Question about lights for GoPro

[Grocio]

Hi there,

I'm a newbie in underwater videography in general and in GoPro in particular. Last month I bougth a GoPro and now I'd like to get a couple of lights for it. My question is about lights.

The widest angle of coverage of GoPro is 170 degrees, according to the camera specifications. So I concluded that I should get two lights having an angle of coverage of 110 degrees each, since in the European market I've only found lights having 80 or 110 degrees of angle of coverage.

Considering my budget limitations, I've found two lights that may suit my needs: the i-Torch Venusian III (700 lumen) and the i-Torch Video Pro5 + (1600 lumen). Their burn time is similar (60 minutes). However, and unsurprizingly, the Video Pro5 + is more expensive than the Venusian (323 euro the former, 200 euro the latter). Since I have to buy two lights, the difference in price would amount to about 300 dollars. My question is: for a newbie like me, would the Venusian be good enough, or should I better invest the extra money in a light which is in principle better, that is the Video Pro5 +?

I thank you very much in advance for your replies.

 

[Qasar]

I posted some times ago a thread on my Archon lights, that you can find here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/449793-end-got-everything.html

I don't know if the price is still the same now than at this time (130$ each for 1400lum video lights).
It's nine months I use them rougly every WE and I'm still happy for the price. I have done a lot of movies (20-30m wrecks and other stuff) with them you can find there: olivier vaujour - YouTube
The on/off system is not very easy to manage, but I don't think that it's worth 200$ more to change to a solar of something else.
I don't have any interest in this company, but as I received a lot of PM asking me about POC where to buy these lights, here they are:
Sherry Luo
Sales
Xiware Technologies Ltd
Skype: sherry.luo916
D.Line: +86-755-29462596
M.P.:+86-13632872504
Email:sherry@xiwarelight.com
Website: www.archonlight.com

---------- Post added November 13th, 2013 at 06:18 AM ----------

I forgot to say that I do three dives with the lights (let say an average of 30mn/dive) with no problems.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I use two 4500 lumen LED lights with my GoPro and they give off great light. I've tried less powerful lights and was not happy with the results. But then, I'm doing most of my video in caves. If you plan on doing any video in dark environments then save up for more powerful lights.

 

[tomfcrist]

I just use my old timey sea hunt era canister lights. Honestly unless I am diving in low light environments I rarely have a need for anything else. I suppose if I were to need to illuminate the room I would use 4000 lumen or better wide beam lights.

 

[hellhole]

Two lights with at least 60degree will cover the area about 1-2m of the Gopro views. Higher lumens is okay. But too high I will only see things whiter as it's nearer in a dark environment