Still digital photos with video light

A friend of mine does all of her still shots with a Light Cannon 100 (dive light) instead of a strobe and her pics are beautiful. She never has to worry about synching or strobe failure. Anyone else tried this method?

I tried it back in 2000 but my shutterspeeds were too low and I was always getting f2.8 - which I didn't like very much. With a 100 watt video light you get 1.6 watt-seconds into the photo for a shutterspeed of 1/60th (rough estimate)

With a 100 watt second strobe, it fires so fast, you get 100 watt-seconds of power into the photo in milliseconds.

So the strobe is much more powerful because it's only putting light into the photo when you want it to (when the shutter is open).

I've tried both w/ my Coolpix - the strobe made a big difference.

Cheers

James

Video lights are only good as spotter lights. I have done night dives with twin 10 Watt HIDS with my D70. The lights would need to be like 1000 watts to be as powerful as a poof of light from a strobe flash.

I once did a night dive with twin 100 watt halogen lights and the images from my D100 (ISO 200) were unusable due to lack of light.

Strobes are better than video lights for all that's already mentioned plus they offer better color than HID.

A friend of mine does all of her still shots with a Light Cannon 100 (dive light) instead of a strobe and her pics are beautiful. She never has to worry about synching or strobe failure. Anyone else tried this method?

There were some interesting shots posted on this forum a few months back using dive lights for cave / cavern photographs, but the camera was on a tripod with long exposures. Otherwise I agree with the other guys, strobes are going to give you much better results for the most part.

I think it also goes to scaring off the fish. Ever notice some creatures go poof once your strobes go off. Imagine a light. Video shoots always have this problem.

However, many people also don't like to push ISO past 200. I think only wreck shooters use grain to good effect and the look is still something that is frowned upon, which is a pity.