Archon D11V video light review

[3D diver]

You're going to have to experiment and see.

My diffusers have a soft edge so the light blends nicely and I aim them to achieve area coverage.

Lights like the archon which rely on the natural spread of the LED's themselves often have a hard edge to their light. This edge may be noticeable in your video and you'll have to learn by trial and error how to blend them (unless someone with more experience answers here).

 

[EL Pistoffo]

You're going to have to experiment and see.

My diffusers have a soft edge so the light blends nicely and I aim them to achieve area coverage.

Lights like the archon which rely on the natural spread of the LED's themselves often have a hard edge to their light. This edge may be noticeable in your video and you'll have to learn by trial and error how to blend them (unless someone with more experience answers here).

Yeah, your right about the hard edges.

Here some video of my lights in the pool:
[video=youtube_share;hM5GUj-pJc4]http://youtu.be/hM5GUj-pJc4[/video]

 

[3D diver]

Wish I had access to a pool for testing. I had to use my bathtub.


Is that the full wide setting on the GoPro? I get vignetting in the 3D housing in full wide so use the medium setting. You might find medium to help with the edges/light spread.

On the plus side, the low power setting seems to work fine. It will be interesting to see how things look in the ocean. The edges are probably more obvious in the pool than in natural terrain.

Overall, I think you have a pretty good setup to work with.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Wish I had access to a pool for testing. I had to use my bathtub.


Is that the full wide setting on the GoPro? I get vignetting in the 3D housing in full wide so use the medium setting. You might find medium to help with the edges/light spread.

On the plus side, the low power setting seems to work fine. It will be interesting to see how things look in the ocean. The edges are probably more obvious in the pool than in natural terrain.

Overall, I think you have a pretty good setup to work with.

Yep that's the full wide angle. It would make sense to me to go medium during night dive. I'll leave it at wide during the day since I would be using the lights for only crevices, overhangs, bridges and maybe closeups.

Thanks

---------- Post added August 22nd, 2013 at 03:44 PM ----------

You're going to have to experiment and see.

My diffusers have a soft edge so the light blends nicely and I aim them to achieve area coverage.

Lights like the archon which rely on the natural spread of the LED's themselves often have a hard edge to their light. This edge may be noticeable in your video and you'll have to learn by trial and error how to blend them (unless someone with more experience answers here).

Has any tried to spray their torch lens with Frosted Glass spray (Frosted Glass - | Krylon). I used this stuff once on a bathroom window and it does frost the glass a bit. I wonder if it would do a good job of diffusing the light, making it softer. I just don't have a spare flashlight to experiment with. Start with a very light coating and go from there.

Spray frosted glass:

 

[avigulf]

This is what is ideal: a dark cone in front of the lens ( so you dont see the backscatter)and lots of light on the object.

 

[3D diver]

Has any tried to spray their torch lens with Frosted Glass spray (Frosted Glass - | Krylon). I used this stuff once on a bathroom window and it does frost the glass a bit. I wonder if it would do a good job of diffusing the light, making it softer. I just don't have a spare flashlight to experiment with. Start with a very light coating and go from there.

I haven't tried that particular treatment, but did tinker with a fluorescent light diffuser material and have done some reading on similar ground or sandblasted glass diffusers. They spread the light wonderfully (180 degrees!) but are, at best, only 50% transmission efficient---i.e. half the light is lost in the diffuser itself. Holographic diffusers, on the other hand, are better than 90% transmission efficient, FWIW, but are delicate and can be expensive.

http://www.edmundoptics.com/optics/windows-diffusers/

Since you just need to soften your edges you might try a thin spray of the Krylon. Spray it on a separate clear plastic or glass lens and attach it to the front of your light.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I haven't tried that particular treatment, but did tinker with a fluorescent light diffuser material and have done some reading on similar ground or sandblasted glass diffusers. They spread the light wonderfully (180 degrees!) but are, at best, only 50% transmission efficient---i.e. half the light is lost in the diffuser itself. Holographic diffusers, on the other hand, are better than 90% transmission efficient, FWIW, but are delicate and can be expensive.

http://www.edmundoptics.com/optics/windows-diffusers/

Since you just need to soften your edges you might try a thin spray of the Krylon. Spray it on a separate clear plastic or glass lens and attach it to the front of your light.

I might try something along those lines

 

[Aquabot]

Those lights do work well, any luck trying to soften the edges yet?

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Nope, I haven't tried yet. I figure i'm going to try them first as is. I wont be doing any night diving anytime soon. Mainly for dark areas and close ups right now.

 

[fishstix]

I have a question about using 2 lights?

Do you overlap the beams in a way where they simply Illuminati a single spot twice as bright or should they be spread apart to cover a wider area even though you still get a bit of noticeable overlapping beams in the center?

The "Pros" are of the opinion that you should not overlap the lights. Have them just meet so that there's no darker gap in the middle of your field of view.