Flourescence Diving Recommendations

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food4feet

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Location
North Texas
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I'm looking into trying out fluo diving on my next trip to Cozumel. I have a few questions to toss out to the group on SB. Any help and insight is greatly appreciated.


1) Blue light vs UV light. I'm leaning towards going with a blue light so that I don't damage the sea life or other divers, and, from what I've read, the blue light excites the creature or plan better than UV. Thoughts?

2) Is it worth the money or is fluo diving more often a disappointment than wow? Are there some tips and tricks to having a successful fluo dive? Is it worthwhile to use the light during the day?

3) Any recommendations on a good light? I was looking at the Sealife Sea Dragon Mini Fluoro. Is there a better bang-for-the buck that has a good balance between function and price?


Thanks!
 
I have a follow up question: can I combine a UV light and a Blue Light (with a filter on my camera)? I have two lights with UV and a GoBe with a Nightsea head. I haven't yet tried using them together and I haven't found any articles about it, either.
 
I first tried it with a cheapo underwater UV light in Bonaire. Might work better with a more powerful light, but I would not bother. The light I used had to be within an inch or two of coral heads to see much effect at all.
I eventually went with the NightSea head for a GoBe light since I already had a couple of GoBe lights. Works MUCH better than the cheapo UV light I originally tried.

I was pretty blown away by it in Bonaire.

Less thrilled in Belize in March 2020. I have also lent it to friends who used it in Fiji in January with good results.

In short, if you want to get into fluo diving, I would go with a proper blue light set with the proper yellow filters.

Is it worth the money? Good question. Depends on where you are going to be diving. It was more economical for me since I already had the GoBe light body and was just getting a light head for it. If I had to buy a whole new light body and setup for it, I would probably not have bothered for one warm water trip per year.

Best tips for success? Have as little ambient light as possible. That includes lights from other divers. It does not need to be completely dark to get the effect. Each time I have done it, my buddy has been diving with white light. We try to stay away from any crows though. I will brief my buddy on it pre-dive. I do have a second yellow filter, so my buddy can experience it a bit as well. He/she will put their hand over their white light, or aim it to a non-target area, pull the filter over their mask, and enjoy the effect as well. Las thing you want is to have a bunch of other divers come and shine their high-lumen white lights right at what you are looking at with fluo.

In the Caribbean, the ideal fluo dive site will have some fish that fluoresce as well. Spotted snake eels and scorpion fish are the ones that come to mind. Lots of corals will fluoresce. Not that many fish will. I understand that there is more that have the effect in the Indo-Pacific. I am still pretty new to it though.
 
F9789565-587D-49AB-A52B-F474ED070286.jpeg
I Fluor photograph in Rhode Island and see plenty, with NIGHTSEA light and yellow filter. But I highly recommend a Tripod in sand, or on rock, not on coral. Steady camera for this sleeping fish with algae covered rock showing red behind him.
 
UV doesn't work very well at all, save it for your 70's fuzzy posters. Blue does work!

Fluoro diving is a trip, but a couple of things. 1) your diving with only a blue light, wearing a filter that blocks blue light, so the only thing you see is things that fluoresce, beyond that your in black water 2) Cozumel doesn't have a lot of WOW, does have current, making statement #1 really important because you will likely crash into unknown objects 3) you need a TON of blue light, most of the lights on the market are not filtered well enough to make it worth it and are a waste of money. 4) you're camera needs even more light, I use a continuous blue to find things and as a focus light, then add a blue strobe to camera and even then it Macro

edit- to include link to information Fluorescent Dive Lights and Filters - Fire Dive Gear

this was from Cozumel, fireworms are incredible under blue
P4010028.JPG
 
I have a follow up question: can I combine a UV light and a Blue Light (with a filter on my camera)? I have two lights with UV and a GoBe with a Nightsea head. I haven't yet tried using them together and I haven't found any articles about it, either.
Probably not, here's why. To use a Blue light, you need a yellow filter affixed to your mask and your camera (if using a camera). That would probably make anything fluorescing in the UV range look bad.

Just go with a blue light and yellow filters. They work GREAT and aren't very expensive. I use an Underwater Kinetics SL4 eled blue light, but I guess they discontinued it as I can't find it anywhere. UK does have a UV light, but UV isn't the best option. A blue LED light shouldn't break the bank. Mine was $100 from a local dive shop. Probably could buy it in Chinesium for less. Yellow mask filters can be had for $20 on amazon https://smile.amazon.com/TONELIFE-Flashlight-Fluorescence-Underwater-Photography/dp/B01DKGAZ50/r if you don't mind knock-off brands. Lights and Motion makes one that's identical (except for the etched name) for $50. I've got both, they both work just as well.
Lights and Motion makes a $400 blue light in case you've got too much money in your wallet and it's just weighing you down.


This article is a nice primer on flouro diving. They do address blue vs uv. Fascinating Fluoro Photography
uwphotographyguide.com:
Blue vs. Ultraviolet Light
While most people think of ultraviolet light when they think of fluorescence, it turns out that blue is much more effective at making underwater organisms glow than UV. There are more subjects that glow more brightly. The light is best delivered by the new generation of high intensity LEDs. To get the best out of the viewing experience you must wear a yellow filter visor over your mask. The yellow is designed to remove the reflected blue light and transmit only the fluorescence from the underwater life. For more info on blue vs. UV light click here.
 
Sorry I am late to this thread. I have been working on fluo diving when I can since the Spring. There is absolutely a WOW factor involved in it. Most of my dives have been during the daytime in the 60' to 80' range in Panama City Beach and you can still have some success but the real WOW is at night.
I am running a blue video light and a adapter cover that is blue for my strobe.
Here are a few from a night dive in the Keys a week ago.
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https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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