I have 2 strobes, where do I put my torch at night?

[Pyndle]

Hi guys,

Probably a stupid question but how do you guys do to have a camera rig with 2 strobes and a dive light? Right now I hold my light in my hands, which is not handy at all (I also have a stick and my rig), and I really hate it on night dives.

I can't use my strobe focus lights for the whole dive (the manual says not to + it uses too much battery), and sometimes I want to be fast so basically use my torch as a quick focus light and take my shot (without waiting a few seconds to switch the strobe focus light on).

I see 2 solutions:
- Cold shoe mount with an arm and the torch at the end: I actually tried that for a week, but I hate the shoehorse mount, it was not holding up at all and regularly getting unscrewed. For sure I'll lose my torch.
- triple clamp on one side, and add the torch to it: never tried it, is it worth it ? Where would you put the torch, right next to the strobe (at the last clamp level), or higher up the arm of the rig and build a separate 10inch arm just for the light?
What scares me with this is that my rig will be unbalanced, unless I put 2 torches, but then my rig will be very heavy

Any other ideas / tips please?

Thanks!

 

[arew+4]

Cold shoe mount on top of the housing.
It's a video light by the way, I run it on low output

 

[Wibble]

On your head? Wear a helmet and you’ve loads of mounting options. Once the shot’s set up, turn your head torch off, or look away

 

[Pyndle]

@arew+4 Does it hold well ? what model do you have ? The one I tried was really bad, it's a miracle I didn't lose my light !

@Wibble Thanks, didn't think of that! Might not be the most comfortable but could work. The only thing is it might be hard to look at people without aiming at them, which would blind them.

 

[Wibble]

@Wibble Thanks, didn't think of that! Might not be the most comfortable but could work. The only thing is it might be hard to look at people without aiming at them, which would blind them.

It's a minor skill. Reality is it's not that hard.

You can get some really nice helmet torches which the cavers (not GUE though ;-) ) use. For me I've a pair of simple torches on each side of the helmet. When diving in open water it's pretty easy to turn on a light and have some light in front of you. In an overhead it means you can light up your hands when tying off/whatever, even if you've a big torch on a Goodman handle.

With a bungee strap under the chin, all's cool. Easy to put on and off. My helmet's a cheap climbing thing with many holes in it. Rip out the polystyrene and use the canvas webbing -- you're not hitting things.

I bet you could add another video light if you wanted to the helmet.

Personally I lust after a Scurion torch. Expensive but very nice.

Scurion - Diving

Scurion Dive - Final Frontier Sports

The Scurion® diving version is rated for dive depths of -150m. Each system is individually tested to 20 bar before leaving Scurion workshop in Switzerland. Due to the unique customization of this light, please contact us before ordering.

www.finalfrontiersports.com

 

[tursiops]

I'm not sure what your question is. (a) You have two strobes and a hand-held dive light that you don't like holding in your hand while shooting pix at night? (b) Or is the hand-held a video light that you just use as a dive light?
If (b), then you want the video light pointing the direction the camera is pointing, so mounting it on the camera makes sense. How you best do that depends on your housing; some have a female threaded fitting you can mount a ball on, some have only an accessory shoe, some have nothing. If nothing, you of course mount the light on the arm. If an accessory shoe, some shoe-to-ball fittings are made with a locking base so it won't loosen and come off.
If (a), then consider putting the light in a soft Goodman glove so it is on the back of your hand, so you can point it where you want it but still have your hand free to operate your camera. YOu probably don't want to mount it on your camera or arms because then the entire rig must be pointed around to see things on a night dive.

 

[Pyndle]

Thanks for the tips guys, very helpful. Helmet is actually not a bad option!

@tursiops Sorry if I wasn't clear, it's option A. But even with a soft goodman glove, I can't keep both my hands on the camera which is tricky for me (I need both hands to properly focus / stabilize).
I don't mind having to point around the rig to see things. To me the biggest downside is backscatter if that's on a shoe mount (too close to the lens)+ losing the torch (maybe I had a bad shoe mount and it's not an issue) + adds weight to the rig.

 

[arew+4]

I have the back scatter macro wide 4300 or some thing like that I've have mounted it on there out of the water to get a feel for it, the light is pretty light, and I will lanyard it to the tray, just like the strobes and housing. I bought it to start shooting a little bit of video along with stills. Most of the time on night dives I just mooch light off my buddy and pull out a small light to signal. 99.5% of my diving is warm clear open water. I will be getting everything wet in July and can let you know how stable it is in the cold shoe, based on out of water I do not expect problems.

 

[tursiops]

Thanks for the tips guys, very helpful. Helmet is actually not a bad option!

@tursiops Sorry if I wasn't clear, it's option A. But even with a soft goodman glove, I can't keep both my hands on the camera which is tricky for me (I need both hands to properly focus / stabilize).
I don't mind having to point around the rig to see things. To me the biggest downside is backscatter if that's on a shoe mount (too close to the lens)+ losing the torch (maybe I had a bad shoe mount and it's not an issue) + adds weight to the rig.

Backscatter from a near-camera focus light can be totally mitigated with the right focus light, for example Fix Neo 1000 Mini SW Light. the light shuts off when it sees the strobe light. Focus lights, however, are typically broad beams, so can't be used to signal very well, and even if narrow beams (the link above is switchable) doing an u/w OK signal is awkward with trying to move the entire rig to make the signal.
What camera/housing/arms are you using?

 

[CanadaDan]

I have a dive light on my chest D ring but for video I use dedicated video lights (wide angle, even spread). They have to be out to avoid backscatter just like the strobes.

For trim I use a 1lb weight on the bottom of the tray. If you aren't familiar with it the thing on the cold show that looks like a light is a Paralenz video camera.