Fluorescent light

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Brewingfisherman

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Location
Miami
# of dives
50 - 99
I know that fluorescent diving is ok at most for a little while. But I still want to dive with it on occasion. These are the 2 lights I'm between but I am also opento considering others.

Hydra 5000S+ WSRU - Kraken Sports

6500-Lumen Video Light | CB6500PB | Bigblue Dive Lights

I know the big blue uses blue light over uv light.

I am looking for a light that can switch between the regular white light and blue or uv light. I mostly plan on diving in the tropics with possibly some trips to British Columbia.

Thank you for any insight.
 
For UV diving you have to have 365nm wave length. If you use blue light you will need yellow filter (mask and camera).
 
For UV diving you have to have 365nm wave length. If you use blue light you will need yellow filter (mask and camera).
It is more complicated than this.
The wavelength you need depends on the subject being illuminated; the different subjects respond more to some wavelengths than others. Deep blue is actually a better than pure UV. See this article by Charlie Mazel, who pretty much invented the subject for us: Why NIGHTSEA uses Blue Light for Underwater Fluorescence - NIGHTSEA.
The purpose of the yellow filter is not to cause fluorescence, but rather to block the reflected blue light so that all you see is the excited fluorescence.
 
Having tried both, I can say that blue is FAR more interesting. Combo might be worth trying, except you're going to have to doff that mask/camera filter in order to use the UV.
 
Having tried both, I can say that blue is FAR more interesting. Combo might be worth trying, except you're going to have to doff that mask/camera filter in order to use the UV.


I was thinking maybe something that flips up from my mask.
 

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I have a set of nightsea filters that I purchased from Charlie.
One filter goes over your light and the other goes over your mask.
Both have elastic straps and it's easy to switch back and forth.
The filters also fit on my video lights.
Dr. Mazel also had a flip up filter made for inside the housing.
The filters are very specific and work great.
He uses the technology in medical research.
 
Deep blue is actually a better than pure UV. See this article by Charlie Mazel, who pretty much invented the subject for us: Why NIGHTSEA uses Blue Light for Underwater Fluorescence - NIGHTSEA.

I have a set of nightsea filters that I purchased from Charlie.
One filter goes over your light and the other goes over your mask.

Yes. My last question was going to be would it be better to get a set of filters and a plain white light either strobe or video light or both. Unfortunately I looked and looked and today I have gotten more information then I have in the last month of googling. Thank you so much for your time.

Plan is to use blue light to just illuminate and enjoy the fluorescent for a bit. Reviews did say that doing a dive on them gets kind of boring.

Final thing the bigblue light does have a red option so you can be a little more sneaky at night.
 
I find the interesting thing to do is scout around with the blue or uv light and find things that fluoresce, then switch my light to white and see what it "really" looks like. Sometimes I see little fireburst things in the sand, like little flat anemones, that are bright under the excitation, and invisible under a white light.
The NightSea lights made by Light and Motion are really good and really expensive. Mine is a cheapo Chinese thing that has white flood, white spot, red, and (really weak) uv/blue. None are very bright, but it is nice having them all in one package. It is a TrustFire DF30.now on Amazon Prime for about $30 more than it was on eBay with shipping from Hong Kong a couple of years ago.
 
You might be interested in this multi-color uw photography and video light XTAR D30 4000.
Max 4000 lumens output, four light colors - white, red, blue and UV. Multiple lighting modes for color compensation in uw photography.
For your reference: XTAR D30 4000 Dive Light|Shenzhen XTAR Electronics Co., Ltd
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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