Night diving - what is it like?

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When I'm diving with my camera, which has two wide-beam video lights mounted on arms, do I need to bring a third, narrow-beam light as a backup?
If yes, what's the best place to put it? Clip it to the BCD by a lanyard, put it in a BCD pocket, mount it on the camera housing with a cold shoe adapter or a triple clamp?
I won't say that you need a third light. However, wide-beam lights suck for signaling, and IME light signals are important for buddy communications during night dives. And signaling with a light attached to a camera rig is pretty awkward.

I'd bring a narrow-beam light and carry it easily available, e.g. clipped to a D-ring or on a lanyard on my wrist. YMMV, of course.
 
Why not mounted in a soft mount to your wrist?
 
Why not mounted in a soft mount to your wrist?
I do that; my primary light is a SOLA 1200, and it's got a nice soft mount and a nice profile. I like it pretty well and carry it on nearly every dive, night or day.

That solution does also, however, come with its issues. Keeping the beam outside your camera's FOV to avoid hotspots in the pic, and avoiding shining the light in your buddy's eye when you're using them as your model are my main challenges with that option.
 
I won't say that you need a third light. However, wide-beam lights suck for signaling, and IME light signals are important for buddy communications during night dives. And signaling with a light attached to a camera rig is pretty awkward.

I'd bring a narrow-beam light and carry it easily available, e.g. clipped to a D-ring or on a lanyard on my wrist. YMMV, of course.

Good point about signaling - I've only dived in groups so far, never with just a buddy, and in a group dive signaling isn't really a concern - just follow the bright beams :) - but I see what you're getting at. On the other hand, stuff dangling freely from my BCD, or worse, my wrist, while operating the camera sounds extremely annoying.

Why not mounted in a soft mount to your wrist?

Something like this? Seems workable... as a backup light, I don't need to keep it on unless I need it for something, and an armband looks like it will both be accessible and won't get in the way. I guess I'll add it to my shopping list for the next trip.
 
Good point about signaling - I've only dived in groups so far, never with just a buddy, and in a group dive signaling isn't really a concern - just follow the bright beams :) - but I see what you're getting at. On the other hand, stuff dangling freely from my BCD, or worse, my wrist, while operating the camera sounds extremely annoying.



Something like this? Seems workable... as a backup light, I don't need to keep it on unless I need it for something, and an armband looks like it will both be accessible and won't get in the way. I guess I'll add it to my shopping list for the next trip.
We use this one with our fenix SD20 cheap Chinese dive lights. They work better than the first ones we bought which secured the light with velcro. OxyCheq - Light Sock *Raider 1*
 
Yes, a bit scary, but so worth it. Octopuses are a firm favourite of mine due to the 2 nights dives I've done. Both were done on a site familiar from previous dives and the shallowest/easiest site. The familiarity helps to calm the nerves. One was a twilight start, as others suggested and that helped. Or schedule for a full moon if you can manage it! Can't wait for my 3rd in a couple of weeks. :yeahbaby:

Tip: don't shine light directly at parrotfish in their mucous bubbles. It protects them and they could try to swim away and destroy it.
 
Why not mounted in a soft mount to your wrist?

Not practical if you're carrying a large camera (he mentioned two video lights on strobe arms) ... the soft mount makes it difficult to remove the light when you're shooting, which tends to either get in the way of the picture or shines in a direction you may not intend. Goodman handle's much easier to remove ... I usually just flip my light around so it points behind me when I'm photographing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Why not turn it off?
 
Why not turn it off?
That's one option. I imagine that it'll be more awkward with a twist-head like I have on my backup, than with a flip switch like on my SOLA.

I carry my light on my left wrist, so I prefer to twist my left hand slightly to shine my light away while still holding on to the left tray handle. The right hand holds the right tray handle and operates the control wheels and the shutter release.
 
I'm left-handed. Anything that projects forward over the wrist seems to me like it will interfere with camera operation. However, an armband on my right forearm holding a turned-off light looks like it will not get in the way, yet will be quickly accessible in an emergency - say, the coil lanyard holding my camera rig snaps while both lights are off, and I need to go look for it on the bottom.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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