Let there be light in a small package

[deepsea21]

Twin wurkkos DL07’s providing up to 3000 linens of flood each for 2 hour run times. Small Neewer shoe mount and 1 to 3 way shoe adapter, 2 more shoe mounts for that for the lights and the foam float made from a high density closed foam yoga block. Total price around $150 for it all. Can’t beat that.

 

[d^2b]

OK, but how does it work? I would expect that to be too close together, but I'm a stills guy, so maybe it doesn't matter for video

 

[deepsea21]

You are correct. Backspatter will still be an issue for stills that my wife mainly shoots as opposed to long arms holding flashes directed from the sides. The onboard flash on the TG is way weak so I added one of these floods to her rig for the last trip and pics came out much better but the flood doesn’t have much range so I thought I’d add a second light and see how it does with 2 now. Weight increased so I added the yoga block float. The goal is to keep the rig as small as possible and get the best pics possible with a tiny, cheap rig by most standards. Video will be great but she shoots primarily stills and the flash recovery can’t keep up on this tiny camera so video floods running all the time seems the best option. I’ve seen others run the pricey flood on these that makes the whole package much bigger and costs in the $500-$600 range. I had no interest in that. We’ll see how it does in October when we are back to Coz. The 1 light worked great in Roanan this month.

 

[tursiops]

You are correct. Backspatter will still be an issue for stills that my wife mainly shoots as opposed to long arms holding flashes directed from the sides. The onboard flash on the TG is way weak so I added one of these floods to her rig for the last trip and pics came out much better but the flood doesn’t have much range so I thought I’d add a second light and see how it does with 2 now. Weight increased so I added the yoga block float. The goal is to keep the rig as small as possible and get the best pics possible with a tiny, cheap rig by most standards. Video will be great but she shoots primarily stills and the flash recovery can’t keep up on this tiny camera so video floods running all the time seems the best option. I’ve seen others run the pricey flood on these that makes the whole package much bigger and costs in the $500-$600 range. I had no interest in that. We’ll see how it does in October when we are back to Coz. The 1 light worked great in Roanan this month.

Just be aware that diving with someone with bright video lights -- especially at night -- can be quite irritating. A very small strobe will put out MUCH more light than even a bright video light, AND will stop the motion so pictures are sharper.

 

[Stanleyh]

I love those Wurkkos lights. They offer the best brightness/size ratio IMO, and I feel those little lights are brighter than some of the big brand more professional lights. I believe the only concern might be the quality of the LED (anyone experienced any failure?) and the batteries, but I figure with that price, I can just buy a few backups. lol

 

[deepsea21]

I will say I learned a lesson about this light. I bought 2 initially... One for my wife's camera and 1 for me to serve as a primary dive light. Well, this is NOT suitable as a primary dive light. I subsequently bought a different Wurkkos to serve as my primary dive light and it is Awesome! Anyway, the first DL07 I took for a test dive flooded on the first dive. Around 20' it started to flicker and and as we went deeper is finally died. Upon surfacing I opened it up and that nasty brown salt water came pouring out with internal components and battery destroyed. The other one I had for my wifes camera after that first test I caked the threads and o-rings with silicon grease and screwed that end cap on with the grease squeezing out and since doing that and keeping it greased like that it has not had a problem on multiple dives down to a 100'. I left a review of the one failure on Amazon and Wurkkos contacted me and sent me another one for free. I think the key for this specific light is to grease it heavily. The O-rings are thin. We are usually told to just "lightly" grease an O-ring on most equipment but that is equipment that costs far more. IMO these Wurkkos lights are great, ya just have to grease the heck out of them and keep them that way.

 

[stepfen]

Wurkkos lights are great

The lights are great (for the price) but BEWARE of the o-rings that come with them.
After about 30 dives/6 months of "normal"use, one of my Wurkkos lights flooded. Upon inspection I fount that its o-ring has disintegraded (almost gone). I then checked my second Wurkkos light and fount that its o-ring too was in very bad shape. The o-ring material was just almost gone. Looked like chemical corrosion or something not mechanical wear.
These o-rings should last much longer than 6 months/30-40 openings, hence I think the original o-rings are made of very low quality material.
I ordered a new light and changed all o-rings to new ones (luckily I had stock as my old Cressi Newton DC had the same size for its battery cover). Now they seem to be ok...

 

[David Haas]

I'd maybe flare the lights out a bit if possible (cut the foam block?)

Or here's another possible simple solution:

* One clean used Inon S2000 strobe - approximately $200-$250 (or less now Inon S220 replacement model is now out.)

* Inon Shoe Base II which fits any cold shoe on a housing - $28.00

* Add any low cost fiber optic cord - maybe $45.00

Much more power out to 4' - 5' and easy to dive with.

Photos below taken of a friend (with a much larger set up than I prefer!) using my one strobe technique

Just one old guy's opinion

David Haas

 

[stepfen]

I'd maybe flare the lights out a bit if possible (cut the foam block?)

Or here's another possible simple solution:

* One clean used Inon S2000 strobe - approximately $200-$250 (or less now Inon S220 replacement model is now out.)

* Inon Shoe Base II which fits any cold shoe on a housing - $28.00

* Add any low cost fiber optic cord - maybe $45.00

Much more power out to 4' - 5' and easy to dive with.

Photos below taken of a friend (with a much larger set up than I prefer!) using my one strobe technique

Just one old guy's opinion

David Haas

View attachment 801417View attachment 801418View attachment 801419

You probably replied to the wrong thread mate... It's a pity because it looks like a good one

 

[David Haas]

Stephen,

No, I was only sharing another option instead of using video lights for still image photography was my point.

A few others mentioned even a small strobe will light a still photo more than inexpensive video lights. Especially on a compact camera as the original posting person mentioned.

I know some prefer to use video lights especially if shooting more video than still photographs.

Whatever people decide is fine as having fun recording your dives is the goal.

The only one who needs to be happy with images or video is one's self

Enjoy!

DH