After creating the Ultimate Strobe Guide, we wanted to share our thoughts on the second type, and help you choose the best underwater video light for your needs.
If you want to skip directly to the recommended video lights section, click here (Updated May 2021).
When trying to choose which underwater video light to get, you should consider the following features:
- Lumens – How strong the video light is.
- Beam Angle – How wide or narrow the beam is.
- Controls – Which buttons / dials / levers are used to operate the light.
- Modes and Levels – Which modes are available and how many power levels.
- Beam Quality – Is the beam nice and even or does it have hotspots.
- Mounts – Which mounts does the light come with.
- Batteries and Charging – How long does the battery last, how fast does it charge.
- Price – No explanation needed ????
Before we dive into these features in detail…
What is an underwater video light?
Strobe, Flash, Flashlight, Torch, Video Light… HELP!
Let’s set things straight. As we mentioned, there are only 2 types of lighting underwater:
Strobe – A Xenon based light bulb which can emit a very strong pulse of light for a brief moment.
Also known as a “Flash” (not flashlight!)
Constant light – A device which can emit a constant beam of light for minutes to hours, today commonly based on LED technology which can be focused to perform as a dive light or spread out to perform as a video light.
Also known as “Torch”, “Flashlight”, “Dive Light”, “Video Light” and unfortunately even “Strobe” in the topside industry, which is incorrect for the underwater photography lingo.
An underwater video light is basically a waterproof flashlight. There is some confusion due to the use of the word “flash” in “flashlight”, but don’t let linguistics mess with you. “Flash Light” and “Flashlight” are two different things!
Now that we got that out of the way, we’ll continue to discuss video lights!
Main Features of Underwater Video Lights
There are several terms and features commonly used when comparing video lights. Let’s go over them.
Lumens
Many people ask me – “how many lumens do I need for underwater lighting?”. This is perhaps the most important feature differentiating between video lights.
The power emitted by a light is measured in units known as Lumens. Without getting into the science of it, the more lumens a light outputs, the stronger it is. Common lumen ranges today are 500-1000 for a basic light, 2000-3000 for a medium range light and the most powerful ones can even reach 30,000 lumens (!!!).
An important thing to remember is that Lumens are measured by collecting all the light the device emits, so the actual brightness of the subject lit by the light will vary according to our next feature – Beam Angle.
Beam Angle
What is beam angle? A video light can be engineered to focus or spread out its light output in different manners. Focusing all the light to a very narrow beam with lenses and mirrors, will actually create a dive light, which is great for spotting out things or signalling to other divers. On the other hand, spreading the output to a 60 degree, 100 degree, or even a 120 degree angle, is much better for lighting up videos, so that you can cover the entire frame with 1-2 wide (aka flood) lights.
Most video lights will feature a 60-120 degree beam angle. This factor will determine how bright your subject would be in the frame just as much as lumen output. For example, lighting up a Grouper in blue water with a Sola 2000 Flood on 60 degree beam angle, will probably be more effective than using a 90 degree Sola 2500 Flood, even though it has lower lumen output.
However, when lighting up an entire coral system, you may prefer to get closer and use the wider beam light.
There are several types of lights available: Flood only / Spot Only (dive lights) / Flood & Spot / Variable Beam
The variable beam lights seem ideal but they usually can’t reach a very wide beam angle for video. There are add-ons available for some lights which modify the beam from flood to spot or vice versa.
Flood & Spot lights are the most versatile option and allow you to switch from dive light to video with a quick press of a button. This leads us to our next feature.
Controls
Over the years, manufacturers have created several types of controls for underwater lights, each with pros and cons.
1. Twist method – This method is quite straightforward. Twisting the light head all the way in will turn it off and unscrewing it slightly will turn it on. This is the easiest for the manufacturer to implement and lowers the cost of the light significantly, which is a big plus. However, this method risks corrosion of the O-ring after some time, increasing the risk of flood as well as risking potential flooding by human error – unscrewing it too far underwater without noticing and effectively destroying your light. Nowadays very few manufacturers use this method.
