Modeling/focus lite to go with a FIX S95 housing, D2000 or

[diver 85]

Z240 strobe???....Looking @ putting together above package(with WA capabilities--?UWL 04) and thinking of adding modeling lite----mainly for video usage.....Anyway, what's the best way to go NOT going the $500+ route??....tia...

 

[Doubler]

Big Blue 1x5AF LED Focus Light
5 Watt/200 Lumens Aluminum LED Focus & Dive Light with auto light off Capture the underwater world with perfect p…
$169.99 $159.99

Works great. Ocean Optical Sales carries them

 

[diver 85]

Thanks Doubler---thru goggling earlier yesterday, I had found the Big Blue lite--but only in a blue finish & was wondering about this setup............?By chance, do you have a pic you can share of your unit ie the gold Big Blue mounted??......tia...Joe.

 

[Doubler]

Joe I don't have a photo. Mounting depends on what housing you have. I use it on my Ikelite P&S housing by using a triangle/triple mount and on my DSLR I use the hot shoe mount. The light is very bright and I use it as a dive light at night. It is a little unnerving at first when the light shuts off for 3 seconds when the strobe fires but you get used to it. You can place a piece of tape over the sensor to deactivate this function.
What part of Louisiana are you from. I was born and raised in Chalmette.

 

[diver 85]

Again thanks--I'm gunna go with the FIX housing on this one...I live in SW Louisiana, DeRidder, about 45 miles north of Lake Charles...Originally I'm from the big metropolis of Bunkie , lol , but been gone from there since 1970 upon graduting from hs....Guess you do a lot of local cold water diving up there...

 

[bvanant]

If you are interested in a focus light, the big blue (comes in many colors) will be OK. As a video light, not so much. Video needs lots of light, unless you are shooting only macro stuff from a few inches away.
Bill

 

[JackConnick]

I would agree with Bill, the 1x5AFO is a great light at 200 lumins for the price, but you need a minimum of 500 lumins for video. They do have the 3x5 AFO also, or there's several other lights in that $3-400 price range. The iTorch video light is fairly small and powerful for instance. I stock the Big Blue 1x5 AFO in 3 colors. The AFO refers to an auto "blinking" function.

I have them all here, some with mounting kits.

Jack

 

[dogdrjohn]

I really like my INON LE-550W lights - 75 degree wide angle 550 lumen lights that use 3 AA batteries. Cost a little over $200 each and I have two. They make some nice little brackets that will attach to a strobe arm - I sometimes dive with the lights on a little flex shoe arm on the cold shoe of a FIX housing, sometimes just the lights sometimes with D2000 strobe as well, or else everything on a regular tray/arm setuo. They come with a little diffuser to make an even wider beam. Nice even beam. IMHO MUCH brighter than Big Blue lights, even those with similar output ratings, great color temo 6000K and freshly charged eneloops will run them for two dives if not on all the time.

 

[diver 85]

I really like my INON LE-550W lights - 75 degree wide angle 550 lumen lights that use 3 AA batteries. Cost a little over $200 each and I have two. They make some nice little brackets that will attach to a strobe arm - I sometimes dive with the lights on a little flex shoe arm on the cold shoe of a FIX housing, sometimes just the lights sometimes with D2000 strobe as well, or else everything on a regular tray/arm setuo. They come with a little diffuser to make an even wider beam. Nice even beam. IMHO MUCH brighter than Big Blue lights, even those with similar output ratings, great color temo 6000K and freshly charged eneloops will run them for two dives if not on all the time.

Thanks for the info---are these the ones(link below)??....Tell me more please, you use them as what exactly-- modeling , focus lights, as video lites??...

Sea Optics/Inon LED Photo & Video Lights/LE550W

 

[dogdrjohn]

Yes, that is what I have. I think they are available from Reef Photo, though I got mine from Yuzo Kanda in Japan - naturephoto or uwdigitalcamera or both - because Reef did not have them when I wanted to buy them for a trip to the Philippines last May. The beam spread without the diffuser is probably wide enough for the S90/S95, but is certainly NOT wide enough to light up the whole field when an INON UFL-165AD wide angle is mounted and the camera zoomed to 35mm (to eliminate vignetting with the lens). Very well made. Switched by turning the rear knob so not quite as convenient as a simple switch, but the rear is NOT where you put the batteries in, so no chance of unscrewing it too much and allowing water into the battery compartment. Also comes with some color filter/diffusers - INON recommends the pink one for the S90 and maybe orange for Fuji cameras, but I generally just use the white/clear diffuser. INON has some pictures on their website taken with an S90 with D2000, clear diffuser, and pink diffuser so you can see the difference in color rendition. I don't know what WB setting they were using. Because of 3 AA batteries end-to-end the light is a little long (about 8 inches), but probably hardly any longer than the Big Blue and something about the pointy end of their styling directed at my face puts me off a little. At least these look very tough - I imagine you could drive a car tire over them and they would still work and not leak. I wanted to like the BB lights, but whenever I tried one in a local dive shop the light output seemed sort of weak (they always said because the batteries were not new) and I guarantee you will not think the INONs are weak if you try them with freshly charged or new alkaline batteries. Make sure you get the WA, not the narrow beam light.