Light & Motion focus light

[CADiver 2]

Hi folks,

Been a while I post here ....

What is the popular and good L&M focus light now ?   L&M said they won't fix my old 1200 anymore because it's too old and ask me to buy another one !  I am not sure what to buy nowadays.

Is it 2000 S/F or 2500 S/F.   2500 seems quite expensive, is it a much better in terms of brightness, lasting and feature ?  Or 2000 S/F is fine.

Thank you !

Dominic

[marcw 8]

I have no recommendations, but I will not get a non self serviceable reachable battery.  L&M charging $150 to swap out the battery, not for me.  Also, my bigger reason, I rather have 2 batteries.

• Always having a second battery for backups;
•  using one while the other charges
• if I have long dark dives, I can swap the battery on ever dive and not need to recharge during dives.
•  no need for service calls 

Edited March 19, 2021 by marcw

[davehicks 89]

I am very happy with the Kraken 2800 or 3500 focus / video light.  I use this on my camera as both a Focus and Primary light.

A few things I like about this:

• Swappable battery (but not a standard cell unfortunately)
• Two buttons make it simple two switch modes and cycle power level within each mode.  (Some lights do this with one button which is frustrating and error prone)
• Very bright in both Flood and Spot
• Red light mode is great for Snoot shooting so you can see the aiming spot

Kraken Hydra 3500+S Video Light (opticaloceansales.com)

 

[ChrisRoss 150]

I prefer a focus light to be not too bright, you really don't need a lot of light to allow your camera to focus.  A lot of subjects swim off if you shine a bright light on them.   I use this light:  http://www.inon.jp/products/le_light/lf1400s.html

Uses 6 x AA NiMH batteries so the same charger as your strobe batteries and can recharge them in an hour if necessary with a fast charger and it has 3 hours burn time on low power.  INON make a YS mount adapter for it - I use the 60° diffuser with it and I mount it on the cold shoe of the housing.  It's quite rugged and the o-rings never get grit on them and they are always dry when I remove the head to change batteries.  On-off is a simple twist knob.

[Barmaglot 226]

I use an Archon D15VP. Bright enough, compact, single 18650 battery, wide/spot/red modes, pretty cheap.

[CADiver 2]

Thank you for the response, appreciated.   I am a Inon friend, will seriously look into that.   Today, I went through some stuffs and found my other beloved Hartenberger Nano also pronunce death.   Try to open it up but stuck & don't want to over power it.  Not sure if it can be swap with regular AA battery or it has to go back to service.  Not even sure if I can find service, it's even older than my L&M.   So at the moment, I have no light, period !   

[CADiver 2]

 

Since L&M won't service my 1200 any longer, doesn't hurt to try take it apart myself.   So it's a 7.2v 3100mAH battery but it has 4 leads which I need to figure out why and what they do that for and see if I can find a replacement, size is the issue.  

While researching this, I notice L&M web site CEO said something about battery.  It turns out it's still a Chinese battery, not Panasonic or LG as stated in the page.   https://lightandmotion.com/blogs/dive-academy/sola-battery-bulletin

 

[SwiftFF5 134]

I had a battery go bad on a Sola light as well, and the light was so old, they would not service it. So, like you, I took it apart.  I figured that I couldn't make it any worse.  I appears to be two 1850 cells with some electronics on top.  As far as I can tell, the two red and two black wires are simply in parallel, possibly to carry more current, I guess.  I hope that helps.  If you find a source, please post it, and I will be buying some, too.