Video light advice...

Howdy! Well, after 8 years my Sola 1200 vid lights are dying. I am now shooting a GH5 and want to upgrade my lights. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Here's what I've found so far, thoughts?

Kraken 5000S - nice small package, but everything I'm hearing 5k lumen is not enough

Big Blue 10K lumen - This looks really nice. Only question is the temp, 6500. Hoping I can compensate temp with my GH5 manual WB? Price tag $649, which is spectacular for a 10k lumen light. At second glance they have a 9k lumen with a 5000k color temp for the same price as the 10K lumen. This one is the front runner right now.

Archon - Seem like decent light but I've heard the build might be not the best

Scubalamp V6K - 12k lumen at a sensible price!! Unfortunately... I don't see a US distributor

Keldons - Too costly but gorgeous.

There is a great post by Drefish about how he compared the Gates GT14, ScubaLamp V6K Pro's and the Jaunt G18's - and the follow on discussion about other brands.

I've had Keldans (and yes you're right 5000lm isn't enough), I then had the V6K Pro's and sold them for the Jaunt G18 Plus, which for the money are the best ratio of power/cost/build

They are available on Alibaba direct from the manufacturer . https://jaunt.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.wholesale.cordpanyb.1.3eec4bb9RoUoJL

Great service and fast delivery, obviously if servicing and warranty are important factors, buying locally might is better.

There's a 20% discount on the Jaunt G18 Plus on Alibaba atm.

Why do you need so much light? Were the Solas unusable? I guess if you are trying to light up wrecks you might need a lot of light, but for macro at least Sola 2500s would seem to be plenty.

Bill

Why do you need so much light? Were the Solas unusable? I guess if you are trying to light up wrecks you might need a lot of light, but for macro at least Sola 2500s would seem to be plenty.

Bill

A lot of my work is WA, reefscapes, Walls, swimthroughs, Cenotes etc. True it's overkill for macro

I've decided to go with these badboys....Thanks for the input folks!

https://bigbluedivelights.com/products/15000-lumen-warm-white-video-light/

The Sola 1200 are perfect for macro with the spot light you can send them in for service

For wide angle the jaunt G18+ look promising any other light make sure you can dim right to the minimum of macro will be washed out and clipped that is why keldan are good

The Sola 1200 are perfect for macro with the spot light you can send them in for service

 

For wide angle the jaunt G18+ look promising any other light make sure you can dim right to the minimum of macro will be washed out and clipped that is why keldan are good

Agreed, I will keep the sola's, using one on my hotshoe for macro. The Big Blues can be stepped down also. With TONS of battery life If I do.

Agreed, I will keep the sola's, using one on my hotshoe for macro. The Big Blues can be stepped down also. With TONS of battery life If I do.

Careful -- those battery packs on the Big Blue CB15000P are 134Wh -- they're going to be very difficult to fly with. Most airlines restrict you to 2 <160Wh batteries, but it depends -- some don't allow them at all.

 

Careful -- those battery packs on the Big Blue CB15000P are 134Wh -- they're going to be very difficult to fly with. Most airlines restrict you to 2 <160Wh batteries, but it depends -- some don't allow them at all.

Ouch! Didn't really think it would be an issue with these compact lights. So I can't find any specs on the BB website for these battery packs (the ones I received). I see on your chart on the other thread that they are rated at 134wh. I went to this conversion page...... https://milliamps-watts.appspot.com/

I plugged in the info on my battery pack ( 18650x7 ) which is - 3400mAh and 25.9V It gave me a total of 88wh. Am I missing another variable?? Thanks for the heads up and help!

**EDIT - I called Big Blue and they sent me over the MSDS for my battery pack. Thankfully it is 88wh!!!!!! The one listed on the website as the pack for this light is incorrect, hopefully they will straiten that out.

Good to hear about the battery pack. On their website they claim that:

• The rechargeable Li-ion 27100×8 battery pack gives you 1.5 hours on the highest setting

If the battery pack is indeed the more normal 18650 x 7 (8?) configuration at sub 100Wh, then I suspect their claimed burn time is also incorrect. It should be closer to 1 hour on full power.

Good to hear about the battery pack. On their website they claim that:

• The rechargeable Li-ion 27100×8 battery pack gives you 1.5 hours on the highest setting

 

If the battery pack is indeed the more normal 18650 x 7 (8?) configuration at sub 100Wh, then I suspect their claimed burn time is also incorrect. It should be closer to 1 hour on full power.

I have strong suspicions on any of those specs....!

Good to hear about the battery pack. On their website they claim that:

• The rechargeable Li-ion 27100×8 battery pack gives you 1.5 hours on the highest setting

 

If the battery pack is indeed the more normal 18650 x 7 (8?) configuration at sub 100Wh, then I suspect their claimed burn time is also incorrect. It should be closer to 1 hour on full power.

Yeah, it's 18650x7. It's on the batteries and the MSDS the company sent me. The rep said the info was incorrect on the website. So yeah, I'm curious if they made that change and haven't updated the page and like Interceptor121 mentions, what else might be incorrect or not updated? Welp... I will find out when I road test them in a couple weeks in the Philippines. I will give a full report when I return. All I can say now is they are insanely bright compared to my Sola 1200's . They have 4 power settings to dial them down for macro and of course the red light feature.