2. Push Buttons – The is the most common method used on most video lights. Using either 1 or 2 buttons to control the light is a safe and efficient method for powering up/down and switching between modes. A 1 button light will be more affordable than a 2 button light, but usability is greatly improved when using 2 buttons. A single button allows 2 types of presses – short press, usually switching between modes and long press, usually to power on / off. A 2 button light will allow more options such as one button for mode switching and the other for switching output levels, making the overall experience easier and faster.
3. Other – Some manufacturers have developed their own signature controls such as Sola’s sliding lever, which functions in a similar fashion as 2 buttons, but in a much more elegant way of gently pushing a single switch back and forth. FIX Neo lights come with 3 buttons and an LCD screen, creating a little control panel on the top which is incredibly useful.
4. Remote Control – This is a fairly new method, developed by Nauticam on their FIX Neo light system, as well as by Kraken on their Hydra series. By connecting fiber optic cables to the lights, as single master remote controller can control several lights at once, making it much easier and faster to change your lighting instead of setting each light separately.
Modes and Levels
We have already discussed the two main modes – Spot (narrow beam) and Flood (wide beam). Another common mode included in video lights today is a Red light mode. The red light is very useful as a focus assist beam, since the camera can read it easily and use it to facilitate focus, while marine life are not disturbed by it, since it’s out of their visible spectrum. The red light is also to weak to show up in most photos so it won’t affect your overall lighting.
A cool mode introduced lately is UV or Blue Light. This is similar to black lights which are painfully familiar from those underground parties back in the 90’s. Essentially it’s an ultraviolet light which excites bio-luminescent organisms underwater and when paired with a barrier filter (yellow filter) it creates a unique glowing effect which looks great on photos and videos.
Another mode which is included on some lights is SOS or Emergency. This causes the light to randomly flash a white light, indicating that you have a problem or you are lost. This can be very useful in emergency situations, but also very annoying if one of the divers sets it off accidentally and can’t figure out how to power it down…
Power levels are almost always implemented in some way, allowing you to control the power output from low, medium and high. Some lights have 3-4 modes and some have complete control from 0-100 in 1 unit steps (FIX Neo). Most lights are set to operate for about 1 hour on full power. Using the light on lower power settings increases usage time significantly, allowing you to use it for several dives before charging / changing batteries.
Generally, more modes and levels are great! However, this affects the complexity of the using the light and if you have just a single button to control many levels and modes, you may find yourself scrolling frantically between them while the once-curious-now-bored Hammerhead swims off to the deep blue.
Filters
Occasionally lights can be mounted with filters. There are various filters available which create different effects.
Yellow Filter – Which is quite common with Big Blue lights, helps warm up the light, creating a nicer quality of light and also assists in making the background more blue, since the camera adjusts the WB to the light’s temperature.
UV Filter – Some lights can be fitted with a UV filter in order to create the fluorescence effect. Remember you will need a yellow filter on the camera and mask in this case.
Red filter – Used to modify your light to a red light at night, so that you can use it as a focus light.
Blue filter – AKA ambient light filter. This is the latest trend and made famous by the production team “Behind The Mask”. The idea is that you mount a red filter on the camera or port, and a blue filter on the lights. When using that combination, your ambient light is corrected thanks to the red filter but the video light doesn’t come out red as it would without the filter, but rather comes out white! The two filters cancel each other out.
This creates wonderful results and when done right, looks very professional!
Beam quality
Beam quality is usually measured by how even the beam is across the output circle.
Using multiple bare LED’s may result in a less even beam than one single LED or a diffuser dome spreading the light out evenly. Some LED’s create a more even beam than others. Video light manufacturers will always need to compromise between an even beam, power output, price, heating and more factors which create various types of LED formations.
Another important factor is CRI rating (stands for Color Rendering Index). This number indicates how accurately the light will reproduce the true life colors of the subject (Ideal light = Daylight/Tungsten). The higher the number (closer to 100), the more accurate the color rendering will be. Check out this excellent video explanation of CRI.
Mounts
Just imagine getting a new $1000 light which you intend to use on your $3000 system which you are taking tomorrow to a week in the Galapagos Islands, just to find out the mounts don’t match! Before you start creating MacGyver solutions with tie-wraps and sticky tape, go back a few days in time and order the correct mounts for your system! Most lights will come with one mount as default and additional mounts optional. Some arms will support one type of light mount or several.
