Video lights help

[Hoczero]

Good afternoon, I’m having a hard time deciding on witch direction to go on the following lights from light and motion for my camera rig which is compose off a Olympus TG-6 and a GOPRO 7. I currently have one light it’s a sola video 1200 spot and flood but I’m looking on getting a 2nd one so I’m not sure which route to proceed, I dive in Southern California so most off my dives are in green water should I get another sola video 1200 or get the sola 2500 spotlight they have on backscatter I been looking online whit not much luck on the lights. Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[EvilOtter]

Lights of that intensity are only really useful for macro. Lights in the 5-8K lumen range are much more effective and will allow you to effectively illuminate portraits and close focus wide angle shots. Generally, you want two lights with a wide beam of at least 90 degrees. Bonus points for high CRI lights which give better colour rendition. Good value can be had from certain Chinese manufacturers (e.g., Scubalamp, Jaunt, Archon, Kraken/Weefine). BigBlue is another good value option but be aware that they do not maintain full intensity over the advertised burn times.

 

[Hoczero]

thank you

 

[2ndjetty]

Like EvilOtter said, go with the wide beams and not the spot beam. More lumens = more better for wide-angle video.

This article has a full section on choosing the best video light for your diving: Underwater Camera Lights 101

Good luck!

 

[runsongas]

@EvilOtter kraken is a canadian company iirc, not sure if they contract out the manufacturing or do final assembly in house like light and motion.

 

[EvilOtter]

You are correct that Kraken is a Canadian company. I understand that their lighting products are rebranded Weefine lights, which are produced in China. Both are well-reviewed and offer good value although I don’t think that they offer any high CRI lights at the moment.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I use two Big Blue VL4200P lights with my TG6 and Go Pro. DIY platform. I have found the Big Blue lights to be really good. However you still need to use setups in C1 & C2 and also know how to use manual Aperture or other modes on the TG6 and also adjust the power settings on the lights.

I've love them for the non macro, macro, and night diving. I've only had to charge the batteries at the end of the days diving which is normally 3 dives of around 3.5 - 4 hours. I have done 3 day dives and a night dive as well. I do not leave the lights running on the day dives and you will find on night dives the two lights on 10% power are sufficient. I take a lot of photos as well.

Day dive at around 34m depth full power...

Night dive on 10% power

 

[Blackcrusader]

Lights of that intensity are only really useful for macro. Lights in the 5-8K lumen range are much more effective and will allow you to effectively illuminate portraits and close focus wide angle shots. Generally, you want two lights with a wide beam of at least 90 degrees. Bonus points for high CRI lights which give better colour rendition. Good value can be had from certain Chinese manufacturers (e.g., Scubalamp, Jaunt, Archon, Kraken/Weefine). BigBlue is another good value option but be aware that they do not maintain full intensity over the advertised burn times.

I think sometimes a really powerful strobe is good for photos but I get good results with my lights. I really bought my TG6 for the Macro photos and videos.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Day dive around 15m depth