Sea Dragon Lights for Olympus Tough T4 / Sea Frogs Case combination

[Schenkeli]

Hi everyone,
I'm pretty new to underwater photography and am currently using an Olympus Tough4 Camera (which I also use for a lot of other action sports and snorkelling) with a Sea Frog case to be able to go till 40m depths.

I'm now looking for better lightning, since the built in flash of course is not of much use. When I did a bit of asking around a year ago people recommended this setup:
Flash: Olympus UFL-3
Arm: Olympus PTSA-03
Cable: Olympus PTCB-E02

Then Corona came along, no diving (I'm living in the alps in central Europe) and I didn't buy the set. Now borders are opening up again in Europe and when looking into the topic again I stumbled across the Sea Dragon series that looks much more suitable to me.
I'm now thinking about buying the Sea Dragon 2500F as a starter light

My thinking is: rather than buying a flash it's better to buy a light which will also help for filming, the arm looks much better to hold and there is no optic cable to connect. And it's a lot cheaper. I do not see any reason to buy something different - but then again and know nothing ...

What would be your recommendation for a UWR photography beginner? Would the 2500F be a good choice? Something similar? Or rather a flash?

Thanks for your help,
Thomas

 

[jonhall]

I have the same light (2500F) - got it just in time for the last trip we took at the end of 2019. Unfortunately, it sat unused through 2020 and won't be used again until later this year, so I will learn a little more about it. Thought it performed well - much better than the older video light I had been using.

Bought the extender flex arm so I could adjust light direction a little better and it also worked well. Very easy to use.

 

[Schenkeli]

Did a bit more reading and the even cheaper beginner option seems to be something like camera arm and just put a torch with a wide angle on it. But that doesn't look as convenient and easy to use to me.

Are the Sea Dragon Arms also standardised - meaning I can attach other cameras with ball clamps to it? Or do they have a proprietary format?

 

[Schenkeli]

I have the same light (2500F) - got it just in time for the last trip we took at the end of 2019. Unfortunately, it sat unused through 2020 and won't be used again until later this year, so I will learn a little more about it. Thought it performed well - much better than the older video light I had been using.

Bought the extender flex arm so I could adjust light direction a little better and it also worked well. Very easy to use.

A flex arm sounds useful - but I guess I could just add that later on as well so I do not have to go all in right at the beginning?

 

[jonhall]

Are the Sea Dragon Arms also standardised - meaning I can attach other cameras with ball clamps to it?

The tray has a mounting screw that would screw into the bottom of the camera. Think it came with an adapter for the GoPro.

A flex arm sounds useful - but I guess I could just add that later on as well so I do not have to go all in right at the beginning?

Can add anytime - there is a local dive shop close to me that has a cookout every year and at least 10% discount on everything that isn't discounted even more. That's when I went to get mine.

 

[Darnold9999]

Just be aware that a video light makes a poor strobe. A strobe is WAY brighter so your colours will be much better for still photography and your reach will be better as well when doing landscape with a proper strobe.