Powerful Video lights

Hi,

I am looking at different video light for DSLR. I am in great need of high power.

At the moment I use dual Hartenberger mega compact D2 Video with 14,4v/5,4 Ah battery and they are great but I would like to at least double the power?

I have been looking at the Keldan LUNA 8 LA-V FLUX, The NEWTLITE 200W HMI, Gates VL24 Underwater LED Video Light and the The Edge Tech dive Ultra 200 video LED in the 5000 kelvin version.

Please let me know if there is any other light I should be considering.

Kind regards // Alex

Hi Alex,

I am about to take delivery of a couple of Fisheye FIX Aquavolt 5000s (5000 lumens). All reports I have seen have been very positive and seemingly the only other self-contained lamp of the power, size and similar price point is the L&M Sola 4000.

I handled a Sola recently and felt it did not measure up to the build quality of the Fisheyes which I already own (LED 48s and LED 500s). Also the beam angle of the Sola is lesser than the Fisheye's 120 degrees.

The new Gates lamps look very good too.

I'll shoot some deep, dark footage with the Aquavolts as soon as possible and post it in a mini-review but I'm waiting for a new 7i PC and 64 bit OS to run Adobe premier pro.

HTH, Tim

I am using the Keldan Luna CRI lights, whose review is in the reviews section here at Wetpixel. While not tiny lights, they are very powerful and self contained. I have them mounted on a Nauticam housing for the Canon 7D. Very happy with them. I have not tried the Gates lights but did see a prototype and was impressed.

Steve

I am using the Keldan Luna CRI lights, whose review is in the reviews section here at Wetpixel. While not tiny lights, they are very powerful and self contained. I have them mounted on a Nauticam housing for the Canon 7D. Very happy with them. I have not tried the Gates lights but did see a prototype and was impressed.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the heads up on your superlative review of the Keldan lights which I had completely snoozed. I doubt whether I will pen content of this quality in respect of the Fisheyes...

May I ask which glass you are using (dome and lenses) for w/a video with your NA-7D? Presently, I am shooting footage with the Canon 10-22 (preferring to avoid the Tokina if possible) but am hopeful of using the Sigma 8-16 if a suitable port becomes available. My apologies if this is taking the thread off-topic...

I will take a look at the fisheye fix Aquavolt 5000s to, thank you for the advice.

// Alex

May I ask which glass you are using (dome and lenses) for w/a video with your NA-7D? Presently, I am shooting footage with the Canon 10-22 (preferring to avoid the Tokina if possible) but am hopeful of using the Sigma 8-16 if a suitable port becomes available. My apologies if this is taking the thread off-topic...

Hey Tim,

I am still new and learning having gone to DSLR. Right now I am using an 8" dome and did not care for the 10-22. Recently purchased the 10-17 Tokina but have yet to get it in the water. Steve Williams seems to be the expert on this so you might want to pick his brains. However, he is a photographer and not a videographer and thus have different ways of looking at it.

Steve

What about the L&M sola 4000s?

Keldan just released the Luna 4; info is on their website. Same lumen as the sola's but with better color temp (5000k) and an all aluminum body. Also removable batteries so you can bring spares. Supposed to retail for around $1500. They also upped the power on the Luna 8 significantly. I'm currently trying to pick between them myself.

Textilet, what pros and cons have you so far come up with?

The sola 4000s is in the lower end of power but could probably work. But if I make an upgrade I want it to be a BIG upgrade when it comes to output power!

The sola 4000s is in the lower end of power but could probably work.

What are you planning to light up? The Titanic?

May I ask which glass you are using (dome and lenses) for w/a video with your NA-7D? Presently, I am shooting footage with the Canon 10-22 (preferring to avoid the Tokina if possible) but am hopeful of using the Sigma 8-16 if a suitable port becomes available. My apologies if this is taking the thread off-topic...

Hey Steve I was wondering why you prefer to avoid the Tokina?

Hey Steve I was wondering why you prefer to avoid the Tokina?

PMFJI but it was my post which Steve was quoting

For 'rectilinear' scenes, like wrecks and docks I find the barrel distortion of the Tokina at the wide end to be quite distracting, particularly when panning. Similarly, the forced perspective or 'tadpoling' when shooting footage very close to the subject is another minus of the Tokina. Of course, there's little option if your need the AOV of this glass. Presently, 10-22mm is the best compromise but is disadvantaged by the the maximum 107 degree AOV. If I were shooting white balanced footage in a clear sun-lit water column the 10-22 would probably be fine, but in deep, dark and turbid conditions and reliant on supplimentary illumination I'm hopeful that the Sigma 8-15 will perform but at the expense of a bespoke rectilinear dome port. But I'm just feeling my way...

HTH, Tim

Textilet, what pros and cons have you so far come up with?

 

The sola 4000s is in the lower end of power but could probably work. But if I make an upgrade I want it to be a BIG upgrade when it comes to output power!

