Any thoughts about this light?

[acuevas 4]

Surfing the net, I found these monster lights the wasp.

I know they are expensive, but some specs look great.

 

The web site doesn't specify the burn time at different power settings.

 

Any thoughts about it?

[r4e 24]

Considering the price and unconventional form factor, it would be interesting if they could provide Wetpixel with a sample for objective review and possible comparison with other high powered lamps like the Sartek LED. See these LED lamps in e.g. Secrets of the Yucatan, Episode Two

Edited June 20, 2012 by r4e

[Steve Douglas 16]

There is a short film on their site showing some footage. 170º beam and 18,000 lumens. I can't tell whether there is a control for the power output or not. Yes, pretty costly but it appears that you might need only one so, for a total price, that might not be too bad.

Steve

[acuevas 4]

There is a short film on their site showing some footage. 170º beam and 18,000 lumens. I can't tell whether there is a control for the power output or not. Yes, pretty costly but it appears that you might need only one so, for a total price, that might not be too bad.

Steve

According to the web page: Dimmable from 0-100%

[acuevas 4]

Considering the price and unconventional form factor, it would be interesting if they could provide Wetpixel with a sample for objective review and possible comparison with other high powered lamps like the Sartek LED. See these LED lamps in e.g. Secrets of the Yucatan, Episode Two

 

Amazing video!!!

 

The detail with the Sartek light is that is just a powerful light head, but you need a canister to make it work, and I doubt you will have different power settings with it.

[Pete L 48]

The main issue with that light i think would be, being stuck in the one spot. It would be great for doing wide angle on a wreck or reef scene but when shooting macro or trying to put the camera in a hole you really need lights that are flexible.

They look impressive though.

Cheers Pete.

[Nick Hope 151]

I think this light would be good for survey work, ROV-mounting etc., and where you just need lots of light no matter what, such as in a big cave in clear water. If used on its own you're going to get strong shadows. It also looks too big to effectively mount on a normal light arm, and if it's mounted close to the lens there's a high chance of backscatter. I'd be interested to see how the manufacturer recommends mounting it.

[vimeohd]41629054[/vimeohd]

[Steve Douglas 16]

Agreed Nick..this is the same film that is on their website. There appearance and size is what led me to say that it appeared that only one of them might be necessary. It looks heavy.

Steve

[NWDiver 42]

This is a local company for us and we have had a chance to see this unit as it has gone through development. You have 100% control over power with a very nice full color OLED display showing power output and battery life (if I recall). Feels very solidly built and it is about 1/2 the size of your typical Gates consumer cam housing. It is too big to put on one strobe arm. For display on dry land we set it up with one metal strobe arm running from each Gates handle to a triple clamp on the bottom of the WASP housing. Longer versions of this would work underwater.

 

Want to get one underwater but they have sold all the first round of production. As mentioned at full power I think the trick would be for a single shooter getting the light far enough from the housing to avoid backscatter as the first versions had a 180degree beam angle*. It would be perfect for wreck or wide angle work with a second diver in control of the light. They have several very interesting modifications in the works but I will drop a note to the engineer and see if he wants to answer questions. I do know they are making a smaller unit in the 2000-3500 range, in a cube type form, think Borg for you Star Trek fans.

 

Could be interesting additions to the plethora of lighting out there.

 

*My memory is maybe off on some specs

Edited June 22, 2012 by NWDiver

[betti154 5]

It certainly an interesting and innovative design - looks like walli or Number5. I'm quite interested in this design as I'm in the middle of a custom build with a 20,000 lumen spec (on paper) for my own purposes (a particular cave project).

 

One of my design briefs was to ensure the light would have both throw and width, and that the throw and width light output could be independently controlled. My intended purpose is a big ass light to be carried by a model, and/or mounted to a dpv well off the camera. Currently I've found bare LEDs to have a seriously limiting throw, but on the positive side they have a great matte beam output.

 

My guess is that in any other than real clear water, the flare from this light will be a killer. The 160 degree in water beam width is impressive though. The most I can seem to get out of a flat lens is about 100-120, so am considering a dome but this is what impractical in a tec/cave diving environment (namely the dome will get trashed without a shade).

[HDVdiver 16]

On my recent trip to West Papua I was field testing a new compact "proof-of-concept" LED light which uses a 100w multi- emitter array and pumps out 9000 Lumens, 5500 kelvin @ 130 degrees for 65 minutes on full power (also switchable to 4500 and 2000 Lumens for very long burn time). I cherry picked the Chromaticity BIN so the CRI and tint is very nice on GH2 video.

