I've had these diffusers for a while. They make a quick lantern out of your flashlight.
I just happened to try it on a dive light to check it out. When I seen the beam I thought this could make a decent video light. I'll reserve the verdict for the camera / video divers.
Diffuser: White soft silicone flashlight large diffuser. fits 39-43mm flashlight heads. (buy IOS) (all diffusers)
The head of the DIV05 is 40mm/1.6''. The silicone diffuser sticks well to the light. I don't think there would be a problem coming off, but you could add a zip tie to make sure.
Beamshots:
(1) control shot (2) DIV05 with diffuser (mouse over)
This was a dark room...
There's also a tint shift from cool white (stock) to warm white (with diffuser).
that's a good point, which I failed to think about... I've had other things on my mind. But it makes no difference when I collapse the diffuser against the lens. the diffusion profile looks the same. Would only want to use it in water, not on land, or silicone diffuser would likely melt onto lens.
"... gain over a regular beam?" The goal is to get rid of the beam hotspot and have a soft dispersion of light for U/W video. (u/w = underwater)
The diffuser seems to work just fine as a general purpose item for the flashlight but it won’t make a very good video or photo lamp. For this you’ll want NO hotspot what so ever. Just take a look at the room shot. Not a very pleasing lighting unless you just want to document something or make a new Blair Witch Project.
Have you seen this video light conversion of an Aleto 26650 style light?
The bare emitter approach seems to eliminate the hotspot altogether.
I’m thinking of trying it for a digicam I take diving, would prefer a cheap flex-arm setup though.
Maybe like this only with some short flex arms at the top.
Yup Yup, not a video or photography light at all. Trust me I went through the same thing getting my Gopro setup ready.
You need at least a soft 100° edge and stupid bright if you like the cenotes like me. The best set up for video/photo is no optics at all and and at least 6000 lumens.
And of course a good camera… which the Hero2 is not… in dark places anyway.
MRTdiver, I’m sorry for hijacking the thread but 300wimmag’s mentioning of the cenotes just brought me back to 2005 where I did some of the more ‘touristy’ lines in Dos Ojos. I had my trusty Pelican Super Sabrelight and some backup lol. Those dives still easily rank on my top ten dives among other amazing dives with shark, manta and dolphin encounters. I’ll have to go back there some day and with better lights this time :).
