Supe V4Kv3 Underwater Video Light. Pros and Cons. Other alternatives?

[turandot]

 

Anyone who has tried these underwater video lights?>> https://scubalamp.com/products/v4kv3-video-light?VariantsId=10187

 

There are many things I like about this underwater video lights, but 35min at full power seems like a very short time to me. How do you see it? Any alternatives to these lights? Backscatter MW-4300 could it be an alternative??

 

 

 

Specifications

Product Name:V4K v3
Light Source:LED with a lifespan of up to 50,000hours
Output:White light(100%)8000 lumens
Mode:Dual button nine steps mode(support remote control )
Working Voltage:16.8v
Compatible Battery:4*18650 battery
Waterproof Depth:100m
Beam Angle:120°
Power Indicator:>70% Green,<70%Yellow,<30% Red
Runtime: white light 35 mins at 100% - 315 mins at 10%
R9:94
Color Temperature(CcK):5600K
Color Rendering index(CRl):96
TCLI: 97
Battery capacity:44.4wh(14.8Vx3.0Ah)
Color:Black/silvery
Dimensions:145mm*49mm*60mm
Weight :570g(on land with battery)

 

PROS

- Light Source: 1x 20mm COB LED

- Output: White light(100%) 8000 lumens

- Battery: 4x 18650 Li-ion rechargeable battery pack, 16.8 V, 50.30 Wh

- Color Rendering index(CRl): 96

- Weight: 556g (land) / 350g (water)

- Remote control (optional)

 

CONS

- Runtime: @100%: 35 min

- 18650 battery pack, not standard 18650 batteries or 21700 with more capacities

Edited May 28 by turandot

[bghazzal]

Haven't used the SUPE, but do use the Backscatter MW-4300.

The MW4300 is s a much weaker light, with a spot mode and a wide mode, but really flexible for shooting macro video.

 

- Wide mode is 6000 K (calibrated) for an output of 4300 lumen, 85° beam angle

- the tighter Macro/Spot mode is 5000 K (so warmer, and non calibrated) for an output of 1400 lumen

 

As such, it's a really useful tool for shooting macro video, as it has 5 power levels in macro mode (vs. 3 in wide mode) which is really practical, and the light can also take the OS-10 snoot, which is nice.

 

On the downside, I find that the light is quite warm, even in the cooler 6000K calibrated wide mode which I sometimes also use for macro shots.
 

The MW4300's CRI is also nothing to write home about, at CRI of 71.1 in wide mode and 70.3 in spot/macro mode, according to Backscatter.
I really wish the light had been designed with a better CRI led, as this does affect colour spectrum rendition, and would be nice to have for working in post.

 

In theory you can use two MW4300 for wide angle shots (which is why the lights are calibrated to 6000K in wide mode, to match a pair), 

 

This is something I would love to do, if I had the budget for another light, for shooting medium size mobile subjects (mimic otopuses for instance), as this would comfortably widen the covered area (this clip was shot with a single MW4300 in wide mode as the primary light source, gives an idea of the field of view with a single light).
 

But even with two MW4300, tt would still only be around 8000 lumen in total, so not really in the same category as the SUPE, 5600K at 8000 lm for a CRI of 96 (if these values are accurate)

 

hope this helps

b

 

 

Edited May 29 by bghazzal

[turandot]

Thank you so much for your help @bghazzal.

 

What I don't like about Supe V4Kv3 is that it has very few minutes at full power, only 35 mins

 

I have doubts with the MW-4300 video lights, I think 4300 lumens may be too few lumens and I hope that Backscatter will release an updated version of MW-4300 with more lumens, like other more powerful video lights on the market.

 

In the past I bought the Backscatter Mini Flash 1 and shortly after, the update of the MF-2 model went on sale 😬, I don't want the same thing to happen to me again with this much more expensive purchase, 2x MW-4300 > $1.000 🙂 

 

Other cheaper options to consider are Leton Power lights from Aliexpress such as Sealion L12, L15, L24 models with 21700 lithium batteries.... but this is a bit of a gamble.

