Diving At Night Without Being Able To Use Arms to Hold A Light

[c172jeff]

Hi,
I will be going to Bonaire in March. The group I will be diving with will be doing night dives and I wish to go along.

I wish to be able to do shoot video and pictures during the dives, as well as see. Seeing/safety is of course the most important aspect.

I will probably be buying the I-Torch Pro 5 1600 lumen led dive light.

I never dove at night. I am thinking that when I get to where I want to be underwater, I can use this dive light to shoot video as well as focus.

I am thinking that when moving about under water, I can mount this light on my head and illuminate a big area in front of me so I can see adequately.

When I swim, I will be using my arms only so I cannot hold the light in my hand.

How can I do this? Does anyone know of a product where I can mount this light on my head and use it to see while swimming and then switch to using a ys mount on my camera/tray?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Insta-Gator]

As always, while diving at night you need to be mindful not to shine a light into the eyes of a fellow diver. However, I would think that a cave diving helmet with the appropriate light(s) mounted would work well. You could mount one light for navigation/viewing purposes and a different light for video. It would always point in the direction you are looking. A goodman handle would not work well if you are swimming with arms only.

 

[c172jeff]

Thanks Insta.
I just bought a
CREE Q5 LED 300LM Waterproof 30M AAA Diving Headlamp Headlight Flashlight Torch | eBay

300 lumens for $20 to test and possibly use if I can't find anything better

I will still have a Torch light for my video camera (1600 lumens). I feel the light such as the above would be useful when swimming (if it works) to where I want to take pictures. I'm not really interested in doing lots of underwater swimming, just taking neat pictures at night. Do you think teh above might work (assuming it is not a piece of junk and will does not interfere with my mask). I'm think the light such as the one that might work best for me is used my people who live in the water and do things like underwater welding on an oil platform. I bet their lights are much more expensive than $20 though.

Do you have any ideas of other such lights (more powerful, more money, much higher quality)?
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[TSandM]

I'm confused . . . why do you think that you can't hold a light in your hand when you are swimming? I do it all the time.

Most of the folks I know who use big video lights don't bother with any other light while they are filming.

 

[JamesK]

I'm confused . . . why do you think that you can't hold a light in your hand when you are swimming? I do it all the time.

Most of the folks I know who use big video lights don't bother with any other light while they are filming.

They said that they will only be using their arms to swim.

OP, mounting lights to a kids bicycle or skateboard helmet with the padding and foam removed works good. This is how I do things in small cave or when I will be needing my arms to pull me through areas and want to keep the area in front of me illuminated at all times.

 

[Insta-Gator]

The $20 headlamp probably is enough to see where you're going and may not totally blind your buddies if you look their way. I wasn't sure if you had video lights mounted on a tray or not. But having different lumen lamps on a helmet would give you tremendous versatility/options, IMO.

Please post videos after your trip. Good luck and dive safe.

We'll be in Bonaire in June, first time, can't wait.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I'm confused . . . why do you think that you can't hold a light in your hand when you are swimming? I do it all the time.

Most of the folks I know who use big video lights don't bother with any other light while they are filming.

My guess is that the OP is a paraplegic who uses his arms to move through the water. I have dived with a few over the years and this is their means of propulsion. For this reason, he cannot hold a torch in his hands as they are fully occupied.

 

[miketsp]

Hi,
I will be going to Bonaire in March. The group I will be diving with will be doing night dives and I wish to go along.

..snip..

I am thinking that when moving about under water, I can mount this light on my head and illuminate a big area in front of me so I can see adequately.

..snip..

Thanks,
Jeff

I don't know what Bonaire is like for a dive light attracting small creepy crawlies on a night dive but my head mounted light has sat in my junk box for some years. I tried to use it on a few occasions and always found that it was a horrible experience with thousands of creepy crawlies in my face.

I'm going to Bonaire for the first time in February so maybe I'll be able to tell you if this is a problem there or not.

 

[TSandM]

My guess is that the OP is a paraplegic who uses his arms to move through the water. I have dived with a few over the years and this is their means of propulsion. For this reason, he cannot hold a torch in his hands as they are fully occupied.

You are undoubtedly right. I'm sorry; I didn't see which subforum this was in, when I posted.

 

[Stoo]

I was going to ask why you are using your hands to propel yourself? If it is because you don't have use of your legs, then that's one thing of course, but if you do, then I suggest, respectfully, you need to revisit your training! Hands are for holding stuff...

I don't shoot video, but I do a lot of UW photogaphy. I'd suggest you sort out a way to mount your light to your video system so that the two bits are pointing in the right direction at the same time. Whatever video light you use, will more than suffice for a dive light. If you can't use your legs and are concerned about having a light in your hand, what are you planning on doing with the camera?

There are a number of ways to mount a small light to your head, up (down?) to and including heavy elastics on your mask strap. I have a couple of UK 400s (I think) that came with little straps for that purpose. I suspect you won't find something specifically for that light, but as others suggested, a helmet and some bungee chord opens up all sorts of options...

But getting back to the light/video dilemma, the other thing you want to be aware of, is the coverage of the light. If it is a lot less than the angle of view of the camera, you'll end up with a big black screen with an illuminated "hole" in the middle. Whatever you caudal together, it might be good to try it out before you go~