Darkbuster HID

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone owns and uses a Darkbuster HID?

I am fairly new to the UW shooting scene and am looking at getting a light for my cam.

I'm shooting HD Vid with a sony HDRSR8 in an Ikelite housing with a only week old Ike W/A lens (W-20).

Birthday presie. lens hasn't even been wet yet. sigh... anyway.

I am trying to find a light that of couse doesn't empty my bank balance yet still produces a great light.

As this is my first housing light purchase I'm confused. there are to many to choose from. Also keeping in mind which type of globe to go for. Its a nightmare. I currently night dive with a UK C4 LED, which produces great light to dive with but havent used in conjunction with the housing.

I recently exited a night dive in Sydney and passed another diver about to enter with an Ike Vid housing with a Darkbuster HID ontop. Curious.. I asked how he found it and all he really told me was that it was like daytime down there with it. He turned it on topside for me to observe its potential and was quite impressed.

But... after reading the hundreds of posts in here I'm now not to sure what to do.

Do I go HID? and maybe have a problem with (as I've read) colour, due to the intenstiy of HID.

Do I try find a LED unit that doesn't cost the world, and still (as read) have a prob with colour.

I really don't think I would look at halogen due to the need for light with the W/A lens .

The Darkbuster seams to be my fav choice at the moment but am also worring about hotspots with it..

Can anyone answer any of these questions?

It would be really appreciated.

Cheers

Peter

Darkbuster link

http://www.brightstar.com.tw/product_info_e.php?UID=772

I'm using dual 24w Darkbuster lights with Sony TRV-900 in Ikelite housing.

Managed to attach them to standard ULCS connector:

http://MaximDim.smugmug.com/gallery/505647...304137108_i745v

They works great in clean water, but here in Great Lakes I wish they were more powerful Nevertheless, here is sample footage we shot at night in pretty low vis:

http://www.extremeprofile.com/videos.actio...amp;diveId=6500

Overall I'm pleased with them, especially considering the ~$300 price.

Thanks Maximdim.

I had a look at the footage you left. Gee the vis was bad.. do you normally see as much of the light beams through your lens as you do in the vid with the trace line or was it just bad that time because of the silt in the water.

are you able to do much close up work with them or does the light get to bright for the subject and overexpose.

where abouts did you get the ball adapter from and the bracket for the housing handles?

Peter

I think Wags uses these lights.. or at least he did before he became rich and famous

Is this true Wags? How did you find them? Would you guys recommend single or dual?

Peter.

Very informative photos. Are you using the AD-UK, or some other ULCS adaptor on the light?

Thanks.

Hi

Yes I have two but one has a bung eye.

Need a globe....anyone know where I can get one from.

Mine have done tons of dives at different locations around Australia.

I had to make some diffusers for them which I cut out from the bottom of a Yogurt container.

The penetration like this during the day is not very far but at night they work great covering the entire 94 degree footprint of the Phenom even when nice and close to a subject with no hot spots.

During the day if you get close to the subject they work fine or for abit of mixing with the nautral light.

The on board battery is great and very easy to charge up.

I got them for like $300 AUS each and for what they do for that price I would say they are very good.

They are not the best but much better than my other $3000 HID set sitting in the cubboard.

You can get two dives out of them no problems.

Make sure you plug in the cable before you hit the power to charge or you may zap the little fuse inside the light. Easy to fix anyhow.

You can use them out of the water as well but make sure you take the diffuser out before.

Here is a screen grab of a lion fish I shot with them at night. The fish was just a few inches from the port.

http://www.hdvunderwater.com/videoclips/lion.jpg

Now rich and famous....Ye right...

Yes, light beams are bothering me as well. They're not so noticeable in the clearer water though. Even so my Darkbusters have 'video' reflectors I guess they're not so great in terms of providing wide uniform light pattern. They also tend to overexpose at short distance.

Maybe I should try to experiment with longer strobe arms...

I had a look at the footage you left. Gee the vis was bad.. do you normally see as much of the light beams through your lens as you do in the vid with the trace line or was it just bad that time because of the silt in the water.

 

are you able to do much close up work with them or does the light get to bright for the subject and overexpose.

Yes. At the time I bought them (about a year ago) ULCS didn't have specialized adapters for this light, so I bought AD-UK. They turned out to be about 2 mm. wider then mounting slot on the light, but it was relatively easy to remove a bit of excessive material from the adapter and after that they fit perfectly.

Very informative photos. Are you using the AD-UK, or some other ULCS adaptor on the light?

 

Thanks.

