Lights in Lembeh?

Hi all

Just a quick question for all you Lembeh vets. Do you need lights for daylight filming? Normally I only ever use lights for night dives or for inside wrecks as I prefer available light shooting, but I'm just a bit worried that available light will be limited. For night dives I'm covered already, but if I'll need to use lights during the day I'm going to need an upgrade which would not be good news, especially after Zoe went wild in NYC on a week long shopping trip! Any input would be really appreciated.

Cheers, Simon

I've never been to Lembeh but if you don't need lights in stoney

Maybe for macro but then again if its shallow with plenty of sun... ???

Dive safe

DeanB

you need lights

you need lights

Hi Mike,

Where are you in Lembeh?

Pierre

Hi all

 

Just a quick question for all you Lembeh vets. Do you need lights for daylight filming? Normally I only ever use lights for night dives or for inside wrecks as I prefer available light shooting, but I'm just a bit worried that available light will be limited. For night dives I'm covered already, but if I'll need to use lights during the day I'm going to need an upgrade which would not be good news, especially after Zoe went wild in NYC on a week long shopping trip! Any input would be really appreciated.

 

Cheers, Simon

For daylight stuff, since a lot of the stuff is above 10m, you can usually get away with using a filter and natural light with species like cephalopods (mimics and wunderpus don't party well with lights) or small fish. However, deeper down and if you want the colors to shine, artificial lighting is a must, but then skittish subjects will avoid you like the plague.

If Zoe spent overboard in NYC, then you can go buy yourself Lou Prezelin's 200W HMI lights(used by Auntie Beebs, NGC and others) to bring back equilibrium.

Hi Pierre, in my sig you will see a link to NAD, thats the place.

Simon, i only use UK HIDs, anything deeper than 5 metres or so you will need lights to bring out the colour, shallower they aren't strong enough, but deeper they are fine even on the brightest days.

LOL Drew. Honestly I don't even want to know how much those lights cost.... hmmmm....NO stop it!

Mike - I've got a couple of UK Light Canon HID's. So you think they'll be ok for the deeper stuff? I've never had a lot of success with them for daylight shooting in the past, even in murky conditions.

Cheers, Simon

LOL Drew. Honestly I don't even want to know how much those lights cost.... hmmmm....NO stop it!

 

Mike - I've got a couple of UK Light Canon HID's. So you think they'll be ok for the deeper stuff? I've never had a lot of success with them for daylight shooting in the past, even in murky conditions.

 

Cheers, Simon

Yea, they are fine for macro stuff, not for wa though.. as i said, thats all i have

Simon - when you gonna be there? Maybe we can both gang up on Mike together....

I'm very big on shooting with available light, but on my last trip to Lembeh I had my lights for just about everything apart from the really shallow stuff. I only have L&M halogens so I have them on long arms and had them pretty close to the subject and with blue gels on them to get the colour temperature nearer daylight.

I imagine with UK Light Canon HIDs you'll be using your ND filters are fair bit.

Simon, what's fair is fair... Prezelin for Louboutin is a very fair exchange. Remember, conflict escalation (read UPGRADE) is expected in the war of attrition.

What rig are you shooting? Still the V1? Then forget what I said. I forget the early HDV rigs were afraid of the dark. Lights... dual diffused 24W HID filtered to 4600°K should get you somewhere close enough to easily color correct. I would also bring filters to drop the light to 2000°K for the mandarin dives. Otherwise you will not be very popular with the still photogs on the same dive. I think the V1 will hit 2000°K (or is that the Canon X series?) then you can color correct for the rest.

Been to many of the resorts in Lembeh Straits. I generally always use lights, currently the Sunray 2000s. However, with them, I use the low lumens settings so as to avoid blowing out the subjects. Back in the day when I used the UK HIDs, I brought a 2nd set of halogen lights for night time filming as the UKs were just to blue for my night work.

Steve

Chris, we're going to be in Bunaken in Nov and Lembeh Dec through until early Jan. Can't wait! When are you there?

Drew ever heard of mutually assured destruction? That's what happens when I escalate a conflict with Zoe! Dam those lights do look nice though! (yep still with the V1 for now until maybe Scarlet if it ever materialises)

Nick, I get on fine with the UK's on night dives, but I find them really weak in the daylight. I used to use stacked filters on them, which gave enough light on other cams, but the V1 wants more. I've dropped down to 1 filter now per light even on night dives and that's barely adequate, which was why I was kind of surprised by Mike. Different cams though so that's maybe why.

Steve you rate the Sunrays? edit - Steve ignore me I was getting confused. I was thinking of those big UK type lights that Wagsy used to use tupperware on as diffusers!

Cheers, Simon

Simon, Reagan brought down the Soviet bloc on the policy of outspending the enemy.

Why surprised?

I have em so i use em... would i prefer something more powerful?

Yes