SRP Tray / Dive Lights

[photopab]

hello all - this is my first post on these boards but I have been lurking for a few weeks now. what a great community!

i got certified to dive a little less than two year ago and have been enjoying taking dives with my wife once every 2 months or so for the past 2 years. we love it.

i'm starting to get really interested in underwater video / photography. but mostly video. i love being able to re-live our dives whenever i want. i recently purchased a GoPro Hero 2 with the flat lens housing and used it on one of my most recent dives in Key Largo. If anyone is interested in seeing the video, you can find it here:

https://vimeo.com/50574619

anyhow. i'm trying to build up better equipment so that I can get better video while diving! I saw that Snake River Prototyping has a new "tray" out that will help me reduce the camera shake i get from hand holding my GoPro. But what I love about this tray is it allows you to attach lights to it!

I know the value of underwater lighting in helping bring back "color" to my otherwise blue-ish / green-ish videos.

problem is, I dont know what to buy! I am on a very limited budget. can anyone recommend any good lights? i dont know where to start

sidenote: the video i posted above was edited in final cut pro, and in post-processing I was able to eliminate some of the blue-ish / green-ish color and bring back some of the natural colors of the corals. i plan on purchasing a filter for my GoPro, but I am really interested in lights as well.

 

[toozler]

While a lot of people would recommend the SOLAS 1200, it's not a budget option and I caught that on your post.

Forum user "RockyHeap" just sent us this link on SOLAS 600 on sale, check it out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/435422-fyi-sola-600-led-lights-sale.html

There are some people experimenting with installing diffusers on cheaper torches to soften and widen the beam, check this out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/425784-my-gopro-3d-setup.html (see pages 2-3 and on for a discussion on lights)

On the filter, if you dive local mostly (key largo), I would recommend something for shallow waters. Something too red would give the whole video a red tint.

Good job on the editing, looks good!

 

[photopab]

While a lot of people would recommend the SOLAS 1200, it's not a budget option and I caught that on your post.

Forum user "RockyHeap" just sent us this link on SOLAS 600 on sale, check it out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/435422-fyi-sola-600-led-lights-sale.html

There are some people experimenting with installing diffusers on cheaper torches to soften and widen the beam, check this out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/425784-my-gopro-3d-setup.html (see pages 2-3 and on for a discussion on lights)

On the filter, if you dive local mostly (key largo), I would recommend something for shallow waters. Something too red would give the whole video a red tint.

Good job on the editing, looks good!

thank you! i hate the camera shake. i am hoping the SRP Tray will help reduce that significantly.

SRP also announced a new "snap on" filter which I am eagerly anticipating. they have 3 other filters they sell for their scuba gear.

i just dont know which is the right one for key largo scuba - that is where i always go. most of the time we are diving in roughly 40-50 feet of water. but many times it also can be shallower than that.

URPro

the shallow water filter and the regular filter look essentially the same to me. they dont really specify depths for each one, etc.

any local key largo divers have these? any tips? videos you can show me?

back to the SOLAS 600... i saw that post! im sure at $300 they are considered affordable to most, but they are still pricey to me. haha. i guess i am just looking for too much on such a small budget.

 

[AquaProHd]

@ Photopab - Welcome to the SB community! It's a great group with a wealth of knowledge.

I like and recommend the Sola 500 Photo and when funds are available, I would recommend to purchasing a second to shoot dual strobes.

Filters... I am not a fan of filters to when filming shallow. 0 -15 ft depending on water color. Even though I am a distributor of the URP/SRP product lines I whole heartily believe Filter provided by these in-tidies are by far the best solution.

Blue Water suggestion: SRP CY Filter for BlurFix Slip Over filter: GoPro Dive Housing: Coming soon!
0-15 ft. no filter
18 - 60 ft. Filter if in Blue Water - Use Cyan filters
Below 60 ft... It's time for light

Green Water suggestion: URPro GR Filter for BlurFix
Lights or Gr filters for recreational diving / Videography

Definitely use Lights for night diving and penetration diving without filters.

Disclaimer: The above is just basic guidelines and not hard set rules.

You might consider purchasing a color correction solution before adding lights. (Just my 2 cents )

Hope this helps?

 

[photopab]

@ Photopab - Welcome to the SB community! It's a great group with a wealth of knowledge.

I like and recommend the Sola 500 Photo and when funds are available, I would recommend to purchasing a second to shoot dual strobes.

