Real strong continuous lights or strobes.....

[Addicted2H2O]

Allow me to input this for your consideration. I used one in Cozumel on my night dives and it's like having the sun in your hand. I didn't even run it on full brightness because it was really bright. Only 3800 lumens, but more than enough usable light for what I needed. 4 white brightness modes, 2 red, and 1 UV, which was really cool at night. Ended up buying one of my own (the one I was borrowing got stolen on that trip and the owner wouldn't let me replace it) and I love it. I actually paid $400 for mine. I'd say burn time is about 1.5 hours if you're not burning full brightness and it does heat up quite a bit.

i-Torch Venom 38 - High power LED Video\Photo Light

 

[Saniflush]

I was on a liveaboard with a guy with really bright video lights and no strobe. I ended up avoiding night dives because it was so obnoxious.

I bet I could have found a way to solve that problem. Nobody but me is causing me to miss night dives.

 

[tursiops]

I bet I could have found a way to solve that problem. Nobody but me is causing me to miss night dives.

Ha! I'll bet I'm glad you weren't on the trip!

 

[Shasta_man]

<< I was on a liveaboard with a guy with really bright video lights>>

I've seen a few that looked like cars driving around underwater. They tend to be way overkill because you're not really shooting wide angle (where you need a big scene illuminated) and the critters you came for (that only come out at night) tend to hide. I'd go for a lower power like with a few settings so you could use lower power while looking for them than higher power when shooting.

When I'm night diving, I usually turn off my light and just use the ambient light from others rather than the direct light.

 

[kelemvor]

Back when 1000 lumen lights cost more than $7, I had bought some. Even a 1000 lumen light will pretty easily ruin a group's night dive. They're great for a cave or looking under ledges in the day or shooting video in the day.

 

[JohnnyC]

Strobes for photo, lights for video. Obviously using strobes for video is a no go at all, but continuous light for photos is hit an miss, even with really powerful lights.

Clearly, the answer is get both. Also, get a bunch of floats cuz it will be negative as all hell.....

 

[wildbill9]

I have dual Kraken 5 k lights and sea and sea strobes, one thing I did not factor in with the video lights is the fish really didn't like them, got a lot of fish butts but some nice pissed off moray eels .

 

[JackConnick]

Even the smallest strobe puts out many 1,000 of times more output than the strongest continuous light. However it's and extremely short, intense burst that freezes movement and cuts through the water column to give much better color saturation and detail.
When shopping for a continuous light you have to look at the type of LEDs being used. LED arrays are much cheaper to make, but will have hotspots and stronger edge falloff as well as a narrower beam. Single COB LEDs give a much wider, smoother light output with no hotspots.
Look also at the controls - a cheaper light has a single button that can have a dizzying sequence to change mode and/or power. Two button layouts are much easier to use. Chargers and batteries also can be very problematic on less expensive lights that use cradle chargers.
On either a strobe or light, you have to look at the beam angle as well as power output they deliver in the water.
Yes, you can use continuous lights for stills, however you will have to use higher ISOs, longer shutter speeds and more open apertures generally. This will result in much softer looking shots, with less intense colors. It works ok close up, but not well for wide angle, IMHO.
Kraken has been redoing their lights to have a "flash" mode that is triggered by the camera flash, which is a good way of getting more battery life, yet still having a higher output for stills. Again, it works ok for compacts or macro, but is not a substitute for a strobe. For instance, their new 5000S+ has a 7000 lumen burst mode.

 

[barth]

@Bobby has put out some good info on those using his video lights for photography.
Strobe vs Video Light for Still Photography | Underwater Light Dude

basically, strobes will always be brighter, but obviously useless for video. If you choose to spend more time on videography, then I would use video lights. They'll make your pictures better, just not as good as a strobe. Keep in mind the person who wrote the article is a professional u/w photographer

"Duration – you get hundreds of frames with strobes, versus a limited burn-time/shooting wind lights"

I do not agree with this. My 7dmkII can do 10 shots in raw in 1 second. My videolights have a burntime of 10.000 seconds.My battery will be empty or my card will be full before the battey of my videolight is empty.

"Mounting – strobes can be mounted on a diver’s back, tanks, etc… hands free & only firing when triggered"

You can do the same for a videolight. It is possible to have lightdivers. It is also possible to put a videolight at the bottom of a cave.

"Cost – bang for buck, strobes will give you more light and shooting time"

I do not agree. They will give you less shooting time. Strobe recharging will take a lot of time. Or at least my inon D2000, ikelite DS125 and DS160. The burntime of my videolight is 3 hours at the max output.


After ten years I decided to sell my ikelite strobes and buy new videolights. If strobes are working fine the will gave a better result, I agree. If you want 1 perfect image and you have perfect settings and composition and you make the image at the right moment.

For me it would be better to have a videolight which is working and no waiting time for recharge of strobes are more important to capture the right moment. I had a lot of dives with mailfunction strobes and/or cable. The cable for my ikelite strobes is 180 euro. A dive trip cost me a lot of time and money, for me it is not acceptable if my equipment is not working. I think videolights are more reliable then strobes.

 

[Compressor]

I feel bad for the fish in front of the lights.