 

It's quite compact and lightweight (1.6 kg) machined aircraft grade aluminium. Two in tandem (18,000 Lumens) really lit up the scene during the night dives with the whale sharks or on the walls at dusk. Truely an amazing experience night diving with so much light! Sometimes it was too much for some animals and the dimmer came in handy.

 

The advantage of two, I found, is redundancy, flexibility (both configured together or each on separate sides of the camera) and adjustable beam angle (for really wide coverage particularly as an off-camera model light).

 

I've only made a few of these for myself and some professional videographers for evaluation. I'll have a video up on Vimeo soon showing what these lights can do.

 

Single 9000 Lumen off-camera light (GH2 video):

Edited July 23, 2012 by HDVdiver

[r4e 24]

My guess is that in any other than real clear water, the flare from this light will be a killer.

 

For comparison, here is a wreck video in not-so-clear water. A single 200W HMI lamp was used for illumination. 16,000 lumens. With our murky waters, it was a bit difficult to get a backlit profile of a 70 meter ship, or even the rear section of it. There was hardly any problem with flare/backscatter as long as the lamp was not too close to the camera.

 

[vimeohd]46189946[/vimeohd]

 

https://vimeo.com/46189946

Edited July 23, 2012 by r4e

[Davide DB 494]

 

Single 9000 Lumen off-camera light (GH2 video):

 

Any photo of this beast?

[HDVdiver 16]

Any photo of this beast?

 

Here's a couple of photos. The first shows the size relative to the current production LED 4000. The LED 9000 is about 300g heavier because of it's all aluminium construction and bigger battery. Both are tested to 100m. In both units the head unscrews to allow quick battery swap and/or charging.

 

The second photo shows the handle removed and fitted to the Nauticam GH2. In real-world use there would be a reasonably long arm (I use the floaty type) between it and the housing.

 

There is an attachment point at the rear to allow two lights to be easily coupled together (with a special bracket) for 18,000 Lumens.

 

The one hour burn time @ 9000 Lumens is due to a state-of-the-art 5 AH Lithium battery. My aversion to Lithium batteries is mellowing after using this design which has sophisticated protection circuitry built in...and has behaved very well so far.

Edited July 24, 2012 by HDVdiver

[jonny shaw 16]

9000 lumens..... they pack a punch. 5500K and 65 mins on full power. Great specs, what is the cost going to be?

[HDVdiver 16]

9000 lumens..... they pack a punch. 5500K and 65 mins on full power. Great specs, what is the cost going to be?

 

Hi Jon.

 

Not sure yet...things are moving faster than I had anticipated. Everything I design and build is primarily for myself and a few working pro dive buddies to use so I'm forever improving things before finalizing the design. But I've approached the work on the LED 9000 differently and outsourced the machining and battery design to competent suppliers (ha ha...helps to have a brother-in-law with factories and a manufacturing network in China). I also personally select all material and electronic components so it takes a bit of time to set up a production workflow. I guesstimate it would be selling for around $1500 in Australia

 

 

So far the light has exceeded my performance and reliability expectations...even under tough "4 dives a day and recharge from an island generator at night" conditions. Also, I've finally found a 100w emitter array that is suitable for critical color work (there's many out there but most have very poor chromaticity).

 

I've always mistrusted Lithium batteries (from a safety perspective) but they do certainly offer burn-time advantages. However, if sourced from the best manufacturers (made with BiCMOS Protection IC's) and well maintained even I am slowly becoming a Lithium convert. I'll wait until my next trip in August and until I get more feedback from several other selected users (so far so good) before I make a decision about selling these lights...

Edited July 25, 2012 by HDVdiver

[acuevas 4]

Hi Jon.

 

Not sure yet...things are moving faster than I had anticipated. Everything I design and build is primarily for myself and a few working pro dive buddies to use so I'm forever improving things before finalizing the design. But I've approached the work on the LED 9000 differently and outsourced the machining and battery design to competent suppliers (ha ha...helps to have a brother-in-law with factories and a manufacturing network in China). I also personally select all material and electronic components so it takes a bit of time to set up a production workflow. I guesstimate it would be selling for around $1500 in Australia

 

 

So far the light has exceeded my performance and reliability expectations...even under tough "4 dives a day and recharge from an island generator at night" conditions. Also, I've finally found a 100w emitter array that is suitable for critical color work (there's many out there but most have very poor chromaticity).

 

I've always mistrusted Lithium batteries (from a safety perspective) but they do certainly offer burn-time advantages. However, if sourced from the best manufacturers (made with BiCMOS Protection IC's) and well maintained even I am slowly becoming a Lithium convert. I'll wait until my next trip in August and until I get more feedback from several other selected users (so far so good) before I make a decision about selling these lights...

 

This has been a really welcome hijack of this thread.

