To light or not.... Some help please

[trekkindave]

Hi everybody I'm sorry if this is a repetitive post but I've been searching for days and can't seem to find an answer to the exact question I'm looking for.

I will be driving in Grand Cayman and Cozumel on an upcoming cruise vacation, and wanted to add a small light to my GoPro hero4 to help with macro and to add some light under overhangs.

My budget is limited so a $600 light plus $150 traysystem are out of the question, especially since I will be purchasing a TTL strobe for my wife's still camera. I have been looking at the sea life Seadragon 600 or 650, but recently found the SP gear POV LIGHT and the light and motion sidekick which may fit my budget and needs. Does anyone have experience using either of those three lights with a GoPro? I realize there are much brighter and "better" Lights out there but they are well outside of my price range at the moment.

For wide angle and bright shots I will be using the backscatter flip 3.1 system with a red filter and the 55 MM adapter for the Macromate. I have good results with the red filters on previous dive with the hero2 and I have been happy with the results in the past. But I'm trying to step up my game a little and get some better colors

Will I see you much better color with any light and the filter for medium range shots between 3 to 5 feet on the reef? also will be light and filter combo for medium/wide shots on the reef distort the color because of the light and filter combination?

Finally, if I were to do macro with available light and find a way to stack the Mac roommate and screw 55 MM dive filter do you think that will work?

I am very new to using lights and using macro as this will be my first trip where I have a macro filter or a light.

I will continue reading to see if I can find some answers but if anyone can chime in with some helpful information I would really appreciate it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[toozler]

Lights are not a must, you can get great results with a red filter only if not too deep, the visibility is good and the filter is decent. Here is a link of a video I made in Indonesia without lights, I am yet to see any other video out there with colors that pop this much - a combination of healthy reefs, good visibility and a good filter that actually corrects color instead of turning everything into red.

You can use both, light and filter, at the same time as long as the light is white LED. I am happy with a ~$60 Archon I used on my last few dives. For a few bucks more you buy a tray (I'm using an Intova Slim) and the matching light holder.

Yes, you can stack a macro filter/diopter to the housing but you might have to switch from wide mode to narrow or medium mode to avoid vignetting, specially if the adapter is only 55mm wide. I shot with a 62mm 10+ diopter before and had to keep it on medium (that was on a HERO2).

In short, don't expect lights to make your videos twice as good - it's an improvement but not much. You can get much better results once you invest in $1000+ lights, but then, it's a big investment for a small pay off.

 

[tbone1004]

consider using a dedicated video light for the still instead of the strobe and then you can get a high end light for that.

Some light is ALWAYS better than none.
Cave Adventurers - Explorer back-up lights - Marianna, Florida USA - Never Undersold!
A pair of these in the wide angle work wonderfully for the gopro and you can use them as regular dive lights. Not a huge amount of light for diving in clear daylight, but enough to remove some shadows and light under overhangs

 

[phoenix31tt]

I'm not sure about Cozumel, but the dives i did in Cayman can get "deep", and though the water is clear the lights really bring back the color. The filter can only do so much... i have two lights for my gopro that i think work great in the range you mentioned. I use 2 of these Archon D11V Diving Light Cree XM-L Lamp Outdoor Super-bright LED Flashlight 860 Lumens Flashlight 2 X Cr123 Or 1 X 18650 Li-ion Battery Waterproof Travel Flashlight(batteries are not included) - Basic Handheld Flashlights - Amazon.com. i think i saw sometime somebody using 4 to get a wider angle etc

 

[divezonescuba]

No need to spend a lot on a new tray or light. You might be able to use a dive light that you already have and this item:

Amazon.com : SCUBA Light Mount Stick for Gopro Type Video Cameras : Sports & Outdoors

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Please take a look at our modular tray system which can accommodate two powerful lights. These lights will make a huge difference in the resolution and color you get from your Go-Pro when shooting small subjects.

We offer a complete system, including cameras, tray, lights, filters etc.

Two Handle Camera Tray | MAKO Spearguns

[video=youtube_share;DthPL7-fC1Y]http://youtu.be/DthPL7-fC1Y[/video]

Thanks!

Dano

 

[Subcooled]

A filter does one thing, and one thing only: it filters, it removes. If you remove the blue with a filter, then you are left with a picture that is much darker (as you removed a major part of the light). Have you considered doing this on the computer?