Which video lights for wreck illumination

[EspenB 15]

I really want new lamps for my DSLR based video rig (Panasonic GH3 in Nauticam housing) but fint it difficult to find a good Product to invest in. My current video lights are the Patima Redshark PL-2700W (2700 lumens). I really want something in the 5-10 000 lumen range, preferably LED based and no external cannister.

 

The L&M Sola 4000 and FIX Aquabolt 7000 is perhaps closest to my vision, but the Sola 4000 might not have enough output and my main concern about the Aquabolt 7000 is the inconsistent color temperature which seems to change a lot with the output power.

 

On the cheaper high output side you have the Archon 100W LED light, but this "chinese" light seem to get mixed reviews. Also the output seems to not be the 10 000 lumens stated. Also not possible to dim the light in an incremental fashion.

 

My light budget is arround 3000-3500 USD total.

 

Any suggestions or recomendations for products to look into?

 

 

[Drew 0]

Espen,

What kind of coverage do you want? The problem with going with lumens ratings, you sorta don't consider the spread of the beam. A 100° wide 10k lumens will not throw much light further than 1m than a 60° 6k lumen light. But then again you may get that headlights effect if your lens is too wide.

 

Here's an illustration (thanks to the guys @ Backscatter for making this chart):

 

As you can see, the Aquavolt 7000 is suppose to have 7000lumens to the Sola 4000 lumens, but it's also 115° and the Sola is 80°. Thus the Sola is only about 1/3 stop for being out over 50% less power. If you look at the Keldan, it has 6k lumens @ 90° beam, so it can stay with the Aquavolt. Same for the Gates VL24, which has 6k lumens @ 78°, so it actually is brighter until the narrower beam tapers off.

 

I think for wrecks, if you are using a rectilinear lens, 2 narrower beam lights will suffice and you can get longer arms to avoid backscatter. Of course with a fisheye, if you aren't careful you will get the headlights look.

 

Apart from the lights in the chart, you may also wish to check out the Edge Design Wasp. It has SUPER power when all lamps are on. I'm not sure if it's 32k lumens, but it's plenty brighter than my HMI 200W, but 2 of the lamps are angled to have a very wide 160° beam, while 2 have a 90° beam, because they are flat facing. so it loses a lot of throw for something like wrecks, but it's plenty bright. Only thing is it is heavy and negative. I'd use it as a tripod light than on the housing cause 2 of them would make your housing -4lbs buoyancy. Still if it's power you want, it's one of the most compact. Good luck.

 

 

[Jens Hartmann 0]

Did you consider these ones?:

http://www.fun-in.com.tw/oc/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1592

A review of the 2400 Lumen version can be found here:

http://www.fun-in.com.tw/oc/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1592

 

Jens

[r4e 17]

Just for comparison of what is available in the market, I recently purchased four LED video lamps rated at 80W and 8000 lumens each. They need to be attached to battery canisters and there are various canisters with e/o attachment. For travel purposes I purchased four 97Wh LiIon canisters because this size is still allowed for air travel. The canister provides a litlle more than one hour of burn time.

 

The cost for a single light head, charger and the 97Wh travel canister is 1320€ including Finnish VAT (24%) which is deductible for export outside of EU. So two of these would still fit your budget.

 

I have been doing some initial comparisons and shooting video in various conditions. I'll try to send some sample pictures later on.

[NWDiver 33]

As mentioned how about 16,000 Lumens?!?! 32,000 Lumens in Turbo Mode (burn time about 15min). This is the ultimate light for what you are talking about. Not as big as you think and can be managed and mounted for a person shooting solo or can be set up for a 2nd person to play "grip". It is quality built and self contained unit.

Edge Wasp

Edited August 13, 2013 by Drew
No linking of products by vendors

[r4e 17]

Here are some sample HD video frame grabs illuminated by two or three LED video lamps I mentioned above. Additionally, some of the pictures include normal diver HID torches (the hot spots). These examples are from the Ojamo mines where the largest halls are about 100 meters long - similar challenges as with wreck illumination. I have not yet adjusted for the different color cast/color reproduction profile since I wanted to compare the illumination against my earlier Salvo 200W HMI. The HMI gives fairly good color reproduction, but it is large, clumsy and unreliable. Later I plan to test a 300W LED lamp. Whatever lamps you use for illumination, you should note that: - light intensity drops by 1/distance squared, e.g. double the distance and the light intensity drops to one fourth, or triple the distance and intensity drops to one nineth. This can easily be seen in the pictures below. - as can be seen from these pictures, do not expect to illuminate anything further than 20-30 meters away - even in very clear water, high intensity lamps will cause a glow around the lamp. If you want more contrast in your pictures, the lamps should be atleast one meter away from your camera, or, preferably held in the hands of other divers... directing those divers is another story... - multiple smaller lamps will make the scenery more interesting than a single bigger lamp even when the total light output would be the same.

 

 

 

(comment: for some reason the last two pictures were cropped from the right edge, eventhough I added all six pictures similarly. Just click the pictures to view full picture.)

Edited August 14, 2013 by Drew

[Drew 0]

Richard, you didn't add the last 2 images in the post, so that's why there's a bit of a gap. I've fixed it and merged your 2 posts. Tough to do on a 3G phone I might add!

As for LED vs HMI, you may remember in the FS700 discussion, most cheaper LED have spikes and valleys in the output spectrum, and some cameras are affected by them more than others (like the Sony). Only a few LED manufacturers claim the LED output CRI is above 90. HMI CRI is usually varying around 92-96.

 

And you are absolutely right about the lights creating a glow. There's also the risk of a wide beam creating that driving in a snow storm effect. Inside a wreck, it may be difficult to have arms very far away from the camera or even a grip. So a narrow beam with a soft beam trail may be best for tight interior shots since light reflection will illuminate more of the interior.

[r4e 17]

The following video is a recent test video produced by a person I have been diving with earlier this month. Sample was filmed in the same Ojamo mines. Several LED dive light manufacturers are now proving that it is becoming feasible to relatively economically illuminate large scenes like caves or wrecks.

 

 

 

[EspenB 15]

I ended up with two Fisheye FIX Aquavolt 7000alpha.

[AlexDawson 2]

@Wolf Eel

 

Great Light you have and nice video! Any new stuff regarding the lights?

[AlexDawson 2]

I mean "@r4e" not "wolf Eel"

 

// Alex

[r4e 17]

I mean "@r4e" not "wolf Eel"

 

// Alex

Thanks Alex for asking.

 

I'll be able to make a commercial announcement in about a week or so and I'll try to remember to post a link here into this thread.

 

Meanwhile, as a teaser, here is a framegrab from HD Video footage I shot in September. The scene was lit by four 80W LED video lights each producing 8000 lumens. There is no natural light at all in the cave, everything is lit artificially. The scenery measures about 20 meters wide and 10-15 meters high, distance from camera 15-30 meters.

 

[AlexDawson 2]

Thanks Richard and thank you for the links you sent me, I will look at them more during the weekend...

Amazing shot, were is that shot taken? Love the light

 

kind regards // Alex

[r4e 17]

Amazing shot, were is that shot taken? Love the light

Thanks for your comments, Alex.

 

The location is the Ordinskaya (Orda) Cave, near the Ural mountains in Russia. The exact spot is a location called "The Eight" which is an entrance to a smaller side passage "Krasnoyarsk Right" from the "Big Room". The Big Room is so large (about 150x50 meters) that we didn't even attempt to shoot it...