Night Photography without a Photo buddy

[Wolverine]

Anyone here have a setup for their housing to mount a wide-angle torch for night dive photography? Need a few suggestions after a frustrating session of fumbling with the housing in one hand and a torchlight in another.
:overload:

[justleesa]

Well, when guests have gone with us on night dives I have seen lights velcro-ed to the camera set up.

http://www.uwdigitalcamera.com/Engli...gitalindex.htm

As far as my camera goes, I have the D-180 and it has the option to leave the strobe on....Don't know how long the batteries would last as strobe is fairly new and I haven't done a night dive in a long time.

[ssra30]

Depending on your strobe. Similar to the Inon D-180, IKelite DS 125 has a built in modeling light which is bright enough to use as the primary light source for night dive.
If your strobe does not have one then it is probably best to get something to mount a flashlight right on your strobe. This way, you will know if your strobe is aiming properly at the subject as well. If you don't have a strobe then mounting a flashlight on the housing is probably the easiest.

[chippy]

"Night Photography without a Photo buddy"

Just the thought of doing it makes me go weak at the knees :11:

[Wolverine]

tell me about it! gave up after 1 dive. I have the Inon D-180 but the light beam is too narrow for an effective shot. I am trying to mount some sort of torch on the housing but so far with no success. Does any one know if there is a housing frame maker with a clamp arm to hold a torch?

[Dee]

I use a Princeton Tec headlight. It's very confortable and the head adjusts angles up and down so I don't blind my buddy if/when I look at him. It frees my hands to hold and use the camera and I can still see everything I look at. It's part of my night diving gear, can't imagine one without it anymore.

Click ---->HERE. Mine is about 8 years old but this is the newer version of the one I have.

[ssra30]

Dee, ever since a friend of mine told me a story about how a barracuda got curious and decided to charge my friend's flashlight, I have been very paranoid about attaching any kind of light to my body,let alone my head. :11:
Of course now with my new camera gear, I think I would rather have a barracuda taking interest in my head than my camera
Anyhow, Wolverrine, what kind of tray/arm combination do you use. Some amrs such as ULCS or Sea and Sea has a little gadget for you to attach a small flashlight to the arm.
I can't remember which brand but it may be Sea and Sea who makes a rubber strape that go around a strobe that will let you mount a small flash light as well.
If you get your underwater photography gear locally, they should be able to help you with mounting a flashlight either on the housing, the strobe or the arm.

[Wolverine]

I am using a fisheye tray with inon arms. Guess a sea&sea may fit. I guess only way to go about it is to go to the shops to have a look. I have used mask torch (torch strapped to the mask) before but need something with greater light output. Let me go look for a solution here. Maybe I will strap a light to the bottom of the tray.

[Kim]

Dee, ever since a friend of mine told me a story about how a barracuda got curious and decided to charge my friend's flashlight, I have been very paranoid about attaching any kind of light to my body,let alone my head. :11:
Of course now with my new camera gear, I think I would rather have a barracuda taking interest in my head than my camera
Anyhow, Wolverrine, what kind of tray/arm combination do you use. Some amrs such as ULCS or Sea and Sea has a little gadget for you to attach a small flashlight to the arm.
I can't remember which brand but it may be Sea and Sea who makes a rubber strape that go around a strobe that will let you mount a small flash light as well.
If you get your underwater photography gear locally, they should be able to help you with mounting a flashlight either on the housing, the strobe or the arm.

I was on a night dive in Malaysia where a triggerfish also attacked someones light - probably not as scary as a barracuda but Titans have got teeth big enough to scare me!

[ReyeR]

I was on a night dive in Malaysia where a triggerfish also attacked someones light - probably not as scary as a barracuda but Titans have got teeth big enough to scare me!

Titan Triggerfish are BAAAAAD! They're more scary than Barracudas for sure, especially during their nesting period. I've had them attack my fins and strobes.