I always dive with a focus light for wide angle, especially since the strobes are so far apart. For macro with the strobes closer together, from fish portraits down to supermacro, I'm not sure if they are necessary. Since I dive in clear, blue water (Caribbean), could I just rely on the 1000 lumen target lights from my dual Atom flashes, both white and red, even at depth? One less item on my rig and decreased weight would be desirable.

What do you think and what do you do?

36 minutes ago, Adrian Gresores said:

I always dive with a focus light for wide angle, especially since the strobes are so far apart. For macro with the strobes closer together, from fish portraits down to supermacro, I'm not sure if they are necessary. Since I dive in clear, blue water (Caribbean), could I just rely on the 1000 lumen target lights from my dual Atom flashes, both white and red, even at depth? One less item on my rig and decreased weight would be desirable.

What do you think and what do you do?

Try a night dive!

But seriously, in clear bright water you may not need a light for focusing. The camera may be able to achieve focus much if the time. But go under an overhang, swim-through, cloudy sky, or even setting sun in the shadow of a wall and it might be a problem.

For me, i actually want to see the true colors of everything and a bright wide beam focus light is both my focus light and primary dive light. I bring it always even to the brightest destinations. You will always find a situation where it helps you get more from a dive.

I am using the Orcatorch d710v mk2 these days. Small, simple, bright, with good battery life.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Dave_Hicks

31 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Try a night dive!

But seriously, in clear bright water you may not need a light for focusing. The camera may be able to achieve focus much if the time. But go under an overhang, swim-through, cloudy sky, or even setting sun in the shadow of a wall and it might be a problem.

For me, i actually want to see the true colors of everything and a bright wide beam focus light is both my focus light and primary dive light. I bring it always even to the brightest destinations. You will always find a situation where it helps you get more from a dive.

I am using the Orcatorch d710v mk2 these days. Small, simple, bright, with good battery life.

I love night dives, and obviously the focus light always goes with me then.

I have a Kraken 1800 WSR. Great light. I'm just trying to simplify my gear wherever it makes sense. Also, I always have my wife hovering above me with her dive light, pointing things out 😊.

14 minutes ago, Adrian Gresores said:

I love night dives, and obviously the focus light always goes with me then.

I have a Kraken 1800 WSR. Great light. I'm just trying to simplify my gear wherever it makes sense. Also, I always have my wife hovering above me with her dive light, pointing things out 😊.

That Kraken 1800 is very similar to my OrcaTorch. The 21700 batteries are the way to go.

37 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

That Kraken 1800 is very similar to my OrcaTorch. The 21700 batteries are the way to go.

Hey, Dave,

How do you arrange and point the OrcaTorch for supermacro, especially if snooting? Or do you not use it, if snooting? Do you have it attached to a cold shoe mount? If so, with what connections?

31 minutes ago, Adrian Gresores said:

Hey, Dave,

How do you arrange and point the OrcaTorch for supermacro, especially if snooting? Or do you not use it, if snooting? Do you have it attached to a cold shoe mount? If so, with what connections?

The light is on a YS mount attached to a ball one the top of the Nauticam housing. The ys mount makes it easy to flip the light up for snooting or shooting a portrait of someone without blinding them.

10 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

The light is on a YS mount attached to a ball one the top of the Nauticam housing. The ys mount makes it easy to flip the light up for snooting or shooting a portrait of someone without blinding them.

That's exactly the setup I have.

I have a Kraken WSR1500 and I mount it on the top ball clamp on my arms, which is a Nauticam MP with extra ball. Gives more of a top down light and I can swing it back to illuminate the buttons on my housing if needed. Seems to stay out of the way better than mounting on the housing. Cold shoe mount is my least favorite.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Grantmac

Just now, Grantmac said:

I have a Kraken WSR1500 and I mount it on the top ball clamp on my arms, which is a Nauticam MP with extra ball. Gives more of a top down light and I can swing it back to illuminate the buttons on my housing if needed. Seems to stay out of the way better than mounting on the housing.

That's interesting.

I'll snap a picture today. It's working well.

Just now, Grantmac said:

I'll snap a picture today. It's working well.

Thanks!

Hi Adrian,

I’ve been using a focus light on most of my dives for years now. For macro, it’s either mounted directly on the port or on a strobe arm for a bit more flexibility. Here in Switzerland, especially in freshwater, you lose ambient light very quickly and the critters are usually pretty low-contrast anyway. In those conditions, a focus light helps the camera’s autofocus a lot, and it also means I’m not wasting battery power from the strobes’ built-in focus lights. I really only use the strobe focus light when I’m working with a snoot.

For wide angle, I use a focus light less often. The main exception is night dives in the lake, when the strobes are set way out to the sides anyway.

I’ve been using a BigBlue focus light for years now.

Cheers from Lake Constance,
Tino

BigBlue Fokuslicht on top of the Port, but here not in use.

A lot depends on your lens and camera. Mine achieves focus readily in 95% of daytime conditions, event at dim depths, without supplemental light. But I always have my light with me (also a Kraken 1800WSR, a great light) for the same reasons Dave stated. I’d leave other things behind before dropping it.

This is how I'm setup. Those Nauticam MP clamps are very versatile.