Focus Light for Night Diving

Hello everyone,

Looking for a new focus light and wondering what is recommended or what is new out in the market. I'm mainly looking for yellow or white and red light, as well as the feature where the focus light shuts off temporarily upon strobe triggering.  After I changed my strobes (now using Retra Pro), my current focus light is hit or miss when the strobes fire off.

Thanks in advance!

My "favorite" is the fisheye fix neo mini, but that has been discontinued.  You might be able to find one, though.  I have also had good luck with kraken photo lights that have white and red settings and auto off.  I think Kraken and Weefine might be the same thing in different markets.

Inon lights are well made, but not sure if they have a white/red auto off.  I hated sola lights when i tried them and will never get one again

If buying one now I would probably get the kraken 1500 white/red auto off.  It is much more powerful than needed but can be turned down. 

I started with a Sola photo 600, which was white only, and now use a Sola 1200 which has white and red. I'm a big fan of them personally, but they do not shut off when the strobes fire. I can't see a hotspot in my photos if I'm on white or red. 

12 hours ago, theocean said:

After I changed my strobes (now using Retra Pro), my current focus light is hit or miss when the strobes fire off.

Could you not use the focus light in the Retras? I find them very good.

I've got a Sola too (P800). It is good but I do find the charging system finicky and not always reliable. Sola has a slightly quirky system for reactivating the light if it goes into sleep mode. This involves tapping the pins of the charger against the pin inlets on the light. It does take some getting used to!

I've also got an Inon LP1300-S which I really like and which I find much better than the Sola. Two levels of brightness and, best of all, uses 3x AA batteries (I use Enveloops) so no need for an extra charger or weird charging systems. It has white light and includes a red cover. This model does not have the photo switch off but there is a model available that does.

4 hours ago, TimG said:

Could you not use the focus light in the Retras? I find them very good.

 

No. Using strobe lights limits your ability to position your strobes properly. The only time i ever use the strobe lights is for a snoot or when shooting into a deep den or hole.

Outside of those situations there is never a time when i want to point a strobe directly at the subject.

18 minutes ago, davehicks said:

Outside of those situations there is never a time when i want to point a strobe directly at the subject.

Fair enough

I think the need for auto off from focus lights is over-rated, a strobe is so much more powerful than a focus light it will drown it out easily.  I use an INON focus light quite a bit with no auto off and never had a hint of it showing up in the shots.  There are probably a few special use cases where it might like shooting in slow sync with really slow shutter speeds to pull in low level ambient light, but for conventional photography (dark enough to need a focus light, shutter speed around 1/100 or higher and low ISO) it will never show up. 

Most focus lights are too bright IMO, you only need the very lowest power to illuminate your subject enough for the AF system to start working.

The problem as others have mentioned with the lights in strobes is that strobe 101 says do not point the strobe at your subject and they typically have narrow beams so typically don't illuminate what you are shooting without re-positioning them.

to the OP what exactly is the issue you are trying to solve, it sounds like you are saying the auto-off feature is not working?

4 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

I think the need for auto off from focus lights is over-rated, a strobe is so much more powerful than a focus light it will drown it out easily.  I use an INON focus light quite a bit with no auto off and never had a hint of it showing up in the shots.  There are probably a few special use cases where it might like shooting in slow sync with really slow shutter speeds to pull in low level ambient light, but for conventional photography (dark enough to need a focus light, shutter speed around 1/100 or higher and low ISO) it will never show up. 

 Most focus lights are too bright IMO, you only need the very lowest power to illuminate your subject enough for the AF system to start working.

The problem as others have mentioned with the lights in strobes is that strobe 101 says do not point the strobe at your subject and they typically have narrow beams so typically don't illuminate what you are shooting without re-positioning them.

to the OP what exactly is the issue you are trying to solve, it sounds like you are saying the auto-off feature is not working?

Thanks for the answer, Chris. Yes, my focus light is working only sometimes, so I'm thinking it's a good opportunity to shop around and see what's new or recommended.

15 hours ago, Draq said:

My "favorite" is the fisheye fix neo mini, but that has been discontinued.  You might be able to find one, though.  I have also had good luck with kraken photo lights that have white and red settings and auto off.  I think Kraken and Weefine might be the same thing in different markets.

 Inon lights are well made, but not sure if they have a white/red auto off.  I hated sola lights when i tried them and will never get one again

If buying one now I would probably get the kraken 1500 white/red auto off.  It is much more powerful than needed but can be turned down. 

Mine is actually a fix neo mini

23 minutes ago, theocean said:

Thanks for the answer, Chris. Yes, my focus light is working only sometimes, so I'm thinking it's a good opportunity to shop around and see what's new or recommended.

I've been really happy with my INON the only downside is red is achieved through a filter not a red LED so is not as "RED"  this one has auto off feature: http://www.inon.jp/products/le_light/lf1100h-ewf.html

If I was in the market I would go for simplicity rather than having to remember button push sequences to change settings.

I use a Weefine 2300 lumen "focus"-lamp. In US Weefine is branded as Kraken. It has "strobe-off" (maybe overrated, but it does not do harm to have it), red LED (I use red light practically exclusively for focus aid, as it does not scare many animals), blue LED (nice to have for fluorescence. I even made some photos with it) and can be dimmed in steps. It is not only good for focus, but also a complete diving lamp for night dives to mount on the rig, with capacity >> 1h (mostly used at less than 100%). At a pinch I also use it for video, but for serious video you want more light...

