Sola buying help

[Wicket]

I'm looking to get a light setup for my GoPro 4 camera. Should I get one Sola dive 1200 and one Sola video 2000 or should I buy two video 2000? My thought is if I buy one of each I'll have the ability to use the dive 1200 as a normal dive light. I use the GoPro for photos about 80% of the time but maybe with good lights I'd take more video. Thanks for any help!

 

[diversteve]

One consideration is the Field of View of your GoPro. If I'm not mistaken it's 170 deg in 1080p mode.

Either of the two lights you named have a 60 deg. beam pattern so for anything but closeup shots you're going to have some visible darker areas - even if they're overlapping. Plus in some cases - like night dives - you might notice the 800 lumen difference - that's quite a lot.

I noticed the 3800 has a 90 deg. beam pattern. For $200 more.There are a few 120 deg. lights sold (not by L&M) for GoPro applications also.

IDK if it matters in your application but I believe you can only recharge the Sola's - not change battery packs. The higher the output, the sooner you'lll have to do that.

Since you're talking about shooting video, you may want to review some of the other GoPro light options discussed here: GoPro Video - I'm not current on GoPro options.

 

[_Ralph]

2 Sola Lights for GoPro in Wide mode .... unless you like seeing the vignette from the light.

For any macro, I do like the look of a narrower beam, makes it more interesting to watch back.

I use sola 4000, mainly in mode 4, which is 2000 lumen output.

Another aspect is, how long do you want the light to last? and at what output?



_R

 

[tbone1004]

Cave Adventurers - Explorer back-up lights - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!

I use a pair of these for gopro use. They are helmet mounted for cave diving, but have friends that use them on gopro trays for video as well with great success. Quite inexpensive, use 18650's that are readily available and easy to swap, have about 45 mins of burn time on high which is enough for most diving, and they have the led color indicator for battery charge state. Not quite as bright as the solas you are looking at, but they work incredibly well.

If you call Cave Adventurers, they may work with you if you're getting 2+ lights. I'd get a pair of videos for the gopro, and one of the spots on the Oxycheq raider sock for primary light use. This is basically what I use when I don't need the full capacity of my canister lights

 

[Wicket]

Now I see I can get the BigBlue VL2800p for about the same price. Would this be ab better way to go?

 

[tbone1004]

With Big Blue lights, you have to cut their lumen rating in half to get a better idea of what they're actually going to output. They do not use a constant output driver, so over the first 30 minutes they drop from about 80% of their rated capacity to about 50% of their rated capacity, and sit there until the end of their burn.

I would purchase a pair of the CA Explorer lights before I would purchase BB for that application. CA has the same OEM as the HOG Morph 1000, so you can read reviews about them to get an accurate idea

 

[Wicket]

With Big Blue lights, you have to cut their lumen rating in half to get a better idea of what they're actually going to output. They do not use a constant output driver, so over the first 30 minutes they drop from about 80% of their rated capacity to about 50% of their rated capacity, and sit there until the end of their burn.

I would purchase a pair of the CA Explorer lights before I would purchase BB for that application. CA has the same OEM as the HOG Morph 1000, so you can read reviews about them to get an accurate idea

I'm just not sure on the beam angle of those for the GoPro. I can get a great deal on the sola and I don't actually need a primary or second dive light just photo/video. I was only asking originally about the dive 1200 because it would only be about 20.00 more to get one dive 1200 and one video 2000. This way id have the spot if I ever wanted to use it.

 

[diversteve]

50 percent drop-off is still 1400 lumens if that's correct. What are the Explorer's rated at? I didn't see it listed. Their wide angle setting is 72 degrees, the Big Blue 120' which more closely matches even the narrow setting on a GoPro 4.

wicket,

The Big Blue light comes with a 1" ball mount. So price the cost of a tray and 2 clamps. I've seen a decent tray with ball mounts/handles for just over $100 - even Ultralinear's should be under $150 for the basic configuration. As simple as they are, clamps aren't cheap either - around $25-30 ea. for decent ones.

Try Archon, Big Blue etc. as options. A couple of the u/w camera retailers also sell GoPro options, Mozaik, Backscatter, I've seen pieces on Leisurepro also.

 

[tbone1004]

@Wicket if you want proper lighting with a gopro, you need a pair of lights to remove the shadows, a single one isn't going to cut it, especially with as narrow of a beam angle as the solas have

 

[EvilOtter]

I use a pair of BigBlue 2600 lumen video lights with my CX-580 and GoPro setups and I am very satisfied. They have a very wide angle with no hot spots and a single charge gets me through two dives. I have not noticed the falloff mentioned above but I have no way to measure that. For the price, I feel they offer very good value.