video lights... are they really worth the $$

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I apologize in advance if this is knowledge that everybody already know...
All lights have different color temperatures and those color temperatures will affect the color of your footage as well as the color temperature of the environment your are shooting. It is extremely important to take a white balance reading everytime (before)you press the record button. Also some camera will have a tendency to be a bit too green or too red. This is easily solved in post by color-correcting your footage. Of course you can change the color temperature of your lights by adding color gels, however I am not sure how convenient it would be underwater.
I should add that I have no experience with underwater photography, everything I am advising is basics for above water photography, so please fell free to let me know if I am wrong, I certainly wish to learn more about it.

cheers.
 
somewhereinla:
I apologize in advance if this is knowledge that everybody already know...
All lights have different color temperatures and those color temperatures will affect the color of your footage as well as the color temperature of the environment your are shooting. It is extremely important to take a white balance reading everytime (before)you press the record button. Also some camera will have a tendency to be a bit too green or too red. This is easily solved in post by color-correcting your footage. Of course you can change the color temperature of your lights by adding color gels, however I am not sure how convenient it would be underwater.
I should add that I have no experience with underwater photography, everything I am advising is basics for above water photography, so please fell free to let me know if I am wrong, I certainly wish to learn more about it.

cheers.
Click to expand...
Dude, you are making it waaaaaay too much work and not enough fun. I dive and take videos of my dives. I don't dive to take videos. I give away my DVDs to people or my hubby who is an instructor uses them in his classes, we are not selling anything. Videos are just for fun and information to us.

My camcorder housing (Ikelite) doesn't have accesss to manual white balance, it is auto white balance and the use of the red filter unless you are under 10' deep or over 100' (because the filter blocks light making video too dark). Yes, color correction can be done post-dive in editing however, it has a different look when you do that. I have done it when water conditions determined necessary. When I do upgrade to HD, then I will have access to manual white balance... but for now my only choices are RED filter or LIGHTS.
Someday lights......
Someday HD......
Someday....

robin:D
in 2 weeks I should have lots of video footage to share and discuss!
 
Here's an easy question. Do you like night dives ? If so, get lights. If not, you have a tough decision if the cost for lights is worth it to you.
 
ronscuba:
Here's an easy question. Do you like night dives ? If so, get lights. If not, you have a tough decision if the cost for lights is worth it to you.
Click to expand...
I LOVE night dives and do them any chance I get. But I tend to go ~~gasp~~ cameraless. Yes, I usually take a light and act as spotter for others like my hubby who is now the still photographer.
For so many years he dived with me as spotter and finally decided he wanted to become a photographer last year when I asked for the video rig. So he got my old rig and I got the video rig. So being a good buddy, I now spot for him on night dives. Yes, I would love video lights for my night dives and it will happen some day.... just not today.
 
I've found that if a subject is lit evenly that AWB does a pretty good job of adjusting for color temperature. And since I shoot primarily "close-ups," there isn't much intervening water to affect the light beam.

Manual white balance would be great... it just doesn't happen with my particular camcorders and housings. When I make my first million...
 
robint:
I LOVE night dives and do them any chance I get. But I tend to go ~~gasp~~ cameraless. Yes, I usually take a light and act as spotter for others like my hubby who is now the still photographer.
For so many years he dived with me as spotter and finally decided he wanted to become a photographer last year when I asked for the video rig. So he got my old rig and I got the video rig. So being a good buddy, I now spot for him on night dives. Yes, I would love video lights for my night dives and it will happen some day.... just not today.
Click to expand...

Don't count yourself out so fast. Since you are not fighting the sun light, night dives don't need powerful lights as day dives. I frequently use a single 50 watt lamp and it totally fills the frame. I think the twin 20 watt lamps you mentioned before would work great for night dives.

I strongly suggest taking your camcorder on a night dive or 2. Even if you just have another diver use their standard flashlight you can get decent footage if you are up close.
 
When in Hawaii, I only used the lights on night dives. Catalina, I use the lights (2 Nocturnal SL50s) for day dives.
I found it well worth while. Tight shots with lots of light, filter off, rendered nice video. Wide shots, lights switched off, filter on.

Dave
 
When my last video light "flooded" (three drops) last weekend, I happened to find a brand new UK D4 dive light on my way up from depth. I carried it with me assuming it was someone's from the boat.

I entered a small cave I "penetrate" frequently at that site, and found a huge moray in a large crevice above a shelf in the dark recesses of the cave. Never saw one there before. No video light to film it with... oh, wait, let's try the D4. A bit hard to hold it on the subject and film smoothly, and of course a dive light has a hot spot...

However, I was surprised that the footage turned out usable in my cable TV show (if I include the story of the flooded video light in the narration).

A friend of mine did his first UW video filming in Curacao using a UK Light Canon (HID) and although you could see the hot spots (no diffuser), the footage wasn't too bad. He now has real video lights.
 
I have taken my video rig on a night dive and used a dive light a couple of times. The video is okay but not great (you can see a clip in my Kona gallery eel video). I also tried it at Town Pier in Bonaire but wasn't at all happy with the footage - way too hot and camcorder didn't like focusing with such a hot spot. I think I would have enjoyed that dive much more if I had left the rig at the hotel.
Yes, those lights I borrowed in Bonaire would be nice for a night dive but if I am going to pay $900 for a pair of lights I would like them to work in multiple conditions. For just a few hundred more I could get the Ikelite pair and use them day or night. So I am still debating.... but since I can't afford either right now I will have to wait anyhow.

robin
 
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