Wolfgang

I’ve used the Weefine Smart Focus 2300 as well and can recommend. It is much nicer to use than the more advanced models which require complicated button combinations to engage the strobe auto off. 

18 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

I think the need for auto off from focus lights is over-rated, a strobe is so much more powerful than a focus light it will drown it out easily.  I use an INON focus light quite a bit with no auto off and never had a hint of it showing up in the shots.  There are probably a few special use cases where it might like shooting in slow sync with really slow shutter speeds to pull in low level ambient light, but for conventional photography (dark enough to need a focus light, shutter speed around 1/100 or higher and low ISO) it will never show up. 

Most focus lights are too bright IMO, you only need the very lowest power to illuminate your subject enough for the AF system to start working.

 

I mostly use a focus light at night and frequently use red mode as many creatures don't flee and hide from that as quickly as they do a white light.  Before I had an auto-shutoff, I did at times find a reddish or pinkish area in the middle of the shot.  Everything we are taught about lighting suggests the strobe should overpower that, but there it was.  So that is when I got an auto-off light and the problem went away.

I agree with you on the brightness point.  Luckily many of the lights can be turned down to 25%, but I often use my neo mini 500 at 25% as well, which is much dimmer that the current 1000-1500 lights even at 25%.  The upside to the brighter lights is that they can be be a backup to a dive light, which can be nice if your main light suddenly floods and goes dark.

I have started using dive and focus lights using 18560 batteries.  They have a long run time and the single or double cell chargers are pretty small. Also there are a number of 18560 batteries that have a built in USB port so all you need to charge the battery is a USB cable, which I would think everyone has anyway.

7 hours ago, Draq said:

Before I had an auto-shutoff, I did at times find a reddish or pinkish area in the middle of the shot.  Everything we are taught about lighting suggests the strobe should overpower that, but there it was

What is your typical shutter speed/aperture/ISO setting on night dives?

16 hours ago, Barmaglot said:

What is your typical shutter speed/aperture/ISO setting on night dives?

Probably iso of somewhere between 400 and 800, shutter speed between 160 and 250, aperture between 8 and 13.  As I think about it, I don't think I have done any night dives with a camera for a few years.  Covid wiped out all diving for a year or so, then I had several trips where no night dives were available, then a trip where my flash trigger failed and I took no photos, etc. 

I am sure I could manipulate settings without much trouble i order to remove any red cast, but it is easier to use an auto-off light.

On 3/13/2023 at 11:44 PM, theocean said:

Mine is actually a fix neo mini

OK- I know you probably already know this and I don't mean any offense by saying it, but are you holding the power button down long enough that the power light is flashing when the light is on?  Something like an extra 2 seconds.  It should then stay in AFO if you switch modes (and power light will continue flashing).  If power light is steady in any mode, AFO is not on.

1 hour ago, Draq said:

OK- I know you probably already know this and I don't mean any offense by saying it, but are you holding the power button down long enough that the power light is flashing when the light is on?  Something like an extra 2 seconds.  It should then stay in AFO if you switch modes (and power light will continue flashing).  If power light is steady in any mode, AFO is not on.

 

 

 

Yes indeed, I am cognizant of how to enable the feature. No offense taken, I know you're trying to help

It's just that feeling, after not using the light in about 2+ years, incidentally the auto flash off feature worked only a couple times during a night dive. It might have been a problem with aiming, where the light wasn't able to see the flash well enough perhaps ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  - It would be fair to give it a couple more tries.

They are really nice simple and small lights.  Hope it still works.  You can flash it on land to, to experiment.  Well, maybe I should say strobe it, to avoid any miscommunication ;-)

If it is dead or dying, BigBlue Lights makes a light called an AL1200Rafo that looks like it is fairly small and pretty straightforward to use.  Not sure if you can turn off the AFO feature, if it matters.

Good luck.

5 hours ago, Draq said:

Probably iso of somewhere between 400 and 800, shutter speed between 160 and 250, aperture between 8 and 13.  As I think about it, I don't think I have done any night dives with a camera for a few years.  Covid wiped out all diving for a year or so, then I had several trips where no night dives were available, then a trip where my flash trigger failed and I took no photos, etc. 

I am sure I could manipulate settings without much trouble i order to remove any red cast, but it is easier to use an auto-off light.

Why ISO between 400 and 800 and not the base value available for your camera (64, 100, 125, whatever)? In daylight, the most common cause of raising the ISO is brightening the water column when you can't open the aperture or slow down the shutter speed any more, but at night this is not a factor.

8 hours ago, Draq said:

Probably iso of somewhere between 400 and 800, shutter speed between 160 and 250, aperture between 8 and 13.  As I think about it, I don't think I have done any night dives with a camera for a few years.  Covid wiped out all diving for a year or so, then I had several trips where no night dives were available, then a trip where my flash trigger failed and I took no photos, etc. 

I am sure I could manipulate settings without much trouble i order to remove any red cast, but it is easier to use an auto-off light.

I would think base ISO and max sync speed would solve the problem, this minimises ambient light input.