Video Light on Sea Life

[Green Frog]

I’m curious as to whether any of my fellow ScubaBoarders have rebelled against the high cost of the ”dragon light” and tried either the Scuba Frog or Suptig underwater video lights With the SeaLife 3.0? I shot Nikonos cameras for 20 years and did a lot of mixin and matching , so I’m comfortable with the concept. In fact in the oughts and early teens I assembled a minimalist rig composed of a Nikonos II with a custom tray and arm I cobbled together to mount a little Sea&Sea YS-20 box strobe. Got a lot of interested (or strange) looks on dive boats but shot some great pix!

Sooooo, what I’m thinking is take the little rectangular Suptig or the little Sea Frog box and put together a tray and arm out of my scrap box. I’ve just about picked out the bits and pieces for arm and tray, but I’m wondering, something that sounds like my namesake or something that sounds Ike it came from the fatherland of my distant ancestors, And how about choosing between a round light in a little square box or a bigger, rectangular LED array?

I’d really appreciate reading about your firsthand experiences.
Green Frog

 

[GreggS]

I use a Suptig and love it. I used mine on a Sealife DC1400 until it flooded recently. I tried different configurations and found using a cold shoe mount worked as well as anything. And although I have to manually turn it on and off when needed, I got great photos and videos, especially on night dives.

Now that the 1400 is ruined, I've bought a GoPro and will use it with it. BTW, mine is a rectangular 84 LED array with 3 lighting levels.

 

[CT-Rich]

I bought a Movo light w/ tray for a trip to Bonaire. It worked okay, but you have to be careful the cold shoe is secured properly. The light came off the mount climbing out of the water. Another diver found it and returned. I

Personally, I thought it was a bit on the too bluish spectrum. But it gave a pretty even coverage. I did buy the 84 LED subtig light when I got back. I am making videos for myself and tam okay with the shortcomings of knock Off gear.

 

[GreggS]

Here are a couple of photos and a video I took on a night dive during the Invasion in Coz last year.using the Sealife DC1400 with the Suptig 84 LED light.

 

[Green Frog]

I’m primarily planning on still rather than video photography and even my basic iPad has an editing function whereby color correction may be easily accomplished. Thanks for the responses and I’m leaning toward the Suptig.
GreggS, enjoyed seeing your submissions.
CT-Rich, I enjoyed your video, but I had to read your text twice to catch your pun-ish reference to a “knock off”. I’ll try to attach whatever I buy securely.

 

[Green Frog]

Suptig arrived, and it is even smaller than I expected! I’ll be able to put together a really tiny rig using it along with my SeaLife Micro 3.0. I found an old tray from my Nikonos days that will serve as a good base and am now exploring arms and mounts. This should work out quite well.

 

[Green Frog]

I got lazy and bought a Zeadio “handheld grip” as a starting point. I just need to mod up the mount a little, but it just involves plastic and Super Glue, so no prob!

The adventure continues... stay tuned!

 

[Green Frog]

Got to my room in Nassau and the little Suptig had fallen out of my overstuffed “personal item” bag.
Sooooo… I left the Zeadio mount in my bag and just went with the little SeaLife and natural light. I was actually amazed with my results and have started another thread with a few of my favorites. Just as a FYI, I downloaded them via Wi Fi to my iPad and cropped them. With a little tweaking, I’m actually surprised with the results!

 

[Scott G. Bonser]

I’m curious as to whether any of my fellow ScubaBoarders have rebelled against the high cost of the ”dragon light” and tried either the Scuba Frog or Suptig underwater video lights With the SeaLife 3.0? I shot Nikonos cameras for 20 years and did a lot of mixin and matching , so I’m comfortable with the concept. In fact in the oughts and early teens I assembled a minimalist rig composed of a Nikonos II with a custom tray and arm I cobbled together to mount a little Sea&Sea YS-20 box strobe. Got a lot of interested (or strange) looks on dive boats but shot some great pix!

Sooooo, what I’m thinking is take the little rectangular Suptig or the little Sea Frog box and put together a tray and arm out of my scrap box. I’ve just about picked out the bits and pieces for arm and tray, but I’m wondering, something that sounds like my namesake or something that sounds Ike it came from the fatherland of my distant ancestors, And how about choosing between a round light in a little square box or a bigger, rectangular LED array?

I’d really appreciate reading about your firsthand experiences.
Green Frog

Well, Charlie, my start was full blast out of the starting gate but reined in with the camera ( Nikonos V ) with arm and strobe. I complimented a fellow photographer w/foreign accent and asked where he got his Double-Hose regulator. He had his awhile, then mentions they come up in classified sections a lot. I got my 1st ( DA Aquamaster ) and ( 2nd Royal Aquamaster ) for $20.00 each in ’83. He said using these would ‘steady’ my macro shots. …he was right. Although I really never kept up,with a lot of macro reef pictures I did shoot a lot of my dive club friends on various outings and trips. I have a lot of ‘slides’ I need to convert to e-media.

giantfroginthepool