Choosing a video light for underwater video

[Interceptor121]

You are right, that's my concern too. I will have a trip to Cocos soon and I really hesitate to bring my pair of Keldan 4V. I also have a pair of Sola 1200 and they should do the job for night dive shooting. While 2x 4000 lumens are not very effective for daylight shooting, they are also very likely to scare away the hammerheads? Any opinon?
Is it a good idea to use very long arms, pointing slight downward from the top just to light up the lower part of the image and anything that are within 1 metre from my camera? So I won't scare away sharks which are still far away.

I think sharks don't come towards a video light period. Even if it was 1000 lumens to them it looks glowing and they can't see so won't trust it to get anywhere near in my opinion
Shooting sharks has to be done with ambient light. If are deep there isn't much so what you can do is to remove the filter and then change the footage to black and white
I have to say thought that the rx100 mark 2 rarely gets to ISO 800 even at 30 meters
If you set ISO max to 800 the camera will lower the shutter speed to 1/50 or 1/60 and that will give you another full f/stop
What I do is to put the camera in P and half press to see what ISO it's choosing when I force shutter speed to 1/50. If it maxes out and is under expose take filter away and set colour temperature to 9900 m7

---------- Post added January 9th, 2014 at 07:43 AM ----------

So if I am reading this properly, and since I am using an Intova Sport Pro with a 110 degree FOV, I should be able to get good use from these? Welcome To Bigblue Dive Lights Thanks again for the rule of thumb and the thread...best advice I have seen.

I am not sure if the 140 fov mentioned is on land or in water if you can check that you can make the best decision
Think that if you get good lights they will probably survive a camera upgrade

 

[TheTrickster]

my pair of Keldan 4V.

Hi kkfok, can you comment on the quality of these lights?

 

[kkfok]

I think sharks don't come towards a video light period. Even if it was 1000 lumens to them it looks glowing and they can't see so won't trust it to get anywhere near in my opinion
Shooting sharks has to be done with ambient light. If are deep there isn't much so what you can do is to remove the filter and then change the footage to black and white
I have to say thought that the rx100 mark 2 rarely gets to ISO 800 even at 30 meters
If you set ISO max to 800 the camera will lower the shutter speed to 1/50 or 1/60 and that will give you another full f/stop
What I do is to put the camera in P and half press to see what ISO it's choosing when I force shutter speed to 1/50. If it maxes out and is under expose take filter away and set colour temperature to 9900 m7

Thanks. I think the same but as I have seen some videos with sharks under video light(like this one), I was thinking if I should try to use my Keldan Luna 4V which have been bought for a while, but almost never used.
https://vimeo.com/72874916
I think I will leave them at home this time.

I have used my pair of Keldan Luna 4V for 2 dives only in Socorro but they were almost useless as I found that even 2x 4000 lumens are not very effectively in daylight shooting + clear water. Maybe I am spoiled by Sola 1200, Luna 4V is just 670gram with battery but I still found it to be a bit heavy.

 

[Interceptor121]

Thanks. I think the same but as I have seen some videos with sharks under video light(like this one), I was thinking if I should try to use my Keldan Luna 4V which have been bought for a while, but almost never used.
https://vimeo.com/72874916
I think I will leave them at home this time.

I have used my pair of Keldan Luna 4V for 2 dives only in Socorro but they were almost useless as I found that even 2x 4000 lumens are not very effectively in daylight shooting + clear water. Maybe I am spoiled by Sola 1200, Luna 4V is just 670gram with battery but I still found it to be a bit heavy.

Why would you use lights in daylight with clear water? Were you at depth??

 

[kkfok]

Why would you use lights in daylight with clear water? Were you at depth??

Take this one as an example
Socorro Islands Diving Trip February 2013 - YouTube
I was thinking if I can bring some more colors to cases like the dolphins at 3:57 or the manta ray at 3:29, they were not at depth, I think not more than 25m.

 

[Interceptor121]

Take this one as an example
Socorro Islands Diving Trip February 2013 - YouTube
I was thinking if I can bring some more colors to cases like the dolphins at 3:57 or the manta ray at 3:29, they were not at depth, I think not more than 25m.

That looks good enough to me but I understand what you are saying, I don't believe two large lights are going to get the animals close though it may be worth testing

What was the water temperature in Socorro in Feb?

 

[TheTrickster]

I was expecting some colour on those dolphins for 2x 4000lm to be honest!

Something new on the market soon...

15,000LM (switchable 5, 10 or 15)
90' or 60' Beam (swappable lens)
80+ CRI
6000k

Not going to be cheap mind.

 

[Interceptor121]

I was expecting some colour on those dolphins for 2x 4000lm to be honest!

Something new on the market soon...

15,000LM (switchable 5, 10 or 15)
90' or 60' Beam (swappable lens)
80+ CRI
6000k

Not going to be cheap mind.

I don't think those shots are with the lights or are they??

 

[ronscuba]

Maybe it is just me, but I did not detect any lighting on the daytime sharks, manta, dolphins in either of those videos.

I have mixed feelings when I see daytime wide/medium angle shots with lights on moving subjects. The coloring changes when the subject moves into the range of the lights. Not sure I like it when some parts of the frame are colorful and lit, while other parts are not. Especially with a moving subject. Somehow the scene feels less natural to me.

There is also the question if a subject will let you get close with bright shining lights, the drag the lights/arms create in the currents these big subjects tend to swim in and the visibility required when using lights.

 

[kkfok]

I don't think those shots are with the lights or are they??

No light in all my shots, just took that as an example on where I would like to use my light on.