I got my new 1200 yesterday and added the video light

[Madvelazquez]

Nice Shots NW Diver. I havent used mine yet. Will this weekend, but I did try it out at home with the different settings (just to see if it really worked). I asked Joe from Sealife which one is his preference and he indicated keeping the light on all the time is his preference. The downside is, you have to set it before you enter the water, so if you decide to use focus, you are stuck with focus for the whole dive and vice versa. I will try it different ways and post back when I return from my trip.

 

[klp5]

I found this interesting, a video light, I assume, is one that is on all the time? Strobe is one that flashes when the camera goes?
Just curious, can one just use a video light and turn the flash off?
I found some of my favorite pics came when I piggybacked on someone's video lights, 2000 lumensx2. The junk in the water seemed to get overpowered by the lights, as opposed to lighting up as lots of little dots with my camera flash.
Once the lights are on, can they be turned off while at depth?
Thanks for any help!
kristy

 

[under water]

I found this interesting, a video light, I assume, is one that is on all the time? Strobe is one that flashes when the camera goes?
Just curious, can one just use a video light and turn the flash off?
I found some of my favorite pics came when I piggybacked on someone's video lights, 2000 lumensx2. The junk in the water seemed to get overpowered by the lights, as opposed to lighting up as lots of little dots with my camera flash.
Once the lights are on, can they be turned off while at depth?
Thanks for any help!
kristy

Kristy, The reason you didn't see the 'backscatter' from your friends video light was that the reflected light was not bouncing directly back to your lens from a light very close to it.
That is why larger arms are needed for strobes, to minimize the amount of light that is bouncing directly back from the particles in the water.
Even video lights should be mounted away from the lens if possible.
Also, a strobe puts out a lot more light than a video or focus light, which means a lot more reflection.

 

[didi440]

The lights themselves can be turned on and off at depth. The issue is with the camera settings and lights. These have to be changed with the camera out of the housing. If you choose to use the video light as a focus light -- you select that in the settings and then house the camera. If you chose to use it as a video light, same deal.

I agree with what underwater said. I changed out the SeaLife arms for Ultralight arms and had much less backscatter in my pics. There are some where I didn't aim the strobes correctly and as a result had back scatter -- and a couple were actually a silt out just as I pressed the shutter.

I like the idea of using "Kroger" bags as a diffuser. I use the diffusers on the strobes especially when I'm shooting in strong ambient light on a white/light bottom.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

...The issue is with the camera settings and lights. These have to be changed with the camera out of the housing. If you choose to use the video light as a focus light -- you select that in the settings and then house the camera. If you chose to use it as a video light, same deal.

According to SeaLife's information concerning the newest addition to their camera lineup, the SL980, your information is incorrect. The settings for the SL980 are in the SL980 as they should be.

Everything about SeaLife is about aligning the issues where the issues lay... Strobe settings are in the strobe, camera settings are in the camera. It would be counter-productive for SeaLife to design a light that is completely independent of their camera that was dependent on their camera settings, and from my reading, that is not the case with the SL980. All settings are reachable through the SL980 for underwater decisions. But, SeaLife Joe would have to be the jury here, since he knows the most about the new light.

I would also go so far as to say that some of my own photos may have been (at some level of decision) a reason why SeaLife moved into the video/focus light industry over the past two years. Joe has seen images taken by me, and some others... watched some threads were we have posted how to setup our cameras and how we use the "extras" from other sellers to enhance our SeaLife images... Hell, I was told one time that my DC600 wasn't able to produce the pictures I was producing with it... lol

 

[Pillpusher]

I have the dual setup, Sealife DC1200 with Sealife Strobe and Video Light. I just left the video light on the whole time and was not aware that there was an option to have it turn off when the strobe fires (focus light mode as Madvelazquez mentioned).

Here are some links to a few of my posts:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sealife-station/234308-show-us-your-sealife-weekend-diving-pics-49.html#post5746613

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sealife-station/234308-show-us-your-sealife-weekend-diving-pics-48.html#post5685571

I think this definitely helped in the dark water of the PNW. I have only used the camera twice, once in Hawaii and once in the San Juans and shot on full auto. I did some basic auto correct stuff with Microsoft's photo viewer/editor.

Thanks for the links... It's much appreciated. Overall, how do you like it, during the day, compared to using dual strobes? Also, how's the battery life on it? I guess I'll probably end up buying one to use, at the very least, on night dives. I've still got a few months until Australia to keep an eye out for more reviews and sample images.

 

[nw_diver]

Thanks for the links... It's much appreciated. Overall, how do you like it, during the day, compared to using dual strobes? Also, how's the battery life on it? I guess I'll probably end up buying one to use, at the very least, on night dives. I've still got a few months until Australia to keep an eye out for more reviews and sample images.

I don't have dual strobes so I can't comment on if that setup is better or not. I just liked the flexibility of being able to shoot video or stills. Battery life is fantastic. I did recharge the batteries every night but I don't really think I needed too. The camera battery is the one that doesn't last long enough. It seems I can barely make it through two dives. It's worse when the water is 44 degrees.

My only real complaint is that the DC1200 doesn't shoot in RAW. I am hoping that an upgrade camera comes our that fits in the same housing someday. Our next trip is Kauai in June so I am looking forward to really giving the setup a work out.

 

[Pillpusher]

I don't have dual strobes so I can't comment on if that setup is better or not. I just liked the flexibility of being able to shoot video or stills. Battery life is fantastic. I did recharge the batteries every night but I don't really think I needed too. The camera battery is the one that doesn't last long enough. It seems I can barely make it through two dives. It's worse when the water is 44 degrees.

My only real complaint is that the DC1200 doesn't shoot in RAW. I am hoping that an upgrade camera comes our that fits in the same housing someday. Our next trip is Kauai in June so I am looking forward to really giving the setup a work out.

Ahhh.... Gotcha. How many dives per day were you doing? I also hope to see the camera battery life and the lack of RAW upgraded soon. I usually have the auto-off set to it's shortest or 2nd to shortest setting, otherwise, it rarely it makes it through two dives, and I don't think it's ever made it through three.

 

[nw_diver]

Ahhh.... Gotcha. How many dives per day were you doing? I also hope to see the camera battery life and the lack of RAW upgraded soon. I usually have the auto-off set to it's shortest or 2nd to shortest setting, otherwise, it rarely it makes it through two dives, and I don't think it's ever made it through three.

Just two dives per day.

 

[Madvelazquez]

The Crab photo I used the Video Light and Flash. The Flamingo was natural lighting (no flash and no video light). I will post video later on today (not able to do it from work)