Suggestions for fluorescence light?

[ChemProf]

I'm leaving for Guanaja in a few weeks and imagine myself spending time in the close to shore reef areas at night, with/without my camera (Nikon J2/WP-N1). I've never done any fluorescent exploration diving before. Finding a blue light that would work both with that setup and for simple exploration is a trip by itself.

I see the following possibilities:

Sola NightSea
Galaxy Blue
The FDG/Riff TL Azur
TillyTec Maxi Uni (may not be available in time, though)

Any others? Are these even comparable?

Some of these are pretty high in $$ (> $500), which begins to weigh in on the decision (I need a good reason why another $100-200 is valuable).

Adequate intensity for photos (guessing 3-4 feet (1-1.25 m) or less for most shots, I'm guessing? Are photos the intensity demanding part of this, or the purely visual exploration?

Many thanks for any input!

 

[bvanant]

Visual exploration is a lot easier than taking photos. For Photos you need lots of light (both the fluorescence light and the filter on the camera reduce the intensity by a lot).

For the best bang for the $ I think the blue star from Night Sea is probably the best. We have the sola and it is great for video, check out this one at the end of the video. (http://www.blueviews.net/assets/videos/phil13_highlights_640x360.mov)
The fluomedia ones look nice but I haven't seen one in person.
If you want to spend some real money, look at the Keldan's. High power and very clean excitation but for me at least too expensive.

Enjoy

Bill

 

[ChemProf]

Visual exploration is a lot easier than taking photos. For Photos you need lots of light (both the fluorescence light and the filter on the camera reduce the intensity by a lot).

For the best bang for the $ I think the blue star from Night Sea is probably the best. We have the sola and it is great for video, check out this one at the end of the video. (http://www.blueviews.net/assets/videos/phil13_highlights_640x360.mov)
The fluomedia ones look nice but I haven't seen one in person.
If you want to spend some real money, look at the Keldan's. High power and very clean excitation but for me at least too expensive.

Enjoy

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I have been perusing the fluomedia ones and immensely like the information they provide for the background information. Getting practical information from users about their stuff is limited--they don't seem to have the crowd exposure yet. Their materials are well balanced though.

As I hope to play with pictures and video using whatever I get, the Blue Star is underpowered. The Sola in general is a good unit (I have the 1200S/F) but I'm not sure the Nightsea is the best choice here.

I've seen the Keldan stuff--you're quite right. Very pricey!


More research to pursue!

 

[bvanant]

For me for photos, I think the dichroic filters for your strobe are the best bet, for Video any of the CW lighting should be fine.
Cheers
Bill

 

[ChemProf]

For me for photos, I think the dichroic filters for your strobe are the best bet, for Video any of the CW lighting should be fine.
Cheers
Bill

At this point I think I'm going to get something like the Galaxy Blue and work with that. The dichroic filter will cause a loss of about 80% of the strobe's output. While I haven't figured out the math yet, that is quite possibly in the realm of what something like the Galaxy puts out anyway...

I may wind up snagging video frames as well.

I can put together a complete visual/video package this way for a reasonable amount of $$. If it works well, then I'll be looking for substantial changes (moving from the J2 to my DSLR).

 

[bvanant]

That is probably smart, but even 20% of strobe output is a lot more light than the Galaxy Blue. In any case, show us some pics/video.
Bill

 

[ChemProf]

For starters I feel things went alright. All pics I got were from one night on a shallow reef with wave action. It was hard to stay still, much less try different things in any organized manner. Some of these are without the flash+excitation filter, some with, all with the Galaxy Blue lamp on, though again I didn't track power there either.

A few of the shots may reflect that I did not have my finger over the open hole for a second optics cable, allowing the internal flash to contribute. Not sure though...

(Still trying to figure out best way to share these!)

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[philip_poupin]

Hello all,
did you got some more experience with fluo dives?
I have 2 Riff Azur/FDG lights. It gives really nice colors but I can only photograph at iso 4000 and wide open at f4 or so. I dive in Europe/South of France. I am wondering if this is normal...

 

[ChemProf]

Haven't gotten to another site yet since then. As described above, my experience there was not optimal. There were a limited number of blue-active species that I could discern under those conditions as well--your image looks quite nice, but I can't compare as I had no such species in the location I was at at the time.

I felt that the Galaxy Blue worked well, displaying seemingly good output over a large-ish area. Pulled in fairly close it would certainly blow away things. Again, I cannot compare with others--one expensive light is enough!

I expect the lights all work well enough, and it's up to us (and luck) to get the good shots proving it.

 

[bvanant]

I think this is perfectly normal i.e. high ISO and wide open for any photos using continuous lighting as opposed to strobes. To really get nice pics (as opposed to video) I think you need to put a dichroic filter on your strobe.
Bill