Just bought an Equinox HD6 Video Housing. I have a few questions on lighting.

[Dan Watkins]

Hi everyone, I need some advice. I am new to underwater videography. I just bought an Equinox HD6 for my HD video camera.

I plan to use it next month on a trip to the Bahamas on reef dives not much more than 40 feet deep and diving during the day time.

I am also going to be videoing my kids snorkling on a shallow reef, etc.

Do I need a housing mounted light? Will my video quality suffer without one in well lit and clear Bahamian waters?

If I do buy a light, does one suffice or are two needed? I have read several posts and read that the L&M Sola 1200 is well liked. I am also considering this light: Nocturnal Lights Single SLX 800i Video Light Kit KV-800I-S-EQX due to a good price and it comes with a flex arm specifically suited to work with the Equinox housing.

If I went with the Sola 1200 how do I attach it to my particular housing?

I guess in summary:

1. Do I need a light?
2. Do I need more than one light?
3. Opinions on the two lights I identified.
4. How to I attach a Sola to the Equinox HD6 if I went that way.

Thanks for the advice!


Dan

 

[Saldiac]

I'm no expert by any means, I've only been out diving with my Equinox HD6 three times so far. Twice at depths of around 12m/40 feet without any extra light and the vids seem fine (see e.g., first attempt scuba vid - YouTube).

I think you'll find that the way the housing impacts your buoyancy and your air consumption will be more significant than having extra light to stay relatively shallow. If you can, I recommend practicing using the housing underwater before heading over to the Bahamas.

Just my 2 cents. Have fun in the Bahamas and do post some vids!

 

[Interceptor121]

40 feet you just need a filter for wide angle
For macro you might need a very small LED light
There is plenty of viz in the bahamas unless you go inside a wreck I don't see what you need lights for

 

[ozzydamo]

Hi everyone, I need some advice. I am new to underwater videography. I just bought an Equinox HD6 for my HD video camera.

I plan to use it next month on a trip to the Bahamas on reef dives not much more than 40 feet deep and diving during the day time.

I am also going to be videoing my kids snorkling on a shallow reef, etc.

Do I need a housing mounted light? Will my video quality suffer without one in well lit and clear Bahamian waters?

If I do buy a light, does one suffice or are two needed? I have read several posts and read that the L&M Sola 1200 is well liked. I am also considering this light: Nocturnal Lights Single SLX 800i Video Light Kit KV-800I-S-EQX due to a good price and it comes with a flex arm specifically suited to work with the Equinox housing.

If I went with the Sola 1200 how do I attach it to my particular housing?

I guess in summary:

1. Do I need a light?
2. Do I need more than one light?
3. Opinions on the two lights I identified.
4. How to I attach a Sola to the Equinox HD6 if I went that way.

Thanks for the advice!


Dan

I'd get 2 of these Laluz Optics L800 & Canon S100 - YouTube
http://www.laluzoptics.com/L800.html
1600 lumen total 80* flood, perfect if you mounted them of wide arms to hide the backscatter.

you could mount them of Inon 1" balls with a clamp set up off those handles even if you had to drill them or use a clamp mount.

I use one of these as a focus light, even good for a main dive light at night.


use it zoomed right out and get close to your subject when filming the kids, move slowly so your focus is maintained.

---------- Post added ----------

I'm no expert by any means, I've only been out diving with my Equinox HD6 three times so far. Twice at depths of around 12m/40 feet without any extra light and the vids seem fine (see e.g., first attempt scuba vid - YouTube).

I think you'll find that the way the housing impacts your buoyancy and your air consumption will be more significant than having extra light to stay relatively shallow. If you can, I recommend practicing using the housing underwater before heading over to the Bahamas.

Just my 2 cents. Have fun in the Bahamas and do post some vids!

U could do with some lights yourself and some better viz!
- yes you want good weighting matched for the extra weight of the housing under water(weight it under water with scales above the surface dangling off a tether, then subtract that from you add on weights) also good BC so you not swimming it up all the time, don't be scared to use air into the BCD and try staying off the bottom a few meters at the lest all the time as you get smoother footage.