The brightest portable light of any kind I've seen in person was the Gates VL-24 at 6000 lumen, and that was..ludicrous. I think based on what one 6000 lumen light looked like, dual sola 4000's would be quite a lot of light. I would be more inclined toward the Keldan Luna 4 V for the price simply because of the color temp. I've noticed that having the warmer end of the spectrum represented underwater looks good to me, so I'm less inclined toward the solas with their somewhat cooler color temp (6500k). My preference for warmer color led me to look at the Keldan Luna 8 LA-V CRI (different from the Luna 8 LA-V FLUX); Steve Douglas wrote an great review of them which is online. I also found a single decent sample video of the lights in use underwater and I think the colors the lights produced are beautifully balanced and produce a unique look. At 4500 lumen they have lots of power.

The Keldans also have 5 power levels. The Gates only have full or half power. Half power with a pair of VL-24s would still be 6000 lumen, which would have to make blown out close ups a concern.

Keldans at low power burn for 200 minutes. The Gates only burn for 120 minutes at half power. Extra batteries for the Gates are about $1000.

The Gates are neutrally buoyant, which is great. The Keldans are a quarter pound negative each. Both Gates and Keldan cost about the same.

The Keldan Luna 8 LA-V FLUX has 6000 lumen at 5000k, but doesn't have the same color rendering index as the Luna 8 LA-V CRI. I don't really think I need 6000 lumen per light, and as I said before I'm intrigued by the color quality of the Luna 8 LA-V CRI, so thats the way I'm going to go. When I get the lights I will post sample footage (which is quite scarce online) and as complete a review as I am capable of producing.

I always have to ask what exactly are you trying to shoot? The most powerful lights are necessary for illuminating anything farther than 4 ft from the port. If it's big animals, then you will want a narrower beam. 6k lumens may sound like a lot but it's not really, especially when you try to shoot with 24mm+ and have to pull back.

The other issue is manufacturers claim xxxx lumens but that's optimized at the bulb. A 90° beam of 6k lumens is less bright than a 50° 4k lumen beam, especially when the subject is farther away.

Excellent reply Drew. Maybe it would be a good feature to introduce adjustable beam angles to lights rather than simply adding and advertising more Lumens. That way for close up work we could diffuse the light a bit but for WA shots create a narrower beam that would throw further. I would patent your idea.

Steve

I always have to ask what exactly are you trying to shoot? The most powerful lights are necessary for illuminating anything farther than 4 ft from the port. If it's big animals, then you will want a narrower beam. 6k lumens may sound like a lot but it's not really, especially when you try to shoot with 24mm+ and have to pull back.

 

The other issue is manufacturers claim xxxx lumens but that's optimized at the bulb. A 90° beam of 6k lumens is less bright than a 50° 4k lumen beam, especially when the subject is farther away.

I use only wide angles 110°-180° and usually subjects are 2-15 meters away. I mostly do wreck photography around 150-200 feet down in dark but sometimes very clear waters.

The image attached is a steamer outside Stockholm from the late 18th century that is about 100 meters long and 12 meter wide so as you can se I need high output from my light source.

On this image I used a strobe on full power 350watts 105° angle and a Nikon D3, 1/25 f5,6 iso6400 but it makes it very difficult for me to work with strobes in these conditions and

I prefer continues lightning. The two Hartenberger's video lights I have today are far to weak for this kind of photography.

// Alex

On this image I used a strobe on full power 350watts 105° angle and a Nikon D3, 1/25 f5,6 iso6400 but it makes it very difficult for me to work with strobes in these conditions and I prefer continues lightning. The two Hartenberger's video lights I have today are far to weak for this kind of photography.

Alex, that's an amazing and beautiful picture. Very important information to relate lighting power to size of scene.

A group called "Northsea Explorers" has done similar work on video. In the video clip below, they use up to five(5) 200w HMI lamps to light the wreck. S/S Helge Ferdinand lit by 5x200w HMI - vimeo.com/7577736

I always have to ask what exactly are you trying to shoot? The most powerful lights are necessary for illuminating anything farther than 4 ft from the port. If it's big animals, then you will want a narrower beam. 6k lumens may sound like a lot but it's not really, especially when you try to shoot with 24mm+ and have to pull back.

 

The other issue is manufacturers claim xxxx lumens but that's optimized at the bulb. A 90° beam of 6k lumens is less bright than a 50° 4k lumen beam, especially when the subject is farther away.

The VL24's @ 6K lumens is a measure of raw output, and incidentally actual measured, not 'as rated' by the mfr. Further, the VL24's were designed for 'close and wide' and spread the light evenly over a very wide area -- but not too much as to waste light off the edges of the image.

To your point about lumens / beam angle, your talking about a flux measurement e.g. lux. The difference between the lumens and lux is that the latter takes into account the area over which the luminous flux is spread.

Alex, that's an amazing and beautiful picture. Very important information to relate lighting power to size of scene.

 

A group called "Northsea Explorers" has done similar work on video. In the video clip below, they use up to five(5) 200w HMI lamps to light the wreck. S/S Helge Ferdinand lit by 5x200w HMI - vimeo.com/7577736

Thank you! Wow the video you linked to was amazing. Do you who the divers in this team is? It would bee nice to get in contact with them.

// Alex

Hey Steve I was wondering why you prefer to avoid the Tokina?

Bought it, was just hoping, being new to DSLRs to avoid the expense but found the 10-22 to be not to my satisfaction.

Steve