Filters... I am not a fan of filters to when filming shallow. 0 -15 ft depending on water color. Even though I am a distributor of the URP/SRP product lines I whole heartily believe Filter provided by these in-tidies are by far the best solution.

Blue Water suggestion: SRP CY Filter for BlurFix Slip Over filter: GoPro Dive Housing: Coming soon!
0-15 ft. no filter
18 - 60 ft. Filter if in Blue Water - Use Cyan filters
Below 60 ft... It's time for light

Green Water suggestion: URPro GR Filter for BlurFix
Lights or Gr filters for recreational diving / Videography

Definitely use Lights for night diving and penetration diving without filters.

Disclaimer: The above is just basic guidelines and not hard set rules.

You might consider purchasing a color correction solution before adding lights. (Just my 2 cents )

Hope this helps?

thank you! i am happy to join this great community.

when diving i am almost always deeper than 15 feet. even in shallow dives i tend to stay atleast 20-25 feet down. i think, and please correct me if im wrong, i should invest in a filter first? (is that what you meant when you said to purchase a color correction solution first?)

and then i can start saving for light solutions.

most of the set ups i see have two lights. i cant afford that right away. if i did purchase just one light, would that be good enough to start? or are two lights necessary for real results?

again this is all so new to me i have alot to learn. i would be disappointed if i spent $300 on a dive light only to find out i need atleast 2 in order to see any real effects! haha

---------- Post Merged at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:22 PM ----------

While a lot of people would recommend the SOLAS 1200, it's not a budget option and I caught that on your post.

Forum user "RockyHeap" just sent us this link on SOLAS 600 on sale, check it out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/435422-fyi-sola-600-led-lights-sale.html

There are some people experimenting with installing diffusers on cheaper torches to soften and widen the beam, check this out: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gopro-video/425784-my-gopro-3d-setup.html (see pages 2-3 and on for a discussion on lights)

On the filter, if you dive local mostly (key largo), I would recommend something for shallow waters. Something too red would give the whole video a red tint.

Good job on the editing, looks good!

thank you! i was amazed how much color i was able to recover in final cut pro. i should post stills of the original video. it looked nothing like my final product. it was extremely blue / green with almost no other color.

a few tweaks in final cut and i was able to bring back some color!

i really think i should get a filter next. it seems from all the youtube videos i keep watching that it helps a great deal.

 

[AquaProHd]

@ Photpab - I feel very comfortable recommending a color correcting solution (red filter) prior to purchasing lights. Take a look at the video below. This was taken by one of our local divers with less than 1 year diving under his belt and only his second time using the Gopro. Note; He's diving at 50 ft. with no light.

Gopro
SRP Camera tray
URPro CY filter

[video=youtube_share;jTMF4Tzjmv4]http://youtu.be/jTMF4Tzjmv4[/video]

A single light system is very common and can/will deliver enough light on the subject. Take a look at the below video which show footage with no lights at shallow depths and a single Ikelite video light. (500 Lumen) it also worth mentioning that the shallow water footage is using only the UV filter provided with the BlurFix. No color correction filter.

[video=youtube_share;IT3oAlNiyPU]http://youtu.be/IT3oAlNiyPU[/video]

Hope this helps?

 

[Interceptor121]

The general guidelines are as follows:
First 15 feet: nothing at all - shallow water filter are more useful as polarisers as there could be too much light than as filter themselves
15 feet to 60 feet red or magenta filter. Attention green water magenta filters are not designed to work with camera without custom white balance so be aware

The GoPro can't do macro so there is no point getting a single light with 60 degrees beam as the camera has more than 100 degree field of view and you would end up with a circle of light in the frame that is ugly
So for this set up is either two lights or no lights as there are no low cost options at more than 80 degrees beam except maybe iTorch4
As the camera only focus after one foot from the port there is no point having tiny lights or narrow lights. So you need at least 1000 lumens in total (500x2) as entry point that will give you average results. At 1600 lumens we are talking and at 2400 you are in serious business
In addition to Sola consider also iTorch4
In any case lights will only work from one foot to 5 feet after that is darkness and there are not many things that will like you beaming them up without fleeing off

Start with a filter...

 

[photopab]

@ Photpab - I feel very comfortable recommending a color correcting solution (red filter) prior to purchasing lights. Take a look at the video below. This was taken by one of our local divers with less than 1 year diving under his belt and only his second time using the Gopro. Note; He's diving at 50 ft. with no light.

