light setup on Phenom

Hi all,

I just returned from a trip in Egypt doing mainly wrecks. I had the chance to test my lights with the new ULCS light arms. It worked like a charm.

I used two Greenforce HID 100 lights (video head) with two Flexi II batteries. The lights are connected to the housing with ULM bouyancy arms. I removed all lead from the bottom of the housing. The result: the housing is completely neutral in water and dives like a dream. I can extend the arms to over one meter on each side. I can also get them very close to the housing when we crawl into wrecks.

I'll try to attach some pictures:

Doing some filming without lights during our deco on the shutline.

No hands - the housing is floating (sorry for the quality, this picture was taken from rather far)

Cool setup. Those Greenforce lights look just the job for deep wide wreck shots.

What's that breather on your back? Looks nice and compact.

Love the blue water and the line disappearing into the abyss. Where were you diving?

Cool setup. Those Greenforce lights look just the job for deep wide wreck shots.

 

What's that breather on your back? Looks nice and compact.

 

Love the blue water and the line disappearing into the abyss. Where were you diving?

The lights are excellent. They are HID but the light is a bit warmer, probably around 4700-5000. 80 minutes burntime with those batteries. The rebreather that I'm using is an Inspiration Vision with a travel frame. The trim is soo much butter with that frame, plus it can take any siye bottle. We were diving on the Hebbat Alah. Maximum depth is around 48 meters, so not real deep. What was nice is that the single tankers had to leave the wreck after 10 minutes BT. 20 minutes for the double tankers. After that it was OUR playground. We did 40 to 50 minutes on the wreck. With the bubblers gone there are no nasty bubbles in the shots. The pictures were taken by my wife.

Here are some more:

My buddy on the shot line with a jonline. He dives a Classic Inspiration.

Do you and other HID light users leave the lights on the whole dive ? If so, do you cover them on night dives and remove the covers as needed ?

If you turn them on/off, what is the typical cycle time ?

Do you and other HID light users leave the lights on the whole dive ? If so, do you cover them on night dives and remove the covers as needed ?

I normally leave them on during the deep part of the dive. During the night dives I use them as is. No filter or anything.

If you turn them on/off, what is the typical cycle time ?

The manufacturer recommends to leave them off for 5 minutes minimum. When turned on they go to full power within 10 to 15 secs.

So PCDiver, the single tankers had a real fun day out! I wonder whose idea it was to dive that wreck

Hadn't heard of the Vision. How does that differ from an Evolution?

So is it bad to turn HIDs off then on again quickly? Didn't know about that. Was vaguely thinking of HID heads for my LMI Sunrays some time for wrecks etc..

So PCDiver, the single tankers had a real fun day out! I wonder whose idea it was to dive that wreck

 

Hadn't heard of the Vision. How does that differ from an Evolution?

 

So is it bad to turn HIDs off then on again quickly? Didn't know about that. Was vaguely thinking of HID heads for my LMI Sunrays some time for wrecks etc..

Hi Nick,

It was a real fun week out, not a day . The other wrecks we did are the Rosalie Moller, GhannisD, Salem Express and a couple of smaller ones. And the two wrecks on "the brothers", the Aida and the Numidia. Most of the group, including me, didn't see the Numidia because of the current. We jumped from the rib and the current took us in no time to +50 meters. What a ride. But we couldn fight the current to get to the wreck, so we had a drift dive that pales most roller coaster rides.

The Inspiration Vision is the same as the Evolution Vision but with a larger scrubber. The Vision is the name of the electronics.

Turning the HID off and on reduces the lifetime of the bulb. Probably because of the high startup voltage.

HID are great for wrecks, but there is only so much you can do with lights mounted on the camera. I'm setting up a deep wreck film team including light divers. That should help with those wide angle deep shots.

Peter

Not a bad idea. If you've ever seen the 70's footage of Cousteau's team on the Britannic there is a guy swimming around next to the cameraman with an enormous rig of lights. Great if you can persuade someone to be the gopher.

They did the same for some night shots in "the blue planet". It really makes a difference.

I believe you've done your share of deep exploration/filming as well.

Yes, amongst other bits and bobs I had my old Panasonic DX100 in a Greenaway Seapro housing down on the Britannic in 1998. The whole thing was mounted rigidly on top of an Aquazepp so I was down there at 100m+ waving this huge contraption around filming telegraphs, telemotor, props etc. etc.. Only had a pair of halogens (Custom Divers) at the time but the setup worked well and so much intertia made it nice and steady. Very stiff mechanical controls at that depth though! There's a snippet on my Titanic videos page if you're interested. Have mostly given up on the deep wreck stuff for now but you never know.

Nice wreck, but a bit too deep for us at the moment. Our team is currently working in the Normoxic range. Full TX training is planned for this summer. Is Thailand a good wreck diving destination?

i want lights too....

Nice wreck, but a bit too deep for us at the moment. Our team is currently working in the Normoxic range. Full TX training is planned for this summer. Is Thailand a good wreck diving destination?

PCDiver there's some interesting stuff deep.

On the Andaman Sea side check out Pro Tech Divers or Deep Blue Divers in Phuket.

On the Gulf of Thailand side check out Mermaid Divers in Pattaya. Their Steve Burton runs Thai Wreck Diver website which will tell you all you need to know.

All 3 of those operators are well into CC rebreathers.

i want lights too....

I want to live in Yap too

BTW - I can get the Green-Force stuff at discount prices. Interested?

PCDiver there's some interesting stuff deep.

 

On the Andaman Sea side check out Pro Tech Divers or Deep Blue Divers in Phuket.

 

On the Gulf of Thailand side check out Mermaid Divers in Pattaya. Their Steve Burton runs Thai Wreck Diver website which will tell you all you need to know.

 

All 3 of those operators are well into CC rebreathers.

Thanks for the info Mike. Thailand just moved up in our list of places to go to.

Hmmm ??? Cheap lights..

I might be interested..Tell me more..Please.

Dive safe

DeanB

BTW - I can get the Green-Force stuff at discount prices. Interested?

Thanks for the info Mike. Thailand just moved up in our list of places to go to.

Thanks for the offer but.. unfortunately i have a couple years worth of credit card bills to pay off first....

Hmmm ??? Cheap lights..

 

I might be interested..Tell me more..Please.

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

Have a look on the on green force website (www.green-force.com). Let me know what products you are interested in. Then I'll get pricing for you. Have a look at the Squid lights. Those use the same light bulbs as the HID100. The housing is different, the cable is more flexible and the reflector is better.

I'm also willing to organise a group sale. That will get us even better prices.