Question Photo Light Advice

[CF L]

I am a very novice photographer and use a Cannon PowerShot S120 with a Cannon housing, and carry a BigBlue AL1200XWP that is not mounted for lighting the subject. I do not use the advanced settings of the camera, such as changing the apertures, etc., I just set the underwater mode. I take photos for memories but would like the photos to look good and colourful.

I am now considering mounting a light on the housing cold shoe so it is compact and easy for me to handle. I have a few novice questions on which I hope to have some good advice.

- Should I just mount my BigBlue torch on my housing?
- Are 1200 lumens good enough for my purpose or should I consider getting something more powerful?
- For a new torch, do I just need flood or is spot useful?

 

[js1221]

Personally, I would recommend you get a tray and arm (Flex or Ball) to mount the light on. It gives you much more flexibility when it comes to aiming the light. The 1200 lumen light will be ok for video and for taking pictures of still or slow moving subjects. Going to something more powerful would definitely be a plus. I find spot more useful then flood for photography.

 

[CF L]

Personally, I would recommend you get a tray and arm (Flex or Ball) to mount the light on. It gives you much more flexibility when it comes to aiming the light. The 1200 lumen light will be ok for video and for taking pictures of still or slow moving subjects. Going to something more powerful would definitely be a plus. I find spot more useful then flood for photography.

Thanks for your advice @js1221.

When I was at Lembeh Resort recently, their photo centre lent me a Sola 2000 S/F mounted on my housing with a cold shoe ball mount and ball clamp so that the Sola could be rotated flexibly, that seems flexible enough for aiming the light?

The Sola was light and compact which I liked, so if I were to get a more powerful light I would consider a Sola, but would have to decide between the 2500 F or the 2500 S/F, the latter being more expensive. Based on your advice I should go for the 2500 S/F.

 

[Doctorfish]

No matter what light you mount, it will not be comparable to a strobe. Further, a light or strobe mounted on the cold shoe will lead to significant backscatter.

 

[CF L]

No matter what light you mount, it will not be comparable to a strobe. Further, a light or strobe mounted on the cold shoe will lead to significant backscatter.

I am a very novice photographer and have had to look up the meaning of backscatter . I'm attaching a photo I've taken with the cold shoe mounted Sola, is there a great deal of backscatter in the photo?

 

[Dann-Oh]

I am a very novice photographer and have had to look up the meaning of backscatter . I'm attaching a photo I've taken with the cold shoe mounted Sola, is there a great deal of backscatter in the photo?

There is some backscatter in the photo. Look in front of the fishes mouth, it looks like snow is in the photo. I would say this is perfectly acceptable for personal use. I would probably even print it out at 8x10" and hang it in my house.

 

[CF L]

There is some backscatter in the photo. Look in front of the fishes mouth, it looks like snow is in the photo. I would say this is perfectly acceptable for personal use. I would probably even print it out at 8x10" and hang it in my house.

Ah I see the tiny snowflakes in the photo are caused by backscatter. I think my housing might have an attachment of some sort for backscatter in the box, I'll check. Thanks.

 

[js1221]

Thanks for your advice @js1221.

When I was at Lembeh Resort recently, their photo centre lent me a Sola 2000 S/F mounted on my housing with a cold shoe ball mount and ball clamp so that the Sola could be rotated flexibly, that seems flexible enough for aiming the light?

The Sola was light and compact which I liked, so if I were to get a more powerful light I would consider a Sola, but would have to decide between the 2500 F or the 2500 S/F, the latter being more expensive. Based on your advice I should go for the 2500 S/F.

First, I like your frogfish photo, very nice. With regards to backscatter, it normally occurs when light from your camera, video light or strobe, hit particles in the water and reflect back into the lens of your camera. When the light is mounted directly above the lens, such as in a cold shoe, you see it more often. Moving the light to the side of the camera, and camera lens, can help reduce or eliminate backscatter. That said, I don't think the small amount in your photo is distracting.

I have a Sola light, which I use as a focus light for my strobes. I like the spot/flood option, although mine is a flood/red spot light. The red light at night helps not to spook fish. The 2500 S/F is pretty versatile and I think you will be happy with it.

 

[CF L]

First, I like your frogfish photo, very nice. With regards to backscatter, it normally occurs when light from your camera, video light or strobe, hit particles in the water and reflect back into the lens of your camera. When the light is mounted directly above the lens, such as in a cold shoe, you see it more often. Moving the light to the side of the camera, and camera lens, can help reduce or eliminate backscatter. That said, I don't think the small amount in your photo is distracting.

I have a Sola light, which I use as a focus light for my strobes. I like the spot/flood option, although mine is a flood/red spot light. The red light at night helps not to spook fish. The 2500 S/F is pretty versatile and I think you will be happy with it.

Thanks for explaining the reason it is better to have the light further away from the camera lens. I never knew why many divers have a tray setup.

The Sola 2500 S/F is at the top of my list.

 

[MrChen]

The problem with a torch light is the bright circle causes various degrees of brightness that the camera can't balance. You want a flood light. There are torch lights with a diffuser head.

I am a big fan of the Sola lights. I sometimes mount 2 of them on my camera since I do a lot of night diving. I'll use a video model as my main light, in flood mode so I can use it as a camera focus light. It can toggle to spot mode if I want to see further away. Sometimes I'll increase the brightness, which drains the battery faster, so a backup is necessary. My "backup" camera light is the Sola photo model which has a red light as well. I can toggle between white and red, flood mode only.

Brighter is *not* always better. If you do not have a strobe, then you might want a brighter light. Personally, I recommend a strobe if you are mostly taking pictures.

Many critters do not like the bright white light and will turn away from it. On a night dive, I will use the red light to take pictures of critters which don't like the white light. Many seahorses and nudibranchs will do this.

Sola photo light (supports red) Sola Photo 1200
Sola video light (supports spot and flood) Sola Video 2500 Flood
Inon strobes: INON Strobe [Lineup]

You should really consider a strobe. A focus light is great for night dives or lighting up dark areas under ledges where you need light for camera focus.