 

[diversteve]

I plan to use it next month on a trip to the Bahamas on reef dives not much more than 40 feet deep and diving during the day time.

I am also going to be videoing my kids snorkling on a shallow reef, etc.

Do I need a housing mounted light? Will my video quality suffer without one in well lit and clear Bahamian waters?

If I went with the Sola 1200 how do I attach it to my particular housing?

I never have. And I've shot video as deep as 80' w/o lights although there is a little light fall-off typically around 60' with the red filter. 40' in the Bahamas should be fine - I shot at 60' in Turks/Caicos (next country over and similar conditions) w/o lights 2 years ago. You may want a light if you're doing any under the reef shooting into darker areas.

The red filter will also yellow everything above about 15' so shooting the kids snorkeling you're probably better off without it. Yellow is hard to color correct during editing.

It will depend on the arm system you select. A quick look at the Equinox website appears to show that their method of light arm mounting is a flat plate with a hole in it that slips under the knobs on your removable handles.



You can clearly see a similar mounting plate in one of the pictures of the Big Blue system on their website.

On the other end of the Equnox plate you would screw mount a loc-line base mount adaptor or Inon ball/arm adapter depending on which light arm system you choose - loc-line will be much cheaper - but I could make the case for Inon being able to be more flexibly positioned. A buddy has an Inon system for his single video light - it cost him around $225 for all the component parts, clamps, arms, handle adapter etc. Then get the appropriate Sola mount for the 1200's. Most light systems will sell an option for either/both or some other sort of compatible mount for most arm systems.

It appears the Nocturnal Light mount would slip over the plate and be tightened with the thumbscrew as I don't see any other place on your housing with a flat plate that that clamp on base would mount to. Or B&H includes a bracket similar to the Equnox that it slides onto.

 

[Saldiac]

U could do with some lights yourself and some better viz!

With better viz I might not need any light haha. But for now I'm more than happy getting comfortable diving with the housing and getting better at shooting UW footage. Let's see how well the camcorder does at the Perhentian Islands in July

 

[bvanant]

A lot depends on what you are trying to shoot. If you are into scenic reef swim by type shots then only the red filter will be necessary. If you plan on shooting macro then I think a light will be most useful. Not everything you want to shoot will be out in the bright parts of the reef, things like flamingo's tongues and such are often in shadow so a small sola type light will do the trick. Mounting them should not be hard, there are lots of ways to go about it.
If you look at the Bonaire video on our website, (http://www.blueviews.net/assets/videos/bonaire10_rubblerocks_512x288.mov) all of it was shot with a single Sola light, getting the white balance right without lights can be tough.
Bill

 

[Dan Watkins]

Thanks for the input guys, especially the advice on when to and when not to use the red filter.

I went ahead and bought the Sola 1200 with the adapter diversteve linked a pic of. I decided to use the LocLine connector.

Hopefully everything works out well and I find some good stuff to shoot. Last time I was in the Bahamas I found a small pod of wild dolphins which I shot with a Canon point and shoot camera in "video mode" in a small camera housing.

Would have been nice to have the HD rig I have now for that...

[video=youtube;PeVBnDen4AA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeVBnDen4AA[/video]

 

[ozzydamo]

Thanks for the input guys, especially the advice on when to and when not to use the red filter.

I went ahead and bought the Sola 1200 with the adapter diversteve linked a pic of. I decided to use the LocLine connector.

Hopefully everything works out well and I find some good stuff to shoot. Last time I was in the Bahamas I found a small pod of wild dolphins which I shot with a Canon point and shoot camera in "video mode" in a small camera housing.

Would have been nice to have the HD rig I have now for that...

[video=youtube;PeVBnDen4AA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeVBnDen4AA[/video]

Good chance you will if you go to the same spot....looks like you'll have lots of fun with the hd cam there!

 

[Dan Watkins]

Here is the results with my new HD Camcorder and the Sola Light: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...8-my-first-hd-1080-60p-underwater-videos.html