[Davide DB]

On 5/30/2024 at 12:52 PM, turandot said:

 

Other cheaper options to consider are Leton Power lights from Aliexpress such as Sealion L12, L15, L24 models with 21700 lithium batteries.... but this is a bit of a gamble.

 

Bigblue?

 

I know some pro who use them:

 

https://www.fotosub-shop.com/3460-bigblue-lampada-bigblue-7200-lumen-120-5000k.html?id=3460&lingua=2

 

[turandot]

On 5/31/2024 at 5:20 PM, Davide DB said:

 

Bigblue?

 

I know some pro who use them:

 

https://www.fotosub-shop.com/3460-bigblue-lampada-bigblue-7200-lumen-120-5000k.html?id=3460&lingua=2

 

BigBlue is a very good brand and I like their models. But... I don't like video lights that have their own custom battery packs, I like standard batteries like 18650 or 21700 is better for me. In the future, it will be easier to replace batteries or have spare battery sets for travel.

[DreiFish]

DivePro G18 lights -- you can probably get them for around $600 if buying in 'bulk' at least.

[Davide DB]

8 hours ago, turandot said:

BigBlue is a very good brand and I like their models. But... I don't like video lights that have their own custom battery packs, I like standard batteries like 18650 or 21700 is better for me. In the future, it will be easier to replace batteries or have spare battery sets for travel.

 

On powerful lamps you have practically no choice because you need multi-cell packs equipped with BMS.
But I think that is a false problem. All custom packs are obtained from multiple 18650s or 21700s anyway.
I have two Keldans that have either famous battery packs with displays that show the charge.
When they came to the end of their life, I had no problem getting them rebuilt by a company that makes battery packs for electric bicycles. By now these companies are very common.

[Adventurer]

As far as I know SUPE and BIG BLUE do not have constant lumen output electronics implemented in their lights, which safes them costs and for you this means less video footage quality during the dive.

 

If you want constant and " true " lumen output you will need to buy video lights from Keldan, Light&Motion, Sealife, Weefine or Kraken. The remote control feature is available with Weefine and Kraken and Wireless on Keldan lights.

 

Note that SUPE has rebranded into FOTOCORE lately.

Edited June 6 by Adventurer

[Sokrates]

1 hour ago, Adventurer said:

 

Note that SUPE has rebranded into FOTOCORE lately.

 

What is the deal here? The Fotocore GTX strobe came out months ago, and yes, its just rebranded D-Pro (housing is slightly different). All other Fotocore eq is rebranded Scubalamp eq.

Yet Scubalamp is still selling all their own, so i dont think its just a rebranding of the company.

Scubalamp and Fotocore even have totally different addresses in China.

Would be interesting to know if there is someone who knows some details, i asked this in the Fotocore thread 6 months ago already.

Edited June 6 by Sokrates

[bghazzal]

the SUPE / scubalamp.com website is still up, no mention of rebranding that I can see there anyway:

 

https://scubalamp.com/pages/about-us-1

[turandot]

I suspect SCUBALAMP (Kolta Electronic Co.,Ltd) is the manufacturer and FOTOCORE is a brand that puts its stickers on flashlights like DIVEVOLK.

[Davide DB]

I remember we touched this topic time ago on WP. If you browse all the Chinese lights vailable across the various brand you will discover a lot of similar lights or exact copies

 

TL;DR

 

Understanding who makes what is a mess...

 

[turandot]

8 hours ago, Davide DB said:

Understanding who makes what is a mess...

 

Totally agree.

[bghazzal]

On 6/6/2024 at 3:16 PM, Adventurer said:

As far as I know SUPE and BIG BLUE do not have constant lumen output electronics implemented in their lights, which safes them costs and for you this means less video footage quality during the dive.

 

If you want constant and " true " lumen output you will need to buy video lights from Keldan, Light&Motion, Sealife, Weefine or Kraken. The remote control feature is available with Weefine and Kraken and Wireless on Keldan lights.

 

 

Are you sure that Weefine or Kraken have constant output / discharge?
I've been looking into this but cannot find any tests to back it up.

 

edit - for Kraken I found manufacturer give output test data

Thanks!

Edited July 29 by bghazzal