Using Fisheye Focus light for "Strobe"??

Was not sure where to put this...

Wondering about using my Fisheye Focus Light as a “strobeâ€. Going to photograph Great Whites at Guadalupe. Now if I get lucky and have one come in close for the “bite sequence†wouldn’t it be nice to have a strobe that did not need to recycle? Mainly looking for "fill light". FYI the Fisheye gives off a very wide, even and white light.

Dumb idea? Would having the light on say half power annoy the sharks, spoke them? What am I not thinking of?

I dont think it would bother the sharks. But I dont see much point. If you dont want to wait for the strobes to recycle just set the strobes to a lower power.

To get the most out of your fisheye light you need to use a slower shutter speed which is contradictory of fast action shooting.

A DS-125 set to -1.5 stop would be able to recycle fast enough to keep up 3fps and set to -2.5 stops 5fps. And even at -2.5 stops the strobes would be much brighter than your fisheye focus light at full power.

Now if you dont have a DS-125 but a slower strobe that take several seconds to recycle the fisheye might be better than nothing.

Based on my own experience, I think you would find any focus light, including the Fisheye (which I own), unsatisfactory in the shooting situation you describe. If the animal is in close, you probably won't need full power on your strobes anyway and they should recycle very quickly. I use Inon Z220s and have never really noticed a delay in shooting up close with the strobe powered down a bit. Focus lights are great for focusing, but weren't designed to be the primary light source during exposure. I don't think they have the output to be effective, even at pretty close range. You can get exposures, but you'd need to slow down the camera shutter too much, creating movement/blur problems. Good strobes are the answer here.