Usually you can’t go wrong with a 1″ Ball mount, or a YS mount which are easily interchangeable between them. Make sure you add a mount to your Sola lights since most of them come without.
It might be a good idea to get a second type of mount upon purchase. You never know when you might switch trays or lend the light to a fellow diver who wants to try it out before buying.
When creating cross brand systems, you might not be sure if the light will match your current setup or vice versa. Consult with our experts and they will figure that out for you.
Batteries and Charging
Most lights have a fairly similar battery life on full power of about 50-70 minutes. However, there are several different battery implementations:
1. Interchangeable rechargeable battery – The light can be opened and the batteries changed as needed. Each battery can be charged individually. This is the standard method and has the advantage of getting several batteries and switching them between dives. This method also increases the risk of flooding due to human error or bad O-ring maintenance.
2. Factory Sealed lights – Sola lights are factory sealed, which means they are less prone to leakage due to human error. That’s a huge advantage and insures hassle free use for a long time. The downside is that you can’t replace the battery. That means you have to remember to charge between dives and if you aren’t near a power outlet for the whole day, chances are you will not use the light on the last dive. Light and Motion have implemented a new Fast Charge technology on their new lights, reducing the charging time significantly to about 1:45 hours, but this still doesn’t help if you forget to plug it in or if you don’t have an available power source.
3. Interchangeable Light Heads – Nauticam‘s FIX Neo and I-Torch’s Venom series have created a line of interchangeable light heads which mount on the same base. This means that you can get a second light body without getting a whole new light as a new battery. It’s pricier than just a battery but still more affordable than getting a second light. You can also get several light heads and use them as needed on your light bases.
Price
We can babble on forever, but in the end, it all comes down to price. All the features we discussed here, may lead you to believe that you want the best, strongest, most versatile option available, but then you find out that it either doesn’t exist or will set you back a few thousands of dollars more than you expected. Indeed, creating a quality product doesn’t come cheap and you have to prioritize. Video lights range from $100 to $3000+ so you need to decide on your budget before hand and then consider your best options within that budget.
We gathered here some of leading underwater video lights in the market (Updated May 2021) to help you choose:
Kraken Hydra 3500S+ WSRU Underwater Video Light
This excellent and versatile video light by Kraken is capable of producing 3500 lumen of flood and 800 lumen of spot light. In addition, Red light is also available for focusing at night without scaring off the critters, and UV light for an exciting fluorescence dive. Easily controlled by two push buttons, YS and Ball mounts included, waterproof lighthead and more cool features. Did we mention the cool carrying case it comes in?
This is truly one of the best value lights you can get.
Update: The newer version 3500S has a built in strobe feature, triggered by a fiber optic cable, which produces a burst light of 4500 lumens. This is a great feature to use as a main strobe for macro shots or as fill light when pairing it with a main standard strobe.
Click to view the recent price of the Kraken 3500SThe same light is available in a 5000 Lumen version as well:
https://www.housingcamera.com/id4330-kraken-hydra-5000-wsru-video-light.html
Light and Motion SOLA Video 3800F FC Underwater Video Light
The Sola video 3800 Flood is Light & Motion’s best value light, with a strong output of 3800 lumens and beam angle of 90 (expandable with optional dome). Factory sealed with fast charge technology for 1h 45m for full charge.
Click to view the recent price of the Sola 3800F
Light and Motion SOLA Video 2500 Flood Underwater Video Light
The Sola video 2500 Flood is Light & Motion’s most popular light as of 2021. It is unique due to its price point of $299 (as of May 2021). You get 2500 Lumens, US made, factory sealed L&M quality light for this price which is quite amazing.
Click to view the recent price of the Sola 2500
BigBlue VL4200P Underwater Video Light
Small and highly sophisticated light with 2 sets of LEDs featuring a flood and spot mode. This light is 2 in 1, a video light and a dive light. Depth rated to 100mts/330ft.
Wide beam can be set at 4 power levels. Red beam is offered in one low power level and SOS mode is also available.
Click to view the recent price of the VL4200p
Big Blue AL2600XWP II (AKA “Black Molly V”) Underwater Video Light
This is one of the best value lights available in the market. It’s tiny, it’s powerful and it has amazing battery life!
