UK - HID Lite Cannon As Video Lights?

[larsdennert]

I just got back from shooting a week's worth of video in Kona. The Light Canon did pretty well. Yes in shallow water with good vis the light is not helpful/needed unless you are at close range. For depth and night dives it did really well. What was a pain was than everyone else on the night dives with their halogen lights 6 degree beam angle would try to "help" illuminate stuff. I ended up with a big yellow hot spots on right what I was trying to vid. :06: Argh! I don't have any good frame grabs handy of the Light Canon performance but here is a macro shot.

Full size here http://67.122.16.97/solesearchers/albums/album08/Worm.jpg

Someone told me that when the batteries get weak the light starts to flicker. I did have it sometimes flickering redish momentarily. Anyone else experience something like that?

 

[sharksdelight]

Usually, unlike halogen lights which die slowly and get progressively dimmer, HID lights are like good regulators which gives you perfect breathing until the air is out and you are making an emergency ascent. In other words, when HID lights lose power, they do so fairly quickly. Since I always used rechargeables when I used the cannons, when dimness started to occur, I would just shut the light off and then recharge topside. I have always been of the believe that it is damaging to the lights/batteries to completely discharge most anything. This dimming of the HIDs is true with the L & M HID lights as well.

Oh, yes,it is a real pain when well meaning divers try to "HELP" you out by shining their flashlights on the scene that is being filmed. Those lights can just ruin a clip. I've even had guides, who should have known better, do that. It drives me as mad as photographers who flash my subjects as I try to film rather than simply wait their turn.
Steve

 

[sharksdelight]

PS. that would be an interesting thread, how videographers and photographers can successfully interact on the same dive, same ocean, same planet.:14:

 

[R.Soper]

Hi There,

I started this thread off, and as such i would just like to thank everyone for their advice.

I now have two HID Lite Cannon's, which i have connected to my Gates housing by way of two articulated arms. I think for the price the setup is about as good as you are going to get. Yes there is better out on the market, such as the Niterider HID lights, but they cost an arm and a leg.

A big difference having the lights is the weight, my "rig" now weighs a ton, and takes a bit of getting used to underwater. I don't imagine the Lite Cannon lights weigh that much more than equivalent Niterider lights, but i suspect the big difference is that with the Lite Cannon's the weight is on top of the housing, while with the Niterider's the weight is underneath the housing where the battery pack is located. I would suggest Niteriders setup is probably better for balance, but then they do cost an extra US$1000 or so.

I have only used the lights once in the day so far, in about 15m of water at the Devil's Grotto in Grand Cayman (very clear water.) They are great in the tunnels and caverns, but out in the open water, in direct sunlight, with the diffusers on, they do not make much of a difference at all unless you are about two feet away from your subject. I have contemplated taking the diffusers off for day diving, to make them more effective.

At night the two light cannon's with diffusers are great. I have noticed that with the lights on, to the naked eye, they may iluminate a distance of around four meters in front of you. However, when looking at the camera LCD screen (Sony PC105,) the camera only "sees" about two meters in front of it. Don't know why, can anyone explain this? The diffusers work very well at night, i don't think there is a need to use two diffusers per torch as supplied in the pack, one seems to be more than sufficient.

I also have the same problem with well meaning divers shining their halogen lights on photo subjects, resulting in an orange "splodge" over my nice white light, which covers the subject - a pain in the arse!

In conclusion I would say that the lights are very good value for money, yes they have their downsides, but the advantages of the "better" alternatives such as Niterider and Greenforce, with their substancially higher costs, i do not think outweigh the disadvantages of the Lite Cannon's, unless you are shooting video for a living (or have large sums of cash to throw around.)

With the benefit of heighnsite, i think i would have purchased ball and joint arms to connect the lights to my housing, such as ucls, rather than articulated arms (because of the weight of the torches.)

Anyway, thats my ten cents worth.....

 

[Bobby_M]

For those folks who are using the light cannons, do you think it would be better to mount it underneath the video housing? It sounds like people are suggesting the cannon is close to neutral underwater so how much of difference would mounting location actually make? I am attaching to a DIY housing so I can put it just about anywhere. Also, how bad would it be to mound the light very close to the housing itself? Seems like it would cause less drag rather than articulating out a foot. I was thinking about mounting it directly underneath, offset by a 3" hard mount.

Bobby

 

[R.Soper]

I believe the lights are supposed to be at least twelve inches way from your lense to prevent backscatter, so having the lights attached directly to your camera with no "arms" would probably mean poor quality video.

I think having lights on the bottom of your housing would be problamatic, they would get in the way by hitting either you, or bits of coral / sand. By virtue of the fact that almost every maufacturer puts their lights on top of the housing, there must be a good reason for it.

 

[meekal]

what the 'BIG BOYS' do is put the BATTERIES under the camera and the lights on the ARMS 12" away. now that i just got my first canister light and i can see how actually 'simple' they are... i might get adventurous and make a battery holder to mount underneath the houseing and just have the UK cannon(s) be 'empty' with just the ballast and the light...... now THAT'd be schweet!

 

[CompuDude]

Just curious: would strapping some foam on top of the HIDs help with the weight issue? Just a little something with positive buoyancy to offset the weight of the lights. Just a thought from someone still saving up for a housing, let alone the lights to let me use it... (I know a photographer who attached some foam to his camera rig to help deal with the huge, heavy flashes, and seemed very happy with the low-tech fix.)

 

[chinadan]

Having used Light Cannons for 2 years I can only recommend to go with the Brightstar Darkbusters 21W or 24W.

Li-Ion is the wya to go, these lamps are lighter than the LC100 (in and out of water) and you don't have to bother with the rechargeable batteries/chargers etc.

The BS lights look a bit unprofessional but they can take a beating (I airtravel for diving). Brightstar is also one of the leading manufacturers in HID technology, so their expertise rests with lamps and ballasts. You will find their products in a lot of professional dive lights.

My LC100s are catching dust now...

 

[Fabulous]

Having used Light Cannons for 2 years I can only recommend to go with the Brightstar Darkbusters 21W or 24W.

Li-Ion is the wya to go, these lamps are lighter than the LC100 (in and out of water) and you don't have to bother with the rechargeable batteries/chargers etc.

The BS lights look a bit unprofessional but they can take a beating (I airtravel for diving). Brightstar is also one of the leading manufacturers in HID technology, so their expertise rests with lamps and ballasts. You will find their products in a lot of professional dive lights.

My LC100s are catching dust now...

Thinking of getting the BS 24W. How do you compare the light output between the LC & BS. It also appears to me the BS has found a niche with pricing around $250US.