Can you please post more details about your diffuser (may be some photos?). I'm not very impressed with stock video reflector.

I had to make some diffusers for them which I cut out from the bottom of a Yogurt container.

I got my W/A lens wet the othere night in sydney and man am I in love with it. I went on a night dive with my gf and shot a heap of footage the only problem was lighting. Trying to co-ordinate 2 UK-C4 leds was a pain but did work for quite a few shots.

Got to do what u gotta do..

Well I think Im sold on the darkbusters.

Id love to see a pis of your home made diffusers to Wagsy if you dont mind.

Wagsy..The filters you get with the lights did you try those or are they no good.

You say you dont rate them Maximdim..

Wagsy heres a site with globes

http://www.scuba.com/scuba-gear-56/026379/...able-Torch.html

The stock diffusers are rubbish for close up.

Here is a pic of the one's I made.

Thanks for the link to the globes.

Your welcome, thanks for the info and pic of your diffuser.

Do you use single or dual busters.

Im using an Ike housing and will obviously need to connect them to my housing. What length arms would you recommend for them? Do I have to stick with Ike arms because of the connections to the housing handles of are most universal. Prob stupid question I know but havent bought any before so I just dont know.

I had a look at Maximdim's and they seem to be really short and not able to be spread far from the lens. especially with me using a W/A lens.

Also did you use the YS adapter by Brightstar or an aftermarket adapter?

I never got around to getting the correct arm connectors for it. Just used what I had laying around.

With the white diffuser's on the lights don't need to be very far away form the port as you don't really get any beams. It's just a big glowing blob of white light coming out.

I use two.

How much brighter if at all are they than the UK Light Cannon 100? I currently use 2 LC 100's, but like the Darkbuster features of not having to take out the batteries to charge and Li batteries are appealing to me.

On pictures I posted lights connected directly to the ball adapters on Ikelite housing handles. Obviously you could insert any standard UCLS strobe arm(s) in between.

I had a look at Maximdim's and they seem to be really short and not able to be spread far from the lens. especially with me using a W/A lens.

Hi

Yes I have two but one has a bung eye.

Need a globe....anyone know where I can get one from.

Wagsy. These people are in Aus. I have ordered some spares from the web site, turned up within 48 hours.

LuxHID

Cheers

Col

I have almost worn out your blu-ray from the number of times I have played it

Hey Col

That's a great link...cheers for that...$100 AUS is better.

You must be sick of Kelly's narration by now....

I ordered in some Ritek blank Blu-Ray disks to make some more but the Pioneer will not burn too them

Maximdim, Do you or would you be able to post the brand and part number of the adapter you used in the light and the ball clamp on the adapter. been searching for the parts but the descriptions there are crap.

Does anyone know where to get ULCS parts in Australia. or of a distributer or company with good prices.

Peter,

Wagsy, LOL looking at your pic of your cam;,... did you drive a bolt through the pistol grip handle and tie the top to the arm. ( having a bit of a chuckle here)

I guess it works hey....

Is the weight of the lights a problem? I had dual light cannons each with 2 buoyancy control arms and they still wanted to droop, it was kind of a pain. Do you experience this while shooting or do the lights stay where you put them?

Billy

Ultralight Control System (ULCS) 'AD-UK' adapter for UK Light Canon.

http://www.ulcs.com/strobes.html

As I said above, in this adapter the plate which attaches to the light base is a bit wider (couple mm) then needed. I had to use file to remove extra width - it's made from aluminum alloy so it's not that hard. Once it's been done it fits perfectly and very robust.

Maximdim, Do you or would you be able to post the brand and part number of the adapter you used in the light and the ball clamp on the adapter. been searching for the parts but the descriptions there are crap.

Does anyone know where to get ULCS parts in Australia. or of a distributer or company with good prices.

Shoot new video couple days ago with same set up but using longer strobe arms (10 inches). I think it's better - light beams are not so noticeable as before (you can see light pattern quite clearly on the bottom at around 7 min mark). Maybe it's just water being clearer this time though.

http://www.extremeprofile.com/videos.actio...p;diveId=363516

Is the weight of the lights a problem? I had dual light cannons each with 2 buoyancy control arms and they still wanted to droop, it was kind of a pain. Do you experience this while shooting or do the lights stay where you put them?

Lights are just slightly negative - the whole set up with buoyant arms tend to sink slowly if released, which is fine. But it's not very balanced in terms of orientation - if I let camera with lights go it rotates upside down rather quickly (front going up). Not sure how to fight it without adding weights and floats. It's not terribly bad, still comfortable to hold in shooting position, but could be better.