Capable of 2600 lumens, 120 Deg beam and even red light feature in a surprisingly small package! You can take it down to 100m, and max burn time on full power is 2hrs!
The AL2600XWP-II comes standard with built-in red LED’s for enhanced focusing and night video work.
The light comes with a Yellow removable filter, and a 1″ ball for easy video system mounting.
Click to view the recent price of the Black Molly V
Sometimes, you want the most powerful underwater video light you can get…
Big Blue CB15000P Powerful Video Light
This Big Blue light is a little bit under $1,200 (as of May 2021) and offers 15,000 lumens. Thats very very powerful and you would be surprised to see its body is not that big. In the past such lights would require you to carry a battery the size of your air tank but today, its all packed in a small light.
Using a blue ambient filter is highly recommended which is why we included it as a kit with this light.
Click to view the recent price of the CB15000P
Kraken Solar Flare 12000 Video Light
High end 12,0000 lumen light with a 120 deg beam and comes even with a vacuum system to check for leaks prior to your dive.
Click to view the recent price of the Solar Flare 12000
And finally a mid range underwater video light…
Big Blue CB6500PB Video Light
A great flood only light, bundled with a Blue Ambient filter, a 120 deg beam and high CRI of 85. The PB version also includes a UV light and Flourecense photography.
Click to view the recent price of the CB6500P
A Tray and Arms For Your Video Light
Video lights, as well as many other accessories have to be mounted on the housing. You can mount them directly on the housing with a cold show mount but this is likely to generate Backscatter due to the fact that the light is close to the lens.
As such we recommend mounting the housing on a good tray and mounting the lights on arms that are connected to the tray.
We have many options for an underwater tray and arm but better than that, we have many pre-made packages of video lights mounted on a tray and arms.
See some examples below:
You can always search for a specific light on our website, for example VL4200P and see all the packages that include this light.
BTW, we have a price match guarantee and will match any price you see online.
FAQ
Can you use a video light for still photography?
Yes and no. A video light can never replace a strobe as a main lighting source for photography due to a much weaker output. A medium range strobe would be about 10 times as powerful as a medium range video light. That’s because video lights produce constant light while strobe give just one short pulse.
However, for macro photos or even closeups, you definitely can use a video light or even a dive light (spot mode). For more info on that, read this.
One interesting option is I-Torch’s dual purpose lighting unit – Video light and Strobe in one light! The Symbiosis comes in two models – SS-2 and SS-1. And the newly released SS-3. Read our review on it here.
How many lumens do I need in an underwater video light?
The more the merrier. Even very high output light will have a lower output mode, so you probably won’t encounter a problem of having too much light. However, high power output comes at quite a price, as well as size and heat problems. You need to find the right balance for you, which fits your budget and look at other important factors such as modes, controls, beam quality and more of what we discussed above.
These days the standard is 2000 – 5000 lumens, but remember that actual intensity varies with beam angle. That means a 60 deg 1600 lumen light, would actually feel stronger than a 120 degree 2500 lumen light, but with less coverage.
Should I use one video light or two?
If you want to go as compact as you can, one light is definitely enough. You can get a strong light with a very wide angle to cover all of your field of view, if you are shooting with a wide angle lens.
If you get two lights, you will have better coverage and better illumination of your subject, especially if they are hiding. Trying to get a hiding sea horse or blenny lit properly with just one light might be much harder than two opposite directions.
Which is the best underwater lighting setup for my GoPro?
Remember that a GoPro has a very wide view angle, so you want a light that will cover your entire frame. 2 lights here might be a good idea, especially with BTS’s excellent boomerang tray, the GPT-4. It adds stability to your footage and gives you excellent coverage from both sides, with whichever lights you choose. If you wish to stay even more compact, a single light with a pistol grip tray will be great, especially for those harder to reach places. Get a light that has a 120 degree beam to cover the entire frame. 2000 lumens will be a great number to start from in total, so either one light of 2000+ or two lights of 1000+. As we mentioned above, the higher the output the better reach you will have.
Click here to read more on Underwater Photography for Newbies.
Read about choosing the best video light for your GoPro
Visit his personal portfolio at www.ranmorphoto.com.
