GTom

Meantime getting leakage/battery swelling news across the "Leton world"...

Couldn't agree more. Cheap manufacturers probably cater for the single light user. It's not all lost though, sticking to flat window lights instead of domed ones moderate those extreme wide beams.

Built in without quick replacement option is an absolute no-go. Imagine being out all day long on a zodiac, you defo won't mess with USB charging between dives. Quick battery swap both in the light and the gopro, that's it. Also, batteries usually have a limited lifespan. If you can't reliably disassemble the light and swap the cells, that's the end of it, the whole gadget goes in the bin.

That sounds interesting, don't get the "built in" but "21700" concept, would be interested to see a teardown video if this is somehow user-serviceable.

Just figured the big Leton's have built in battery. Big no-no for practical reasons, one of those planned obsolescence stories, LoL.

I think I can get the same for about half the price in the nitescuba NVS60. Apparently a tried and tested unit, not the average Aliexpress stuff.

Got my genuine gopro13 housing on the festive sales for £22 so I think I'll skip this one :)

Not exorbitant pricing indeed, slowly finding some real competitors around: second hand Sealife 4500 pro (about the £300 mark with old battery): top color (CRI96!) but proprietary battery, not huge lumen figure Nitescuba SEA60 (on sales now) or NVS60 - these are only CRI 90, yet probably the best of the "cheap" lights: I could get a pair for the price of the Sealife. Other great plus is that it uses standard batteries! Second hand weefine smartfocus 6000: I am finding VERY conflicting CRI's here though. This is an older model, manual says CRI 80 (no-go), seller says from whatever datasheet: CRI 96... Probably skipping that and look at the new 4000v2. Need to research other practical parameters like shutter-free dimming, reliability, weight etc as it seems I am looking northwards of £500 for a pair, definitely not a "don't like it, throw it in the bin" purchase.

Many thanks! Seems their Smartfocus 4000 model is getting close. Will investigate if I'd be significantly better with that compared to a Leton L15+CTO filter. Not cheap but at least not Keldan money...

Yeah, that's my problem too. SOME (but far from all...) "Aliexpress" lights do deliver near the lumen figures they claim, or at least "bright enough for the money". BUT they do that at 6500K that becomes like 10'000K with a subject distance of 0.5m and have literally a Mariana Trench in the middle of their color spectrum, around @480nm. After days of hunting I found CRI's very rarely quoted, and as with everything in life, I highly suspect that that's for a reason. I got another idea: get a pair of really bright but cheap lights and leave my snorkeling orange filter on, acting as a full CTO color temperature corrector. That'll likely affect CRI/R9/the overall SPECTRUM of the lightsource positively while sacrificing maybe 30% of the light intensity. Started a separate topic with a candidate (Leton L15): I am reluctant to shell out $600+ on lights that are still of questionable CRI, not to mention $4k on Keldans that do what everybody should do...

I have an opportunity to pick up a second hand Leton Power L15 light, pricing seems quite attractive for the claimed output. Does anybody have experience with this manufacturer? I am looking for high CRI lights for my gopro setup, this might be a useful start. Claimed CRI 90 needs to be valid though and thought about further improving that with a filter sacrificing maybe 2-3k Lumens. 4000k, CRI95+ video lights seem to be rainbow unicorn category at down to earth prices...

I'm also guessing you haven't seen many divers with wet wide lenses attached to their action cams in the wild either?

I have been on the hunt for a pair of reasonably priced(!) warm white lights for my gopro. Have I missed something or ~4000K, 95 CRI is STILL rainbow unicorn category? Apparently little $ can buy loads of lumens on Aliexpress, but those are typically 6000K and digging deeper, poor CRI/spectrum. There are lights with combined LED's, where you get a few warm 3500K LED-s in it, BUT after little research I found some horrible CRI figures for those warm LED's too! E.g. this beast claims to have "4 pieces of XHP50 LED yellow light (3500K)". Now checking the documentation, I find a poor 70(!) color rendering index and a spectrum with a Mariana trench @ 480nm (most likely the reason for those terrible CRI's). As water likes to absorb red very quickly, I am leaning towards WARM lights but definitely with a more even spectrum. Absolute worse case, I still have a pair of Tungsten lights but they are ofc super power hungry (100W each) and require a heavy battery, something I am not keen travelling with. TLDR: any recommendations for reliable, serviceable (e.g uses standard Li batteries) video lights that preferably don't break the bank?

Indeed, deep+dark=lights

I'll definitely look into that. Also if it does Temporal or just Spatial NR.