Lumens Lumens Lumens

[Collin O'Brien]

How many lumens do I actually need with a GoPro7 for UW Video in New England waters, mostly at 50-60 feet down to around 100 feet. I don't plan on sticking with the Gopro forever.

I was thinking two 8k lumen BigBlue lights but that’s $1,500.

Would I be better off just getting either:

Two 4.2k lumen lights for around $850 or two 2.6k lumen lights for around $750.

What do you think would be most practical for a GoPro in New England waters? If I would never be in situations needing two 8k lights I don’t think that would be worth it. I just don’t have the experience here.

 

[tbone1004]

search for some of my posts about lights, particularly big blue. You can only rely on about half of their quoted lumen output. More light is always better and it all depends on how far away from the camera you are trying to get and how professional you need/want it to be.

 

[tursiops]

The GoPro will manage to give you a picture with remarkably little light. You probably won't like the picture, and will add more light for the next trip.

Remember that those lumens are spread out over a large area, so capturing big wide-angle scenes just isn't gonna happen. And the GoPro won't focus up close, so you are probably going to be working in the maybe 1 up to 3-4 ft range. A few k lumens will get you started nicely. Better to have two half-strong lights than one really big one....for the shadows, the cost, and the redundancy. You'll be surprised how well 2-3k lumens will do; but you'll like 6-8k lumens even better, except for the cost.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Spending $1500 on lights these days for just a GoPro is a bit much. I'm leaning toward the Chinese lights available on Amazon that run $50‐$70.

 

[Darnold9999]

I am using 2 Nitescuba NSV60. Cheap Chinese lights but so far I like them. Lots of light for about $400USD for the pair. Will they last as long as a Sola or? Doubt it but at that price point I don’t care. My last video light was a Sea Dragon 2000. Lasted two years and flooded for no good reason. That one light was $600 USD and much less than half the light of one of the NiteScuba lights.

 

[SlugLife]

I have one of those supposed 18000 lumen, $60, Chinese lights, and they're very bright (maybe 6k lumens?) and have an even spread. You don't really need that much light, but more light usually helps.

Eventually, you'll want to focus on positioning of lights, due to backscatter.

 

[Dan]

The more, the better. I use 2 of 5000 lumens Weefine Solar Flares. You can see in my video, below, how the lights bring out color, when I shot under ledge scene with GoPro6.

 

[Collin O'Brien]

The more, the better. I use 2 of 5000 lumens Weefine Solar Flares. You can see in my video, below, how the lights bring out color, when I shot under ledge scene with GoPro6.


View attachment 666389

Very cool video. Was that from the GoPro or the camera below it in your set up? Is that an Olympus TG?

 

[Dan]

Very cool video. Was that from the GoPro or the camera below it in your set up? Is that an Olympus TG?

The video clips are from GoPro. The photos are from Sea&Sea DX6G camera, not Olympus TG.