Homemade diffusor for Sea&Sea focus light... Bad idea?

First of all, does anybody have experience with the Sea&Sea LX-15 focus light? It seems reasonably diffuse, but there is a bright spot in the very middle that I predict might show up in my photos (I haven't taken this system in the water at all yet -- probably should be the first thing I do!). If this is a problem, I thought I would use the stick-on window frosting that you can buy in large rolls to put on your bathroom windows (or whatever). I put a piece over the focus light beam and it makes it perfectly diffuse. Two potential problems... 1) if a bubble forms during application it might make for a funky lighting effect; 2) I know that the light shouldn't get too hot in my native Californian waters, but in the tropics maybe it will heat up and melt the plastic'y' film?

Advice....?

Thanks.

Scott

I used the top of a pringle chip can, or some coffee cans have even bigger plastic tops, then you can cut to size, they work out great, I even have one over the top of my focus light, really spreads the light out.

If you get a bubble in the plastic film, you just prick it with a pin and push the air out. The pin prick is invisible...

Bruce

I made a diffuser out of the side of a plastic cat food container for a focus light. I use a UK led C8 which has the same bright middle spot as yours probably does. The plastic is fairly supple yet strong and I cut it oversize a bit leaving about a 1/4 inch around the front of the light. I poked two holes at opposite sides and threaded 3/16 inch bungee material leftover from my kayak to make a loop. It looks kind of like a pirates eye patch with the bungee going around the back of the light. This allows me to slip it off when I want the light to poke under a ledge or cave yet gives me tension to hold the diffusor onto the light even when swimming.

Old thread, but recurring questions... I recently bought a pair of Princeton Tec Current Xenon lights (8 x AA) that put out plenty of light, but too tightly focused and contrasty for a good focus light. When I hold up an opaque plastic lid or a piece of that ceiling light prism panel sheeting (got a cracked sheet for near-nothing from hardware store), the result is much more useful for my purposes.

The prism light panel stuff seems to let more light through, and to really diffuse it in a cheap fresnel way, which is good. But the stuff is brittle, not easy to cut into round shapes, and will NOT allow a hole-with-rubber-band solution for mounting.

What might work is a shape like a foam beer bottle cooler, where the bottom is the light panel stuff. And it doubles as a bottle cooler on the boat after the dive!

If only I knew what adhesive would stick it to neopreme. Maybe neopreme cement...

Ha, thought of a way to do it while at lunch. I'll take 2 flexible container lids, cut a 1.5 or 2" hole through both, glue the prism stuff IN BETWEEN the two, with the lid tops facing each other. Then the edges have double lips to cut through and attach something, and all the light goes through the prism.

Ought to work, if the glue holds up!

I don't use S&S focus lamps but I find a translucent 35mm film tub works very well when fitted to a Aquatec 'Aquastar' 1 watt lamp.