Light recommendations....

[nzpw]

I don't think anyone is trying to shock or gloat here. You asked a question and initially gave minimal info, so people responded with what they know.
Anyway, back on point. How about the Underwater Kinetics Aqualite at Dive Right In Scuba. It's US$250 and has a wide angle model (which may be better for video). I have seen one working and they're nice and bright. The wide angle is a 90 degree head lamp which isn't necessarily wide enough for the GoPro, but you could double up on the lights and have full coverage.
From personal experience I have bought and used a tonne of cheaper lights and have paid the price with them either crapping out on land or underwater... Hence going for the Light & Motion Sola Dive. This way I have done exactly what you're wanting to do, have a light that doubles as both a video light and primary dive light.
Alternatively just look for a cheap led wide angle light (preferably 2 for video). Something like what Intova does.

 

[scubastingray]

OP, what is your budget?
This thread was just posted and those lights seem to be very nice for the money if you can find them (I think they were around $50, but they are difficult to find).

Alternatively, you can buy some DRIS video lights for something like $130 a piece.

I use bike light clamps I got on ebay with a go pro PVC rig to hold my setup. I think I'm out $30 for the whole shebang, but I also got super cheap dive lights and moved the LEDS closer to the front element.

If you have some DIY skills, get a couple of Chinese <$30 dive lights, spray paint the parabolic reflector matte white, ziptie them to your tray and voila.

You can also lengthen the wires and move the LED closer to the front element, making it wide angle. You'll still get a hotspot with the reflector and not nearly as large a FOV.



Either of those options should keep you under $300 (and way under if you can find the hi-max video lights).

http://brinyte.en.alibaba.com/produ...CREE_120_angle_degree_diving_video_light.html
These look good too. I haven't tried them but Brinyte is usually pretty good.

I built a tray like this: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/465178-free-gopro-mount.html#post6882033
and used these clamps to hold the lights. http://www.ebay.com/itm/360-Swivel-...230?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1c74898e

 

[Spg01]

If only the world was that simple. A normal primary light has a tight beam and that will give you a hot spot. A video light has a wider beam to spread the light out so it does not have a hot spot. I tried using my primary light at night with my gopro and it did not work well at all. It would look good to my eyes while diving, but looking at the video there was just a big blinding white spot that would ruin any video. I finally got a cheap single 700 lumen video light and it worked much better for night video. During the day I can kind of tell the light is there, but it does not have much distance. So a dark crack or something it works fine.

If you are looking for cheap go with a red filter first. And then go to lights when you are ready. Lights are just the beginning, because then you need arms and most likely some type of adapter for the lights and it never seems to stop. You can do some of it yourself to save some money, but I would imagine it will still cost around the same price as the Gopro by time you are finished. If you are lucky.

Go look in the Gopro forum and the DIY Gopro forums for more ideas.

 

[tbone1004]

you will find that on this board specifically there is no gloating about who has the most expensive gear because most of us advocate against spending the big bucks on the big branded stuff. I.e. the Blue H Tax, and spending $1k on a jacket bc, etc etc. A lot of us have expensive things but it is because they are needed and will last. A good underwater camera setup costs around $10k no matter which way you look at it, if you want to spend less you can, but the lighting is the most important part of the camera rig. The color gradients and what not are very different under water, and producing housings that are good to 100m are not cheap. You can get away with cheaper equipment, but it won't produce what you're wanting. I gave you a $500 light out of that list because it is best bang for buck on a budget, notice I didn't and neither has anyone else, listed the $1500, $2k, $3k, lighting systems because if you knew you needed something like that, you wouldn't be asking. The pros won't think twice about spending $3k for a dual head light setup because they know it's the only way to get what they need out of their work. For the rest of us, we just stick a gopro on our head and call it good

 

[3D diver]

I use GoPros and have two light configurations to share with you.

My main setup is 4 of the DRIS 1000 lumen lights I've DIY'd with holographic diffusers. This is plenty of light---folks tease me about it.

My secondary setup is 2 of their newer 1000 lumen Impact shorty's with the video head. These have a better spread than my DIY modifications. They are enough light for most situations, but two more would be nice when there is a lot of ambient lights---i.e. bright day, shallow dive.

 

[dfx]

You can also lengthen the wires and move the LED closer to the front element, making it wide angle. You'll still get a hotspot with the reflector and not nearly as large a FOV.

Not in my experience. Matte white doesn't reflect per se (more precisely, it reflects uniformly in all directions), so no hot spot. FOV depends on the size of the original mirror and is sufficiently large for my purposes. Wide-angle Gopro may suffer though.

 

[scubastingray]

If you are looking for cheap go with a red filter first. And then go to lights when you are ready. Lights are just the beginning, because then you need arms and most likely some type of adapter for the lights and it never seems to stop. You can do some of it yourself to save some money, but I would imagine it will still cost around the same price as the Gopro by time you are finished. If you are lucky.

Not true, I spent $20 on a couple lights (moved led closer), and $10 for a pvc rig. $5 or so in misc costs, and it's a complete setup for way less than the gopro.

Not in my experience. Matte white doesn't reflect per se (more precisely, it reflects uniformly in all directions), so no hot spot. FOV depends on the size of the original mirror and is sufficiently large for my purposes. Wide-angle Gopro may suffer though.

This isn't nearly as diffused as moving the led up to the front element though.

 

[Spg01]

Not true, I spent $20 on a couple lights (moved led closer), and $10 for a pvc rig. $5 or so in misc costs, and it's a complete setup for way less than the gopro.

I would love to see how your daytime video comes out with (2) $10.00 lights. Which lights did you use? I am not an expert on any of this, so I am not saying it is impossible. But he could also spend that much on a red filter and be just as happy.

 

[scubastingray]

I would love to see how your daytime video comes out with (2) $10.00 lights. Which lights did you use? I am not an expert on any of this, so I am not saying it is impossible. But he could also spend that much on a red filter and be just as happy.

Sure, it's not practical for many. I just used the really cheap T6 18650 lights. The angle on the beam is amazing and incredibly dispersed once modified. Review: T6 Plastic Dive Light | BudgetLightForum.com I think I got a slightly more powerful version, as the OTF lumens seem comparable to just about every other "1000 lumen" dive light I have (which are probably closer to 500-700 OTF).


At any rate, that is more work than most are looking to put in. Those Briynte lights would give similar, probably more reliable results in a cleaner setup,

I haven't tested this in daylight at depth where you are looking to recover reds, but I'll try to take some video at moderate depth the next time I'm out on such an occasion.

 

[dfx]

This was recorded with a Contour camera and two of these with the mirror spray painted white: Cree XM L T6 1600LUM Diving Torch Flashlight Lamp Waterproof Light W Wristband | eBay

[video=youtube;q0nCvYLChDQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0nCvYLChDQ[/video]