cheap lights or no lights at all?

[stepfen]

Hello,

I recently bought a sony a5100 with the meikon housing. Fortunately I managed to buy these unfortunately I don't have much budget left for decent lights/strobes.

My question is: Compared to no lights at all (except the build in flash) does it worth to try cheap video lights like these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MA6AF4J/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IYEAPK7URFHL&colid=2V0DE09Y5ACZD&psc=0
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWOV...liid=I3PGVEOBFMFLI2&colid=2V0DE09Y5ACZD&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FD3Q...liid=I1FIVD9CYOCEF1&colid=2V0DE09Y5ACZD&psc=1
paired with a basic tray.

I do have background in dry-land photography (I own and use a DSLR for years) but I don't have experience underwater to know how much such lights might help or not. Underwater I have used a gopro clone in some dives and I was not particularly satisfied.

I have a trip arranged to Raja Ampat in early March. Until then I will not have much chances to dive with my new rig (maybe 2 or 4 dives if I am lucky). Based on my lack of experience I don't plan to focus on photography during my trip. Mostly I want to enjoy diving and the place with few shots or videos here and there. Would such lights help at all??

Thanks in advance

 

[northernone]

Lights make a world of difference for macro / medium close up. Even relatively cheap ones. Be prepared for significant learning curve though compared to land based photography.

 

[tursiops]

Lights make a world of difference for macro / medium close up. Even relatively cheap ones. Be prepared for significant learning curve though compared to land based photography.

^^^This^^^

 

[uncfnp]

We are purely amatuer but have fairly good results with two of these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0779NP7VT/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We recently had one flood and replaced it with the same light. The ring that holds the lens had loosened so be careful of that if you order one.

Here is a link to a recent trip video

Bonaire December 2017 trip video.

And a night vid

Paradise Reef night dive

 

[fmerkel]

No experience with the first 2. I've personally used the Evolva as a focus light. A buddy uses 2 as a light source for photography in the NW like uncfnp. It's kind of a 'best buy' for this category....but....the magnetic slide mechanism is a cheap carbon steel spring and magnet. They WILL rust out with saltwater use and even extensive rinsing will only slow down the inevitable.
Mine opened up with a #5 TORX bit if I remember right. I'd pack it with silicone dive grease BEFORE you dive it, and do it again after any trip. Rinse and soak well after diving and work the switch a bunch to try to pump the saltwater out. Then do it again after the rinse to get as much water as possible out. I had to go to 3 really good hardware stores and finally found a replacement spring. If nothing else works you can remove the spring, KEEP THE MAGNET, you need that for activating the switch, and put a rubber band on the outside to retract the switch to the back position. This works fine on a CLEAN and lubed switch. If rusted junk is inside the switch it probably will get jammed until you clean it out.

Note - I said 'best buy', but that's .....barely adequate. After 2 years of doing this my buddy JUST got a strobe (he didn't want the expense). His pictures improved immediately. He finally had enough light to not have a constantly wide open f-stop and slow shutter speeds.

 

[Chris Ross]

You will be surprised how bright the light needs to be take images UW, I have a 700 lumen focus light with a 60° beam and it needs 1/60 @ f4 and ISO800 on a quite close subject to get a good exposure. These light are however spreading their 700-1800 lumens over a 110° beam in the case of the torch, beam angle does not seem to be mentioned for the go-pro lights, presumably similar to a go-pro coverage.

They will work well with compacts as go-pros and compacts all have reasonably fast lenses and they are as sharp as they are going to get wide open and because of the small sensor have decent DOF there as well. So these light probably work better with those type of sensors. On APS-C camera you will want to be stopping down. So their usefulness in wide angle is not so good. For macro you can use a relatively narrow field torch with a diffuser and get it is close so that is more likely to be successful in cheaper lights. If you got the 1800 lumen light and had a locline arm to hold it in a good position, nice and close it would probably do good macro.

 

[stepfen]

Thanks a lot. As usual lots of things to consider. And I haven't decided about the tray yet...

 

[JohnnyC]

Video lights aren't good for photography, They just don't have the output. Strobes are really required for still photography. You can fudge it a little bit, but the results are night and day different once you get a strobe.

You're also really going to want a tray and some arms. You want to get the lights away from the camera. Too close and you're going to run into issues illuminating all of the particulate in the water. Even if it looks clear, there's stuff floating there that will light up like a Christmas tree.

 

[stepfen]

You're also really going to want a tray and some arms. You want to get the lights away from the camera. Too close and you're going to run into issues illuminating all of the particulate in the water. Even if it looks clear, there's stuff floating there that will light up like a Christmas tree.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm well aware of these. For the time being I'm thinking to go the DIY way. I've seen a U shaped "tray" made of 1 inch or so heavy duty plastic piping. I haven't got the housing in my hands yet. Waiting to see the size/weight/volume of the system to decide.

 

[npole]

If you want to still (relatively) cheap, but want a light comparable to a 500$ one or more (amount of light.. not reliability of built quility).. this is the answer:

https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B072C5M3YZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Own two of them, surely they aren't 12k lumens.. but 8K each are great for near-mid subjects.

PS: if you're not interested in making videos, I would suggest to go for a flash.. the amount of instantaneous light made by a flash cannot be replicated by any torch.