UK HID Light CANNON 100 focus light?

Well, has anyone tried this focus light: Underwater Kinetics HID Light CANNON 100?

it looks like a very good value for money: very bright (10W HID=30W halogen), optionnal battery pack with 2 hours battery life, fits my YS arm, not so expensive and the beam has a color closer from sunlight than halogen lights.

http://www.scuba.com/shop/product.asp_category_56

http://www.uwkinetics.com/D_LC100.htm

The Light Cannon is a great dive light, and I've used them for years. I ocassionally use it as a focus light, and it works ok for this purpose. Being an HID light, it has a blue cast to the light. I would not go so far as to say it is anywhere close to sunlight. If you stick to very fast shutter speeds (1/250+) you should be able to minimize the blue in your photos. I've had good results with it, but am not totally happy it.

The Light Cannon comes with a couple of plastic difusers and you will want to use one or two of these to spread out the beam as a focus light.

I don't use the recharger pack, but 8 rechargeable C cells. If I am using it as a focus light I don't use the highest density cells because they make the light really heavy. Still, you should be able to get about 90 - 120 minutes of light from it.

As a flashlight, it's very good for murky waters such as the Pacific Northwest, but I find it overkill in clear water. It's a great deal at < $200 but don't get it grey market or you may have trouble getting it repaired. UK is pretty good about service though.

Dave

http://www.pbase.com/davehicks

Hello Dave,

thank you for your advise. Since I have posted my message it's not the first time that I read it's not a very appropriate focus light because it makes blue pictures @ low shutter speed..

The UK C8 would have been a good choice for my budget. It has a rechargeable kit and last long but it is not possible to fix it on my sea&sea arm.

bye

I prefer much smaller and lighters strobes for general use and especially as modeling light.

I don’t like the big & heavy ones, its more weight to package and take on planes, it's less comfortable on the strobes arms, and the batteries are very heavy...

I try to use only AA batteries so I can use the same chargers for all my equipment.

But it’s a matter of your needs, for my type of diving and conditions it's better the small ones but for others its may be different.

Yes, the UK are big lights, almost 3 pounds.

There is the fisheye HG-20DX that is smaller & lighter but it's "expensive". The sea&sea LX-15 is in my budget. I think I would have bought one unless Yuzo had one in stock. The sea&sea LX-25 looks good too...

If you're looking to get an affordable yet effective focus light you might wnat to consider our SLX Please see my signature for more information and feel free to ask me any questions you have.

noted, thank you