So decided to up the gopro video lighting set up with the OrcaTorch Double D710V Combo kit. Credit card company decided Im such a good customer they would up my limit...just dont tell the wife.
Well so the unit came nice and quick thanks to GIDive in Spain. Well the set is packaged rather nicely, the torches come with a nice hard soft case spare orings and the standard manuals etc...
Considering I had never used anything similar to this set up took the whole of 10 minutes and it wasnt exactly rocket science to learn to use the ball joint connections, 2 minutes on google and it was done. But some instructions would have been nice on how to put it together and how to tighten the joints. The whole thing is Aluminum including the torches. Finish is nice and as to be expected from OrcaTorches (not my first purchase of there gear). I do like it the feel of it all but there are a few things that could be changed, but we will come to that later.
So it is all set up as noted in the below photo using a GoPro 11 in the standard housing. So switched on the lights to the high standard setting and it is very bright indeed, how such small things pump out 2000 lumens Im not sure but they are bright and more than powerful enough for a small gopro set up, no hot spots noticed at all. Tried them on in varying levels of light including in the Middle East sunlight at mid day and was able to notice a difference in the area being illuminated. Be warned they get hot when out of the water, so dont play around too long with them out of the water.
The lower power beam was as expected and although I wouldn't use it, good to have options if you have a macro lens on the gopro and don't want to blow out the subject being filmed...or scare the bejesus out of the poor critter.
The Red light was again as expected, not alot to say its a red light lol, UV light above water is no different. Although my dogs seemed to not like the UV light setting for some reason, not sure if canines are sensitive to UV light? But my Kid had a great time scanning things with the UV light. FYI if your a house-proud Family or clean freaks, you will love the UV light, great way to spot dirt and other things lol.
Above water the rig feels reasonably balanced after a bit of adjusting here and there as with any camera set up.
Well now how did it handle under water. In short it does exactly what you would expect, the lights give great 120 degree beams with no hot spots, switches work a treat under water even with gloves and the footage that came out of the gopro was so much nicer because of the even lighting, but there are a few things I noted after a couple of hours using it under the waves.
Few Cons:
The following youtube link is for a small vid I took as a test run for the rig the other day
Well so the unit came nice and quick thanks to GIDive in Spain. Well the set is packaged rather nicely, the torches come with a nice hard soft case spare orings and the standard manuals etc...
Considering I had never used anything similar to this set up took the whole of 10 minutes and it wasnt exactly rocket science to learn to use the ball joint connections, 2 minutes on google and it was done. But some instructions would have been nice on how to put it together and how to tighten the joints. The whole thing is Aluminum including the torches. Finish is nice and as to be expected from OrcaTorches (not my first purchase of there gear). I do like it the feel of it all but there are a few things that could be changed, but we will come to that later.
So it is all set up as noted in the below photo using a GoPro 11 in the standard housing. So switched on the lights to the high standard setting and it is very bright indeed, how such small things pump out 2000 lumens Im not sure but they are bright and more than powerful enough for a small gopro set up, no hot spots noticed at all. Tried them on in varying levels of light including in the Middle East sunlight at mid day and was able to notice a difference in the area being illuminated. Be warned they get hot when out of the water, so dont play around too long with them out of the water.
The lower power beam was as expected and although I wouldn't use it, good to have options if you have a macro lens on the gopro and don't want to blow out the subject being filmed...or scare the bejesus out of the poor critter.
The Red light was again as expected, not alot to say its a red light lol, UV light above water is no different. Although my dogs seemed to not like the UV light setting for some reason, not sure if canines are sensitive to UV light? But my Kid had a great time scanning things with the UV light. FYI if your a house-proud Family or clean freaks, you will love the UV light, great way to spot dirt and other things lol.
Above water the rig feels reasonably balanced after a bit of adjusting here and there as with any camera set up.
Well now how did it handle under water. In short it does exactly what you would expect, the lights give great 120 degree beams with no hot spots, switches work a treat under water even with gloves and the footage that came out of the gopro was so much nicer because of the even lighting, but there are a few things I noted after a couple of hours using it under the waves.
Few Cons:
- The rig is small and if you have large hands of thick gloves of any kind, holding those handles will not be comfortable, I'm not exactly a large chap, and I wished the handles were an extra centimeter away from the gopro. But as I'm a warm water diver it was not a deal breaker. But not sure this would work with dry gloves or thick wetsuit gloves
- One thing I was very aware of is the weight of it underwater, the whole lot is metal so it will sink like a lead weight, so you will need to buy some kind of strap for the whole rig. Torches came with wrist straps for them, but you wouldn't want that weight on such small straps. I tried bungee and a bolt snap as had it spare and will have to rethink how to secure it...Suggestions welcomed. The weight may play with your trim, so something to keep in mind, I know it tilted me ever so slightly front heavy. I didnt weight it all together but its got to be close to a Kilo if not more in weight. Ill be adding some floats to help lighten it all up.
- No instructions on how to put it all together even though it sold as a combo kit. Wasn't rocket science, but would have been nice to have a documented instructions
- Lovely even lighting across the 120 degree beam on all settings with no hotspots at all
- My torches lasted a tad over the stated time on the box
- Batteries were near fully charged out the box
- Underwater apart from the weight the unit was nicely balanced once you adjust it all
- Build quality is solid as a rock, nice to see limited use of plastic
- Everything feels secured and solid, at no point did I feel worried that the torches will fall out of the joints would fail
- Liked how the rig stands nicely with no risk of tilting or falling when on a flat surface (as noted in the below picture).
The following youtube link is for a small vid I took as a test run for the rig the other day