Gopro
SRP Camera tray
URPro CY filter

[video=youtube_share;jTMF4Tzjmv4]http://youtu.be/jTMF4Tzjmv4[/video]

A single light system is very common and can/will deliver enough light on the subject. Take a look at the below video which show footage with no lights at shallow depths and a single Ikelite video light. (500 Lumen) it also worth mentioning that the shallow water footage is using only the UV filter provided with the BlurFix. No color correction filter.

[video=youtube_share;IT3oAlNiyPU]http://youtu.be/IT3oAlNiyPU[/video]

Hope this helps?

wow! ok a few questions. the first video. anyone else think its wild how the sharks kept bumping into him? haha. i dont think i could have remained so calm. anyhow. the video looks great but i fail to see where the filter did much? the video looks great, but very blue. even the part where he filmed the sting ray was all blue. i dont see what the filter did in this case?

second video - amazing. and i can see how the one light really did help. the shallow footage was stunning. i've never seen anything that beautiful on any of my dives and none of my footage has ever been that colorful! wow. makes me want to go dive tomorrow.

but i can definitely see how 1 light does help in deeper waters.

so what do you recommend if i were to start off with 1 light? whats a great one to start with?

---------- Post Merged at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:47 PM ----------

The general guidelines are as follows:
First 15 feet: nothing at all - shallow water filter are more useful as polarisers as there could be too much light than as filter themselves
15 feet to 60 feet red or magenta filter. Attention green water magenta filters are not designed to work with camera without custom white balance so be aware

The GoPro can't do macro so there is no point getting a single light with 60 degrees beam as the camera has more than 100 degree field of view and you would end up with a circle of light in the frame that is ugly
So for this set up is either two lights or no lights as there are no low cost options at more than 80 degrees beam except maybe iTorch4
As the camera only focus after one foot from the port there is no point having tiny lights or narrow lights. So you need at least 1000 lumens in total (500x2) as entry point that will give you average results. At 1600 lumens we are talking and at 2400 you are in serious business
In addition to Sola consider also iTorch4
In any case lights will only work from one foot to 5 feet after that is darkness and there are not many things that will like you beaming them up without fleeing off

Start with a filter...

ok so i'll start with a filter. the most i dive at this stage is 50 maybe 60 feet. im not an advanced diver yet. and usually i think we hover around 40-50 feet. since i cant afford two lights i'll start with the SRP Tray to help stabilize my video and a filter to help with color.

i'll look into the lights you mentioned and start saving!

 

[AquaProHd]

Attention green water magenta filters are not designed to work with camera without custom white balance so be aware

Shot with:
GoPro HERO2 (Auto White Balance)
SRP Camera Tray
URPro GR Filter (Magenta at 20 -60ft)
[video=youtube_share;4o5InmD_rng]http://youtu.be/4o5InmD_rng[/video]

The GoPro can't do macro so there is no point getting a single light with 60 degrees beam as the camera has more than 100 degree field of view and you would end up with a circle of light in the frame that is ugly

Again underwater photography is an art. I truly enjoy seeing the beam and hotspot (Light Circle) when night diving, ship penetration or even cavern diving . It lends to the feeling of diving in a dark environment and seems to communicate that better to your audience.

1 Sola 500 Photo providing 500 Lumen seems to work fine for me when shooting within 12-36 inches. Past that I would consider staying with a color correction solution.

 

[Interceptor121]

The stability given by the tray depends on having two rubberized heavy duty handles not on the shape of the tray
I have seen trays of conventional shape from BossK and Ultralight and the triangular one from SRP
Ultralight tray costs $88.85 with two handles you can attach locline arms on it or buy ball segments if you want metal arms (not necessary for Sola but needed for something heavier) this is a conventional shape
SRP costs $129 triangular shape with some plus and some drawbacks
I think the bigblue bossk is not sold separately from the lights and has ball segments

The comments on the magenta filter are not personal they come from the manufacturer of the filters specifically URPRO does not recommend using video lights together with the filter and magic filters simply say not designed for camera with no custom white balance so take this into account

For what concerns one light if you shoot macro it is ok to have some natural shade and with a narrow field of view all the frame is lit
If you have a go pro and focus at one foot plus you need a light with 100 degrees like the itorch pro video 4, a circle lit and the rest of the frame dull it is not artistic in my opinion just ugly but maybe I am a bit conventional?
I think bluewater photostore sells the iTorch pro4 at $499 which is not bad for 1300 lumens and 110 degrees! If you have to have a single light this may be the one but is quite heavy at the limit of a locline arm probably better with ball and aluminum arms