Lights

[crab]

Thanks for the street value feedback, kalvyn & warren_I. My apologies for getting this thread a bit off subject. By the way warren_I, I assume you picked up yours at Dive Source Scuba in Ontario-- that shop being an authorized dealer and all.

 

[Coo's Toe]

Yes.

Its a parlor game - its the ol' lets-see-how-much-crapola-I-can-hold-and-clip trick.

I spend most of my time diving (as opposed to shooting) so the light is on my left hand. The camera is in my right (in dive mode.) Its sort of like this:

Dive Dive Dive - zot under that rock, zot into that hole with the light...

LOOKIE - there's something cool to shoot...

Light head gets clipped to right D-Ring (I have the clip on the cord, not the handle, so the beam points downward when clipped off.) Of course, I'm right handed, and the camera is in my right hand (you see where this is going.) So I take my right hand (full of cam) and pull the light head off the back of my left hand, grab the light head (cord) clip with my left hand, reach across my chest and clip off to the right D-Ring - as I watch my buddy (who didn't see my light flailing around) swim off... I went to the left handed cross chest overlapping lacross grip method after about the second or third time I punched myself in the grill with the strobe when clipping off the light head with right hand (same hand holding the cam) to right D-Ring. Why not clip the light head with the left hand to left D-Ring and avoid the self clubbing? Because I'm a spaz. The overrated Scout light is on that one, and its tough to clip to cuz its sort of pulled down pretty tightly with the inner-tube holding the overrated Scout to the webbing.

If by some miracle the subject is still in the same zip code after all of this (see how most of my pics of slow moving stuff?!) I now put cam in left hand, while turning on the LCD display, the strobe and the modeling light and try to compose the shot - The good news is by this time my buddy has noticed my abscence, and has returned to administer UW first aid to my throbbing dome.

This gets more complicated if its been a slow photo day, and I've clipped off the cam to the right D-Ring (I have a large stainless split ring on the tray with a SS bolt snap). Insert into the melee above unclipping the cam and you get the idea.

So as you can imagine, being pretty new to this shooting UW thing, that its still Columbo-esque as I am patting myself down, clipping and unclipping things, crossing arms and moving stuff around. If fish could laugh, I'd have some great pics, I'm sure.

I'm going to try the Uncle Pug thumb through the goodman handle trick next dive. Could make for one handed stowing of the light, and if I can swing the light out of the camera's FOV, I may not have to stow the light at all. I've given this the dry run after my last trip - it sort of worked. I'm gonna give it a run this weekend.

Long answer to your short question - Yes, I carry the light, yes its fly-swatting exhibition, yes I'm working on streamling the operation.

K

Ken,

If Wrinkles has her way, you and I will soon be diving together, but in the meantime, here's a trick for you to try that will save you a lot of headaches...

See that nice piece of cord, connecting your small lighthead to the cannister on your waist? Use it, it is your friend. Instead of fumbling around trying to clip off your lighthead to a D-ring, then unclipping it after the photo's taken, why don't you simply take your hand out of the goodman handle, and quickly drape the cord over your neck? First off, it's lightning fast to stow and unstow the light, and second, when hanging like this, the light will tend to hang pointed straight down, just like you'll want it to...

I'm sure if you give this a try, you'll find it speeds up the process a bit, and decreases the likelihood of requiring underwater first aid. :54:

 

[Mo2vation]

See that nice piece of cord, connecting your small lighthead to the cannister on your waist? ...why don't you simply take your hand out of the goodman handle, and quickly drape the cord over your neck?

That will never work - my cord is way too short. I sometimes drape it over my right forearm if speed is required.

The rest is exagerated for content. Looking forward to this weekend, and my bi-annual beach dive.

K

 

[Coo's Toe]

That will never work - my cord is way too short. I sometimes drape it over my right forearm if speed is required.

The rest is exagerated for content. Looking forward to this weekend, and my bi-annual beach dive.

K

Hmmmm. Let me measure real quick. WOW! That is long...

Oh wait, you mean the cord on my light? From lid to lighthead, my cord is 40" long. I would assume your cord is somewhere in that range too. Standard length for a waist mounted cannister should be 36"-48". You should have enough cord to wear your lighthead on your left hand with your arm fully outstretched. If not, your cord is way too short.

What light are you using? I thought you mentioned a Halcyon 10 watt HID. If the cord isn't in the range I mentioned, I'd be thinking something's wrong...

 

[Warren_L]

Thanks for the street value feedback, kalvyn & warren_I. My apologies for getting this thread a bit off subject. By the way warren_I, I assume you picked up yours at Dive Source Scuba in Ontario-- that shop being an authorized dealer and all.

Yep, you got it. I would call Brian for current pricing as the US dollar has been fluctuating vs the Cdn dollar. Being a canuck, I've got to bring everything back to the C$.