Blue light for fluorescence photography

[tamas970]

I plan to start with fluorescence photography as well and considering two types of lightning:

#1: DIY continous LED light using a 50W 460-470nm module - I have a contact, who can manufacture an aluminium housing, battery compartment etc.

#2: Blue filters, cutting off at <470nm for my double INON S2000's - Here I am looking for the right filters that transmit >90% of the blue (below 470nm) and <5% above 480nm. I browsed through the Lee brochure but haven't found any that fulfills my criteria.

Which one would be the more efficient for photography?

In normal photography I'd never take a video light instead of strobes but here the LED version doesn't waste energy on unused colors while ~80% of the strobe's energy is not used. further advantage of the LED version is the video and focus assist capability.

 

[bvanant]

You can certainly do both. CW for focus etc and strobe for taking the photo.
For filters check out Nitesea they make cool stuff.
Bill

 

[DrKevbo]

[video=youtube;zbuTmvJeNfg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbuTmvJeNfg[/video]

This is a link to my first videos with Blue Light a couple of weeks ago. I used FIREDIVEGEAR.COM for my filters. They made me custom me custom filters. Good quality and cheap price.I was set with filters for my Sola 1200 video lights and my Inon Z240's. However, I found that I never even used the strobes. So much going on when you are starting this that you may want to consider just going Video or stills. I did take some stills using just the Solas and they turned out pretty good. Now if I can just find the disc I put them on.

 

[nightsea1]

Charlie Mazel from NIGHTSEA here.

You are correct that using a strobe with a filter will throw away a lot of energy, but strobe still more efficient than LED for still photography because of the amount of light it delivers in a short time. Since all of the strobe output happens in a few milliseconds you can set your camera shutter speed at 1/200 (or faster if your camera can handle the sync). I was just on Bonaire shooting both still and video with a simple setup - Canon G10 in a FIX housing. I used Light & Motion Sola NIGHTSEA light for focus, stills and video, and a Sea & Sea YS-D1 with NIGHTSEA excitation filter for stills.

Here is some exif data for a couple of stills:

With strobe - example exposure ISO 100, f6.3, 1/250 sec
With LED light - example exposure ISO 800, f5.0, 1/30 sec

These are not 1:1 comparisons for the same subject (now I wish I had done that ), but give an idea of the differences.

Here is a video I just put together from video and stills from that trip, all shot with the Sola NIGHTSEA.

[video=youtube;4rqe2JBL30c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqe2JBL30c[/video]

 

[tamas970]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go ahead with the LED light project, the S2000's are not too strong anyway.

 

[DrKevbo]

Nightsea1


Very nice. One of the best videos for Fluorescent night diving that I've seen. What camera set up? Tripod?

---------- Post added July 10th, 2013 at 06:01 AM ----------

Oops, just read that you were using a Canon

 

[nightsea1]

Hi Kevin. Thanks for the comment, and nice video yourself. Yes, I used a tripod (homemade). Made all the difference both for video and stills.

 

[DrKevbo]

going to have to fabricate a tripod. Mind telling me what you used?

 

[nightsea1]

I used 1/2" locline (50813) for the three legs, each terminated with a nozzle (51806) to make a bit of a point. For the tripod center I used a delrin disk about 4" diameter, 1" thick (I don't have it at hand at the moment for exact dimensions). To attach the legs I drilled/tapped holes into the sides at 120 deg spacing to accept locline 3/8" NPT connectors (51804). To attach the camera I drilled a 1/4" hole through the center of the delrin disk. A stainless steel 1/4-20 screw with large knurled head goes through this to screw into the tripod mount on the bottom of the camera. On the face where this screw exits I milled in a 1/2" hole to a depth of about 1/4". I put a small-oring around the screw as a retainer so it won't just fall out of the delrin disk. Topped that side off with a thin rubber sheet with a 1/4" hole in the center. This sheet both retains the o-ring and provides a softer grip surface for the bottom of the camera.

Those locline numbers refer to the part numbers on their web page - The Original Modular Hose System | Loc-Line - Half Inch

 

[DrKevbo]

I am going to give this a go. Any chance you can post a pic of the final product? I do love the McGivering.