Now for a review of my favorite video light, the Nautieye NE23 12K lumen COB video light. I purchased one of these a few months go and paired it up with a 10K Scubalamp PV102 light I had. That did not work out well as I hoped because the color temperatures were different. I tried correcting it with a CT straw gel but I could clearly see the difference in the lights. I decided to go buy another NE23 to match my lighting up. I did a video review here:
The manual states a run time of approximately 60 min. I ran a burn test in a bucket and I got 1 hour and 15 seconds, so the published time is accurate. This is a constant rate burning light but within the last 5-10 minutes of run time falloff began to occur, so on full power working time is roughly 50-55 mins. The manual does not publish a low power run time. This light steps down in increments of 20%, and on the last click down to 8% before rotating back to 100% output. While I am sure that step down is not totally linear I will make the assumption that it is close, and low power is just under a 1000 lumen video light. I got 31 hours and 18 mins at the low power setting. Most people would be running at high power but if you are shooting in macro or a combination of macro and wide you can probably squeeze two dives out of a single charge. The battery pack is 6800Mah built from 8 18650 batteries. It took 3 hours and 7 mins for a full charge from empty with the provided charger.
I cant post my test and comparison shots as the size limit its tiny here at .98 MB. I have this same post over on scubaboard with more test shots.
These things are not exactly light at 950g out of the water and 480g in the water. I have my rig pretty close to neutral and I find them no more bulky than diving with two strobes, but out of the water it is cumbersome due to the weight. I have found that the front edge can get a bit scuffed when setting them down on hard surfaces like the edge of a pool, or boat with grit texture on the floor. I have taken to using some of my daughters rubber bracelets which fit perfectly over the edge to provide a bumper.
To sum up the pros and cons I see for this light:
Pros:
- High output
- High CRI
- Ample running time
- Easy to use
- Battery TSA freindly
- YS and Ball mounts
- The barrel mounting sleeve can be rotated to place the buttons on the inside individually on each light letting you easily reach them.
Cons:
- Bulky, but then so are most lights of this category
- Beam angle could be slightly narrower to concentrate lighting power
I liked this initial light purchase so much that I bought several other products to evaluate and worked out discounted pricing with Nautieye. The retail price for this video light is 799. I can offer is at a price of 690 and buyer pays shipping. If there is enough interest in this light I can place an order. If anyone has any questions I did not answer please feel free to ask.
