Review: Xtar D36 5800 Flood/Spot dive light
- Thread starter stuartv
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OP
I'm glad to do it.
I'm going to do some Lake Eerie wreck diving Sept 7-8. I'm hoping to be setup to try shooting some video and I'll try taking some still photos as well, using no strobes. I just need to work out a way to mount the D36 on an arm so it can be positioned out to the side of the camera. Having it right on the camera housing is pretty much a guarantee for tons of backscatter in the images/video.
OP
I finally got to dive this light and shoot some video. I was diving some wrecks in Lake Erie a couple of weeks ago.
These video clips are completely unedited, just how they came out of the camera. They don't show anything particularly cool. They are just intended to show how well the D36 lights up what you're shooting.
Unfortunately, the water was pretty turbid and I only had 1 light. It was deployed on an arm out to the right. But, you will see that having it angled to illuminate the whole field of view of the camera results in a lot of backscatter, especially on the right side of the image.
I think 2 of these, setup to be spread out and illuminate the subject, but not all the particulate in the water right in front of the camera, would make for some pretty awesome video. Well, the lighting anyway. Even with 2 lights, your video might suck just as much as mine does.
These video clips are completely unedited, just how they came out of the camera. They don't show anything particularly cool. They are just intended to show how well the D36 lights up what you're shooting.
Unfortunately, the water was pretty turbid and I only had 1 light. It was deployed on an arm out to the right. But, you will see that having it angled to illuminate the whole field of view of the camera results in a lot of backscatter, especially on the right side of the image.
I think 2 of these, setup to be spread out and illuminate the subject, but not all the particulate in the water right in front of the camera, would make for some pretty awesome video. Well, the lighting anyway. Even with 2 lights, your video might suck just as much as mine does.
OP
Thank you for pointing out a valuable piece of info I failed to include!
Yes, it has a lanyard hole in the center of the butt of the light. It comes with a lanyard you can attach there. I used zip ties and attached a bolt snap there.
Mouth Breather
Contributor
OP
I have not found a Goodman style mount for it. But, I haven't really looked, either. When I take this light in the water, I will pretty much always have my camera. The 1/4-20 hole in the bottom of the light lets me mount it on top of my camera housing and that is what really works well for me.
XTAR and @MilesC sent me one to review, too. I'll put my review in this thread because @stuartv dud just a masterful job of doing the hardware description. I have nothing to add. The build quality is first-rate and the UI is really nice.....the LCD screen and two buttons are easy to use.
I'll concentrate on its functionality, for my kind of diving. I just returned from a week of cave diving in Mexico. There were three if us plus a guide. Two of the three had GoPros of one model or another, I had an Intova EDGE, what my wife calls a FauxPro. The game plan was for the guide plus two to swim along in single file, each with a video light shining on the wall beside them. The remaining diver was the photographer trying to video the line of three. Ostensibly the D36 was the brightest video light we had, but it performed no better than the others. When I was the photographer I put it on mode 2 (the narrow beam), but the beam was so broad it was not useful for signaling. I found no occasion when the turbo mode (flood plus "narrow") was useful to me.
Bottom line? Not a good light for my diving. But a very nice light, if it suits YOU!
I'll concentrate on its functionality, for my kind of diving. I just returned from a week of cave diving in Mexico. There were three if us plus a guide. Two of the three had GoPros of one model or another, I had an Intova EDGE, what my wife calls a FauxPro. The game plan was for the guide plus two to swim along in single file, each with a video light shining on the wall beside them. The remaining diver was the photographer trying to video the line of three. Ostensibly the D36 was the brightest video light we had, but it performed no better than the others. When I was the photographer I put it on mode 2 (the narrow beam), but the beam was so broad it was not useful for signaling. I found no occasion when the turbo mode (flood plus "narrow") was useful to me.
Bottom line? Not a good light for my diving. But a very nice light, if it suits YOU!
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