Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita

I think FLIP can only handle the weight of macromate mini lens, no more reliably.

I have BB14-7S and BB1-1. For white light, the first one has 6 rather powerful smallish leds behind flat glass, and gives very wide output that (at least for me) is well-suited for GoPro, especially WA. I did not use the other colors (red, blue). The second model has COB led for white light behind curved glass. The output has very sharp boundaries, and I felt it is more suitable as powerful night dive light rather than video light (and that is how my daughter used it). I did not use the other colors (red, blue). Since I am rather new with video, and do not have experience of premium video light brands, I don’t feel comfortable making claims (good or bad) of light color quality / CRI. Runtime with good quality 18650s (I used few years old 3400 mAhs) is multiple hours in mid- and low output settings. The high output setting would probably consume the batteries in ~hour. In my use (mix of all three power levels) I did fine for two 70+ minute dives with one set of batteries, and changed the batteries for third dive. Charger reported 5%-35% remaining energy after two dives. Unlike Archon and Seafrogs models, LetonPower does not have low battery warnings (or atleast I managed to miss it, but never run out of battery). I am tempted to get second BB14-7S, and at least will monitor which new models they introduce.

I would like to mention Murex resorts (Manado/Bunaken and Bangka in North Sulawesi) as extremely well organized and paying extra attention on critter identification (including writing down scientific names for nudies etc). 70min dive times as per standard plan. For high-end ”luxury” family diving a special mention to Athmosphere in Dumaquete Philippines. The food selection is the best I have seen in any diving oriented resort.

Often you get what you pay for, but that being said the price points of some Chinese video lights are extremely attractive. I though I would share my experiences from recent years, and hopefully hear of other experiences as well. I prefer units with 18650 batteries I can select/swap myself. That way changing batteries is easy between dives, and battery ”replacement pool” is shared between all lights. (Selecting good chargers is its own topic.) I started with Archon small (single 18650 battery) 1200 lumen units with wide/spot/red beams. Three of those have been used for several years by my family as dive/night lights, and as assist light with DSLR. No problems whatsoever, easy recommendation. For GoPro video, I next got Seafrogs Mk-02 unit(s). Four 18650 batteries, plenty of features. I have had three units that failed in four ways (three times electronics problem, once front-assembly integrity). Two warranty replacements that hopefully will actually work as intended (those have not been used yet). I would like to like these, but unreliability (or bad luck) makes me uneasy planning trips with these. Last trip (three weeks Manado) I tried even less expensive LetonPower units. Two different units, both with 4*18650, limited features, all metal construction. Very positive initial feelings; the light beams are quite different, so I think one is better suited for WA video and another for high power night dive light. If they keep working like this the price-performance is amazing.

I have been super happy with Backscatter flip setup for macro and filter. However, the new wetmate WA and macro options look very interesting as well. Since I have no experience of bayonet mounts, few questions - are any/all bayonet mounts compatible between the vendors (Backscatter, AOI, Inon) so that lenses from multiple vendors could be used on the same mount? - are there differences in robustness or convenience of use between the mounts? - any recommendations on mounts (e.g. on strobe/light arm) to store extra lens(es) during the dive? Thanks for any and all help in advance!

I am longtime Nikon DSLR user, but currently between housed cameras (Z8 is waiting) and experimenting on Gopro video.