New LED Lights from L&M

Heres a link to my first video and taken using the Sunray 1000 LED lights.

Water vis was poor, very green, but hey, I suppose getting wet is better than nothing.

http://www.vimeo.com/1391938

Thanks. Judging from your description of the buoyancy tubes they are also toward the underside of your rig paralleling the batteries. ... Thanks again. John

Finally, here's a photo of how I rigged some bouyancy floats on the Gates HC7/9 housing and Sunray 1000 lights. As the battery pods and the GAS mounting adapter tend to make this rig a little negative, this setup helps mitigate that. It's still slightly negative, well balanced.

Just bought a set of SunRay 2000's and the GAS adapter to hook them up to my Amphibico EVO Pro housing. I had to make some washers for the provided screws, since they bottomed out in the housing. I've also ordered more links for the arms, since I'd like to have them about 5 links longer. I have a rigid foam float covered with fiberglass that I made to use with my old Amphibico Halogen light set, but the 2000's are about 2lbs heavier underwater, so I'm going to need two lengths of 1-1/2" PVC pipe attached to the battery pods to get close to neutral (still about 8oz negative in a salt water swimming pool). Is there an easy way to insert a .JPG picture into a post, or does it have to have a URL link?

Vic

... Is there an easy way to insert a .JPG picture into a post, or does it have to have a URL link?

Vic

WHen I made my prior posts with attached images.. there was a section to browse to an image file saved on my computer, and a button to upload it. Thats what I did... I had to downsize the images prior however due to the maximum upload file size.

Wolfeeldiver;

Yes, these new L & M lights look promising, and I plan to see them at DEMA. The actual dates for DEMA are October 22-25, 2008.

Good post!

Shine a Light!

Bill Macdonald

www.youtube.com/007bmac

OK, Here are some pictures. Took me awhile to find the browse since the attachments edtior was collapsed.

So far I'm pleased with the sunray 1000's. Battery run time at hight power is well over an hour. The light heads and battery pods are solidly built. If money were no object, I'd have got the 2000s... But I'll give these a try for now.

There was only one thing that I was not too fond of however. The supplied Lock-Line arms take a bit of a force to "snap" the arms into the light heads. I have a fear that during this muscling process that I might accidently break the power connection fitting. The bulkhead connector where the cord enters the lighthead on the 1000s its made of plastic. When snapping the two together, this part of the light is at risk.

So I devised an intermediate "adapter" consisting of two pieces of plastic. One is permanently bolted to the light head. The other is muscled and "snapped" onto the arm. (by this method nothing of value is at risk of being damaged.) Then the two plastic parts are simply bolted together with a locknut and bolt. It takes a couple of tools to assemble in the field, but I'd rather do that than risk damaging the lighthead. Here's a photo of the homemade adapter, apart and when assembled.

Mike-

Where did you find the black plastic pipe you used for your floats, or did you paint it black?

Thanks for any info.

Vic

I got a set of the sunray 2000 lights in April and have used them now in Fiji and in Tonga. The lights are bright enough that I was able to use cyan filters in daylight and white-balance the camera for the ambient light. I could shoot soft coral wide-angle shots using the lights to fill in detail without the background going silvery-flat. And the burn-time is excellent. Finally, a great step forward in UW video lighting....

I got a set of the sunray 2000 lights in April and have used them now in Fiji and in Tonga. The lights are bright enough that I was able to use cyan filters in daylight and white-balance the camera for the ambient light. I could shoot soft coral wide-angle shots using the lights to fill in detail without the background going silvery-flat. And the burn-time is excellent. Finally, a great step forward in UW video lighting....

Tell us more... I can't wait to try them out, but don't have a "real" trip planned till the end of December. Which Cyan filters do you use, also what camera and housing are you using.

Thanks for the info.

Vic

Mike-

 

Where did you find the black plastic pipe you used for your floats, or did you paint it black?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Vic

Its black ABS plastic pipe and ends. Not painted. Our local family owned full service hardware store here in Bellingham (Hardware Sales) stocks Black ABS plastic pipe in various diameters, and the end caps too, and the epoxy. I happened to use 1-1/2" diameter because they had a 4' scrap piece lying about, but I recall seeing 2" diamenter also. Not sure if Home Depot has this stuff or not. I suppose checking with a plumbing supply house that caters to contractors would have what you need. I'm not sure, but this stuff may also be used for electrical conduit too. Perhaps check with an electrical supply firm as well.

I... I was able to use cyan filters in daylight

Yes, I too am curious to know which CC filter you use on the camera, and which CYAN filters you selected for the lights. Thanks!

