Dive video light lumens

[toozler]

At Ginnie, a shallow water filter should work just fine, the water is very clear. There is a slight tint of green because of grass and the tress. But if you are free diving down the Ear, Eye or Little Devil, you might need a light - but there's not a lot to see anyway other than looking up and seeing the trees.

These are some screen captures from Alexander Springs last year - no filter, no light, no post editing (all shot on a HERO2 with the Dive Housing)

At 5ft deep swimming towards the spring:



Shot from the surface, freediving down to 30ft:


Shot at about 20 ft deep (not as blueish as previous shots!)



I think those diffusers that "3D diver" has been tinkering with would work to spread well the light on that situation (illuminating a closer object without a hot spot or "burning" it) - see his topic. If you use a red filter with a light, you might get a red cast - unless your light is very well diffused and dim, and the filter is not very "aggressive" in removing blues/greens, meaning that it's not very reddish/purpleish and tending towards a clear filter.

 

[fishstix]

So, to sum up the great advice: Wide beams with good diffusion are key. Two lights are better than one with the wide angle hero setting. And underwater video is a choice between lights or filters, but rarely or never both.

RockyHeap- you make a good point about the added cost of batteries and chargers. Though I'm wondering whether that Sola Dive beam comparison really reflects actual data. I'd like it better if it showed actual photographs instead of a graphic that could very easily be exagerated to make their product look better than the competition. It also doesn't have a comparison with the light I'm considering- a Bonica G8V15. That one has 1500 lumens, 60 degree beam angle. Powered by 8 AA batteries- hmm- maybe that could be a hassle. No mention of how diffuse the light edges are either.

---------- Post Merged at 07:49 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:56 PM ----------

Toozler, do you think Ginnie Springs is not worth the trip? Are there nearby springs that would be more worthwhile? I'm interested in Ginnie for the Cavern Diving and clear fresh water experience but I don't want to be bored after one afternoon of diving.

---------- Post Merged at 07:55 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:56 PM ----------

Thanks Toozler. These shots are very good to assess the conditions. For me it's kind of a toss up between Ginnie Springs in march or Thailand in February.

 

[diversteve]

do a search here for posts by PaFirefighter. Not too long ago he posted some video taken with his GoPro using a 45^o? beam angle light. You can see the light fall-off due to the GoPro's exceptional FOV. It might give you some idea of what to expect. Basically there's a bright spot in the center surrounded by darkness - it's why you want two overlapping lights if you can afford it.

Or search my name, I linked to them in a post once.

 

[toozler]

fishstix, I did not scuba at the springs, but yes, it's worth the trip, Ginnie Springs is amazing if you can do the caves (it's a huge cave system over there!), but if not, it's a ton of fun to camp there, tube down the river and freedive on the springs. It's a private property, so during holidays it's very busy with college kids as alcohol is allowed. Other than Ginnie, I have only visited Alexander. There is a bunch of them in a 1 hour driving range, it can make for a great weekend - I lived in South Florida so it was a 3-4h drive for me. Might be worth flying to West Palm, going on a ocean dive there, drive up to north/central Florida and back. Depends on how much time you have.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

JamesK just finished shop some video in the caves with the GoPro and dual sola 1200's. you might want to hit him up for additional advice. Now, I am currently using one LED that is rated to about a 21 watt HID and a 21 watt HID for my video with an Intova Sport Pro. I have both lights diffused with plastic covers. I made my own light tray. You can save a very lot of money by not buying the light arms but getting the kit from Loc-line. Same stuff but over a hundred dollars cheaper. I have added two capped off tubes of PVC so it not as negitive. I posted a video but it was in a quarry. OBTW, Ginnie is great and you can dive the Grand Ballroom with just an OW cert. Even as a fully caver I had a blaast in there for over a hour. If you go there get some light sticks and cut them open in the flow...instant Galaxy dive you will not forget (turn off your lights for the full effect). I hope that this helps.

 

[mkhilario]

Underwater Kinetics Aqualite
600 lumens
90 degrees coverage
comes with 2 li-ion batts and external charger
less than $250-

New Dive Lights » Underwater Kinetics

 

[RockyHeap]

Underwater Kinetics Aqualite
600 lumens
90 degrees coverage
comes with 2 li-ion batts and external charger
less than $250-

Looks very nice, but I'm not too sure on that little light head and a single LED, is going to give a pretty sharp/hard edge to the light beam spread, regardless of their 90 coverage spec.

I do like UK's product line, my main dive lights for punch are their 8 C battery Light Cannon HID, and their AquaSun eLED. Super torches with lots of punch for sure.

but once again, even their 850 Lumen eLED main light is a focused super bright hot spot, not soft edge wide beam like the multi-LED Solas .


thanks for sharing that Aqualite.

 

[cjfox]

I have 2 of these cheap chinese lights. I made my own diffusers out of frosted plastic at the end of a neoprene tube so I can slip them on and off. I have had them almost two years, and have been very happy. The batteries are not a common north american size, but they are also cheap on e-bay from china.
Lights
Diving Cree SSC-P7-C-SXO 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Flashlight Kit (2*18650/4*CR123A/4*16340) - Worldwide Free Shipping - DX

Underwater example

Rendezvous 2012 - YouTube

 

[3D diver]

I have 2 of these cheap chinese lights. I made my own diffusers out of frosted plastic at the end of a neoprene tube so I can slip them on and off. I have had them almost two years, and have been very happy. The batteries are not a common north american size, but they are also cheap on e-bay from china.
Lights
Diving Cree SSC-P7-C-SXO 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Flashlight Kit (2*18650/4*CR123A/4*16340) - Worldwide Free Shipping - DX

Underwater example

Rendezvous 2012 - YouTube

Nice video. Same coast I dive---so similar and yet different.

I used a section of bicycle inner tube to attach external diffusers:

The diffuser above was useless in the water, but these white ones worked well:

 

[TONY CHANEY]

CJFox...very nice video. Additional information requested. i.e camera, tray, light mounts etc. Thanks again.