Video lights for 7D/5D MK2?

Hello, a question for fellow member who own a video camera especialy 7D/5D mk2!

What video lights do you use? Light & Motion are nice but model 1000 and 2000 way to pricey for me. I was looking something around 1000 lumens and +

Fisheye FIX LED 1000DX is nice and compact and it has 1000 lumens (reefphoto tests show around 777 lumens).

So what do you use in your housings?

Thank you

Hello, a question for fellow member who own a video camera especialy 7D/5D mk2!

 

What video lights do you use? Light & Motion are nice but model 1000 and 2000 way to pricey for me. I was looking something around 1000 lumens and +

Fisheye FIX LED 1000DX is nice and compact and it has 1000 lumens (reefphoto tests show around 777 lumens).

 

So what do you use in your housings?

 

 

Thank you

Have a look at the top photo in the following link:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35245

These lights are available in HID 35w and 50w (3500 or 5500 lumens); and in LED (1700 lumens, 2500 lumens or 3000 lumens).

Here is the setup I am using for any of the DSLRs that shoot video. It allows me to have both strobes and video lights. What you can see is I am using a pair of Fisheye Fix 1000 LED lights. They work great for macro or CFWA, but not quite powerful enough for big animal or wide reef scenes. All in all its a great set up for these cameras.

Hey Mike did you think about mounting the video lights on the seperate internal mount points on the housing? I was thinking that if they were used mostly for macro and CFWA they wouldn't have to be that far away. I'm speaking from ignorance since I haven't tried it yet.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve,

Everyone has their preferences and Mike seems to like the expensive ultra light arms. Personally, aside from considerable cost, I found them to be a real pain in the derierre. When filming underwater you need to be able to adjust the position of your lights quickly as a shot presents itself. The ultra light arms do not allow you to do that. With them you need to loosen the light, reposition it and then tighten it up again. Too much time lost and your subject may be far gone by the time your done. The ultra light arms are great in very strong current though. I personally prefer the Loc-Line arms which are very inexpensive and make adjusting your arms/lights as quick as can be. The only time I ever had a problem with them holding their position was in the 8 knot currents in Tahiti, everywhere else they do just fine.

Steve

Steve,

Everyone has their preferences and Mike seems to like the expensive ultra light arms. Personally, aside from considerable cost, I found them to be a real pain in the derierre. When filming underwater you need to be able to adjust the position of your lights quickly as a shot presents itself. The ultra light arms do not allow you to do that. With them you need to loosen the light, reposition it and then tighten it up again. Too much time lost and your subject may be far gone by the time your done. The ultra light arms are great in very strong current though. I personally prefer the Loc-Line arms which are very inexpensive and make adjusting your arms/lights as quick as can be. The only time I ever had a problem with them holding their position was in the 8 knot currents in Tahiti, everywhere else they do just fine.

Steve

I agree too about the arms... I too use lock-line arms for my Sunray 1000 light heads.. and they are very easy to use and adjust on the fly.. with one hand and quickly.. which is of great value. You can buy lots of adapters and parts online at www.modularhose.com for them at great prices too. The only downside of lock line arms is when a diveboat deckhand tries to hold my housing by the arms. I have to be sure to show them were to hold the rig elsewhere. Lockline arms can come apart topside. But for underwater and using smaller lights.. they are great. I sometimes dive in very heavy currents and rarely have any issues.

Mike,

I'm with you on ALWAYS instructing deck hands how to handle my housing/lights when passing them down or passing them up. They appreciate being politely told just how the gear needs to be handled as they don't want to ruin your system anymore than you want them to.

Steve

Agreed too, I'm a locline man and definitely filling a deckie /DM is a must. The other downside I found to locline arms is the noise they make, scares the hell out of some critters. Any tips on stopping the creaking noise.

J

Fisheye FIX lights are nice but I`m afraid they will be little bit weak, pair of those costs 1200USD, and now on reefphoto there is a set of Light&Motion Sunray 1000 LED (stock from 2009) for 1900 USD. Anyone got experience with them cause they are bit expensive and I don`t know if they worth such money?!

Thank you

Guys,

I've posted to a video on my site which includes some video shot with a 7D and dual 1000DX lights (with diffusers + 6000k filters). Settings were ISO400 f/4 @ 1/30s, depth 45m, Tokina 10-17mm. It should be obvious which parts are lit up by the 1000DX's, the other clips were shot by AengusM with a 5D in natural light.

Coverage across the frame is less than I'd like with the Tokina too. At 10mm, you can clearly see two circular rings caused by the lights. For macro I expect they'll be great though they're at their limit, or perhaps beyond for WA work. The lights did the job though only have a limited amount of throw. In hindsight I think a higher ISO would have been much better both for lighting and would have allowed a faster shutter speed.

I had the two lights mounted on 12-14" of loc-line from the centre of the Aquatica accessory mount using a diy block that took allows two 1/4" bases to be screwed in. This was sub-optimal in my view as the 1000DX's (unlike the HG20DX) seem a little heavy for loc-line (I've only done one WA dive, not macro yet). I think I'll mount them on 12" arms off each grip to get the lights further away from the camera. It'll also make the rig more transportable, as the loc-line proved a pain and kept popping off on the boat and made me paranoid on deco.