If you all watch this video from Eric, you can see the 2000 LED in action:

If you note from the spiny dogfish video, it shows 2 distinct beam spots on the sea floor. Right in the middle is the overlap of the 2 beams. Wide angle is where you can see why Craig's old watervision head needed 16k lumens at 180° beam vs the 2k lumens at 75°. His 16K lumens sounds amazing, spread the beam out to cover almost 3x the area and it's significantly reduced in brightness, thus Craig noted he had trouble illuminating past 4 ft in daylight.

It's not just about the lumens per watt but the quality of the beam. With the 2 tight beams shooting at a mobile object, the dogfish swims into several dark zones as you can see from 0:38 to 0:41. With a wider beam of say 100°, you can avoid that. There is a risk of getting some sort of backscatter if the beam is too wide but you can place the lamp farther away from the port. As mentioned many times before by others, it's about placement of the lamp as well.

Shooting wide angle with lights at night shows a lot more of a beam pattern's irregularities. This allows the user to know what to expect from the lamps. Still, it depends on what you are shooting. A narrower beam allows the shooter to play with lighting a bit better, whereas a wider beam obviously illuminates more evenly.

Choosing your lights to create a certain esthetique look is what it's all about. Then of course there's CRI, lumens per watt and beam patterns to consider

Yeah, this is the first time I've used the lights. That dogfish video was early -- I adjusted in future shots so there would be less hotspotting. But I had to decide whether I was going to be shooting close and down (thus, requiring even illumination of the floor) or at subjects out further. I ended up pulling the lights back a bit to widen the beam. I'll post examples when I can...

I used my Sunray 1000s this past weekend, shoting exclusively closeup work. I'll try to post a short clip soon. They worked great for closeup work. I initally set the camera (Sony HC7) White Bal setting to OUTDOOR for the initial shots, and frankly was not pleased with the color. Nice but just a tad cooler look than desired. Then I set WB to a white slate, and wow the colors look great to this rank amateur. Vivid oranges and reds, subtle mid tones too, white whites, etc. I'm pleased, for my intended usage.

In 50 degree F waters I kept them on continously for most of two dives. I got a total of about 1.5 hours of run time at full power, then the batteries ran out. discovered that when the Sunray 1000s batteries start to run low, they switch from high power to a lower power setting automatically. That sort of gives you a clue the batteries are low. Then eventually they will just stop working.

Heres a link to a short video, all close-up work, shot using the Sunray 1000s.

WB was set to a white slate for most of the video.

Mike-

Very nice, and very steady. The color and clarity is wonderful, great detail, and edited like you must do this alot. I'll give you five stars.

Any tricks for keeping steady? Especially when on Macro?

Vic

Mike-

 

Very nice, and very steady. The color and clarity is wonderful, great detail, and edited like you must do this alot. I'll give you five stars.

 

Any tricks for keeping steady? Especially when on Macro?

 

Vic

Howdy Tex... thanks for the kind words.

I am a rank amateur.. but like to shoot videos of the kids, family, etc.. and tinker on the NLE...so thats where I got my feet wet editing. Still too much to learn.

Regarding clarity: I purchased a Century Optics 39mm +2.5 Achromatic diopter. I put that on the lens before closing the housing up. I'm quite pleased with the shapness for HC7 use. It brings in closer the minimum focus distance to about 8-12" or so, great for closeup, however you are limited to shooting closeup only with the diopter on. Distant objects are out of focus. A dogfish shark swam by that day, and was all blurry. And I used the Sunray 1000s on full power.

Depending on the bottom, for the few opening shots, I was on a muddy bottom, so I gently rest the housing or a portion of it on the sandy bottom when I can.. trying not to disturb too many little critters. Most others were on a wall, in a current, that was a challenge. I just try to hold as steady as possible.. for a count of 12 seconds.. and hope...

@ Mie: great shoots, looks like the LED 1000 is enough....and not as expensive as the Sunray 2000

Sascha

Does anyone has a comparison between the intensity of light

- 100 W HLX

- L&M HID

- L&M LEDs (1000 & 2000)

I was used to use light from a german manufacturer (Hartenberger Video Maxi) with flood reflector an 100W HLX. Now I bought a used set of L&M HIDs and I am offered an upgrade to either LED 1000 or 2000. So at the end of the day I would have the same light intensity as with the 100W HLX...

Sascha

Sascha, all the bulb's output in lumens are available on the websites of each manufacturer. With Hartenberger, google the 100W HLX 12v. You will get all your lumen outputs to compare.

Good luck.