Help me out with lighting please

[SharynC]

Hello,

I have a Canon R5II that I have in an Ikelite housing with an 8 inch dome port. I’ve only been shooting natural light but want to add either strobes or video light. I’m a hybrid shooter so do both photos and video on the same dive (mostly video). I prefer bigger things than macro so shoot with the 15-35 lens. I am trying to keep my gear as light as possible.

I have a couple of options in mind for lighting but both have limits. I could go down the dual video light route and get lights that have a burst mode. If I do this route my question is what lumen lights would I need to cover me for video and photo?

I could also go down the strobe path but because I have the Ikelite housing I’m limited to using Ikelite strobes if I want TTL. They are quite expensive! I would also have to get a new hotshoe and TTL adapter. I could use manual flash for half the cost of the Ikelite strobes but then I’d have to fiddle around with strobes. My question here is does anyone have any other suggestions?

I’d appreciate any advice thanks.

 

[Barmaglot]

This might be of interest to you: Ikelite DS-200 TTL Strobe

 

[grantmac]

This might be of interest to you: Ikelite DS-200 TTL Strobe

That's a very attractive price for a first strobe. Does it have any huge disadvantages over other options? Specifically if used with housings other than Ikelite?

 

[weeksd]

As you stated you do mostly video so a strobe would be useless for video. I have an ikelite with a modelling light in it but its no where enough light for video even at night. A dual video light route would be your best choice with at least 5000 lumens each for even lighting. And two video lights are still smaller than a strobe.

 

[TostitoBandito]

The DS-200 is a ~20 year old strobe, hence the price.

It sounds like you want video lights. There are tons of options out there in all price ranges. Ikelite does sell the DS-232 strobe that is their top-end photo strobe with a 2500 lumen video light (on the weak side but serviceable for video), but that's geared more towards still shooters who shoot a little video than the other way around.

Since it sounds like you shoot exclusively wide angle I'd certainly suggest some decently powerful lights that can illuminate large subjects or areas of reef.

 

[Barmaglot]

That's a very attractive price for a first strobe. Does it have any huge disadvantages over other options? Specifically if used with housings other than Ikelite?

As already mentioned, it's quite old - Ikelite has long since discontinued this model, and this looks like a retailer liquidating old stock. The battery packs might need rebuilding after so long on the shelf. Being an Ikelite strobe, it's big, heavy, and only takes electrical sync. This latter part is fine when using an Ikelite housing, but if you ever move to something that uses fiber optics, you will need converters ($150 per strobe). On the upside, it's powerful, and with a circular bulb, it has a wide, even beam spread.

If you want a combination strobe and video light, the new generation of Li-Ion powered strobes offer multiple options - the Backscatter HF-1, the Retra Flash Maxi, the UW-Technics Optima-10000, the AOI UIS-P1 all have a decently powerful video light built in, ranging from 3000lm in UIS-P1 to 10000lm in Optima-10000. They all, however, are set up for optical sync, so if you want to use them with an Ikelite housing, you will need an appropriate converter, which adds to the cost.

As for video lights in burst mode... maybe for macro, but for wide-angle, this will lack power. Several years ago, Dreifish at Wetpixel did a head to head test between YS-D2 strobe and Gates GT14 video light (14k lumen); if you have a Wetpixel account you can read it here, but since Wetpixel no longer accepts registrations, I'll quote:

Conclusion

The unmodified YS-D2 strobe at full power is somewhere between 5 and 6 stops brighter than the Gates GT14. Let's say it outputs about five stops more light (i.e. it is 32 times brighter) once you account for the fact that the light is concentrated into a slightly narrower cone.

So if you wanted a video light that matches the light output of the YS-D2, you'd need a 448,000 lumen light. Imagine -- two video lights putting out 1 million lumens. I'd say we're a little ways away from completely replacing strobes with video lights for photography

 

[bvanant]

For mostly video get dedicated video lights, the combo strobe/video lights are strobes with weak (at best) video light added on. For wide angle video there are no real small high power lights, Look at Keldan ($$$) and Kraken. Maybe rent/borrow some to see how it goes.

Bill

 

[Barmaglot]

the combo strobe/video lights are strobes with weak (at best) video light added on.

While UWTechnics Optima-10000 isn't shipping yet, calling 10000 lumen 'weak (at best)' is a bit of a stretch. Even the 5k lumen in HF-1 and 6k in Retra Maxi is a decent mid-range light.

Look at Keldan ($$$) and Kraken

Kraken is a North American brand, and the OPs location is listed as Australia - over there, it's probably easier to get the original Weefine lights without Kraken branding.

 

[Blackcrusader]

For mostly video get dedicated video lights, the combo strobe/video lights are strobes with weak (at best) video light added on. For wide angle video there are no real small high power lights, Look at Keldan ($$$) and Kraken. Maybe rent/borrow some to see how it goes.

Bill

@SharynC

I use Big Blue VL4200P video lights. Good for macro and photos