Damien,

How did you find the single Light & Motion Sunray 1000 system compared to the Fisheye 1000DX's ?

Hi Pete,

No questions about it, I'd rather be packing 2xSunray's for WA shooting. If you take the backscatter tests as a baseline there is a 20% ish difference in lumen count between the two (777 vs 980), but in real life the punch/intensity/throw (call it what you will) of the Sunray was more than 20% better in my view. The Sunray turned my kitchen into a tanning salon, the Fisheye was just really bright.

The light coming out of the Fisheye is extremely cold, so I felt the need to put the diffusers on. Sadly this eats a half to one full stop of light (based on my above water tests) which for WA shooting and the limited power lights we're talking about is a fair bit off the top. The light from the Sunray a little warmer though I’d throw on filters if I had them.

Build quality is definitely higher with the Sunray being of solid alloy construction, though that said the Fisheye isn't bad either. I mentioned it elsewhere but I also prefer the lightweight head on the loc-line over the more battery/head config of the Fisheye et al. I just didn’t find that 3/4" loc-line was grippy enough to hold the fisheye's weight. This was a big issue on land and an annoyance underwater.

Beam angle between the two was comparable (from memory), but the smaller head on Sunray allowed me to put about 20” of loc-line on get the light head further away, thus more angle.

Both have proprietary batteries that are expensive to replace and custom chargers, though this is par for the course on any decent light I’ve seen.

The Sunray's issue is the battery size/weight, but if you have them mounted nicely (perhaps with the L&M rail adapter) you could manage it well. Weight at the bottom of a DSLR housing could only help stabilisation also I’d think.

For me it's the difference between a dedicated video light and a great modelling light stretched to video work.

Further to my last, if you're interested in seeing what a single Sunray 1000 will do checkout http://www.blip.tv/dashboard/episode/3401570

Camera & Settings: 7D, ISO800, f/4 @ 1/30th, Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, AWB

I was at about 75m though, where it was practically pitch black and low vis (lots of particles in the water). Considering that I thought the Sunray was pushed pretty hard and held up well.

Does anyone have experience with the LED video lights from Aditech? They claim some serious lumen output, ~3000-4000lm with 120º beam. A lot of my diving is a bit deeper, so these are looking like a good option.

-Brian

Hi all, sorry for not responding sooner I havent been on here. To answer the question, yes I have put the Fix lights on internal ball mounts, and Ive tried it the way in the pic. Both work fine, its a personal preference to be honest. When I went to Florida to test dive the prototype with CP, they had the Fix lights on the outside mounts, and the strobes on the inner mounts...that personally I did not like so I had moved the strobes to the outside. All personal preference.

With regards to overall lighting, I like the Fix1000s for this set up. Using a set of bigger lights such as the SunRay 1200 or 2000x is great if its going to be dedicated for video only. Carrying a set of strobes, plus a set of these lights with battery packs mounted on the bottom is way too much...and personally, like Ive been saying all along....I still feel these cameras are STILL cameras, and good for some video clips....they are not what I would consider dedicated video cameras. If I plan to be a video shooter, then I would still take my video camera and a set of video lights.

That being said, for small video clips, macro and fish video, the Fix are ideal for me.

Does anyone have experience with the LED video lights from Aditech? They claim some serious lumen output, ~3000-4000lm with 120º beam. A lot of my diving is a bit deeper, so these are looking like a good option.

 

-Brian

They claim a CRI of 95.

If anyone knows of the emitter manufacturer's data sheet to substantiate this I'd be interested to read it...

They claim a CRI of 95.

 

If anyone knows of the emitter manufacturer's data sheet to substantiate this I'd be interested to read it...

Agreed, seems too good to be true:

Light Source: 6x Slim type LED package

Luminous Flux (Lumen): 4050 lm

Beam angle: 120x130º

Colour temperature: 5000º Kelvin

Colour rendering index (CRI): 95

Burn time (100-45%): 120min (100%) / 330min (60%)

These guys must really be on to something, or.... I'm a biologist not an engineer, just looking for the brightest light for the buck. Does anyone have any hands on experience with this company?

Kommol,

Brian

I'm a biologist not an engineer...

 

Kommol,

Brian

Some of the best dive equipment engineers/underwater photographers I know were once marine biologists! LOL

Again...if anyone knows what emitter is being used, I'd be interested to know. The claimed CRI of 95 is....well, interesting.

The industry world leader in high power LED arrays US company Bridgelux can barely squeak in at a CRI of 65 for their daylight color temp LED arrays...

Further to my last, if you're interested in seeing what a single Sunray 1000 will do checkout http://www.blip.tv/dashboard/episode/3401570

 

Camera & Settings: 7D, ISO800, f/4 @ 1/30th, Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, AWB

 

I was at about 75m though, where it was practically pitch black and low vis (lots of particles in the water). Considering that I thought the Sunray was pushed pretty hard and held up well.

I cant see your video on that page, can you post it somwhere else? I realy would like to see 7D and sunray 1000 in action!

Thank you

My apologies, I used the internal blip link. The external link is http://www.blip.tv/file/3382219