use with your phone camera that will measure lumens. Of course, you'd have to set the lights some known distance from your phone camera with that kind of brightness, but can be compensated with some simple math.
 

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