[HDVdiver 16]

Woops...sorry Andres. I didn't intend to hijack your thread

 

Just wanted to let you know that a well specified 9000/18000 Lumen light is no big deal with current tech. I suspect there will be many around to chose from very soon.

[acuevas 4]

Woops...sorry Andres. I didn't intend to hijack your thread

 

Just wanted to let you know that a well specified 9000/18000 Lumen light is no big deal with current tech. I suspect there will be many around to chose from very soon.

 

Don't worry. I really liked your post about the new light you are working on.

[Davide DB 494]

Given that this thread has been hijacked...

 

Speaking about monsters, there is also this Sartek led light head rated 10000 lumen, very expensive indeed:

 

http://www.sarind.co...rod=LED10000VW.

I've seen a couple of cave videos where the model was using this head:

 

You can skip to minute 2:50

 

[vimeohd]36657225[/vimeohd]

[Davide DB 494]

I'll wait until my next trip in August and until I get more feedback from several other selected users (so far so good) before I make a decision about selling these lights...

 

Let me know if you decide to sell these lights

[HDVdiver 16]

Thanks for pointing out the video. Very nicely shot and edited. He is indeed using two of the Sartek 10,000 Lumen lights.

 

I'm in the process of preparing to shoot a documentary later this year in the cave/cavern systems at Mount Gambier, South Australia. Reading Joe's blog and watching his excellent videos has given me a couple of ideas about a re-design of the LED 9000 specifically for caving use!

 

In your "Capo D'Acqua: a short tale" it looks like your model was using two LED lights together in tandem?

[Davide DB 494]

Thanks for pointing out the video. Very nicely shot and edited...

 

Yes, very nice indeed, both episodes.

 

In your "Capo D'Acqua: a short tale" it looks like your model was using two LED lights together in tandem?

 

Yes, we sort it out with what available at the moment. We had a couple of poor's man Darkbuster HID 21W Video lights. We taped them together for handheld use.

 

The wet connection used by sartek is very common for cave/tech diving. You have a separate canister/battery pack that can be connected to a primary light, a video light and even to a heater.

Given the huge improvements on video lights with led and lithium batteries, IMHO I prefer having a self contained video light. In a overhead environment, managing all those cable is a PITA. In a cave you would have a primary light with a separate canister, so one cable running from your hand to your hip. Then another canister with a E/O cord and a Y connector.

 

All those cords running on your scuba gear requires a lot of attention and they need some time to be accustomed with them.

 

For example this is another nice cave video shot with two Mangrove VLC-46, hence Led and self-contained. A far slick and clean setup. One of the divers/models has a couple of hid lights as the one depitched above. The only downside of the Mangrove is their weight in water: 480gr. It's very difficult to obtain a balance rig with them.

The lights strive a bit covering the fisheye FOV but it's the same with my 8mm and FIX lights.

 

[vimeohd]35833967[/vimeohd]

 

 

Bye

Edited July 27, 2012 by Davide DB

[Davide DB 494]

 

I'm in the process of preparing to shoot a documentary later this year in the cave/cavern systems at Mount Gambier, South Australia. Reading Joe's blog and watching his excellent videos has given me a couple of ideas about a re-design of the LED 9000 specifically for caving use!

 

 

Any news on your monster light?

[SPP 16]

Any news on your monster light?

 

Hi Davide,

 

That light has a long history since May 2011.

 

http://www.candlepow...ighlight=archon

 

 

You can buy it here :

http://www.easylight...light_p762.html

 

 

Google it as : 10,000 lumens dive light

 

It comes under a few different brands today. Archon or Xi-Ware, same company and boss. They are not bad, I got two of it but I do not like its battery pack design much. I consider it dangerous if user is not "electrically smart". The light power is fantastic but it is approx -900 grams in water with battery, so it is heavy. I think I saw a video somewhere in this forum where a diver uses 1 of this Archon/XinWare middle and two Keldan on the side and the housing is medium size, not full blown DLSR, I forgot who the diver is, sorry.

 

No safety vent valve too, any light using as big or bigger than 32650 lithium ion battery , I would want a safety vent valve for in case of flooding. Let the light be total loss, as long as not my face being a total loss ha ha ha. Even low cost iTorch Video Pro4 uses a safety vent valve, it uses 32650 lithium ion battery. Funny enough my Sola 2000 has no safety venty valve.

 

ON/OFF sequence is not friendly, spin to ON. SPIN OFF>>>wait 2 seconds>>SPIN ON again and power reduce. It has 3 stages of brightness.

Value for money is very high , color temp is nice and beam spread super smooth. See my simple test.

 

 

Have fun shopping....

Edited September 26, 2012 by SPP