GEAR TESTS: OrcaLIGHT Seawolf 860 15,000 Lumen Underwater Video Light
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Joel Penner Marketing/Chief Technical Guru  |
I had the opportunity to take out the Orcalight SeaWolf 860 15,000 lumen lights on the Tuesday morning dives. These lights pack 15,000 lumens on each arm of my underwater video rig! The lights are seriously bright, and I was able to shoot scenes with darker blue ambient water than previously possible. Check out the video above to see my first two dives with the Canon 1DC and the new Orcalight SeaWolf 860s.
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Jim Decker CEO |
The Seawolf 860 from Orcalight is 15,000 lumens of light from a self-contained body, no extra cables or battery pods. This is a seriously bright light and one we have been looking forward to using on this trip.
Range of Optics
One of the unique features of the 860 is the ability to change out the front optic for different angles of coverage. There's 45, 60, 90, and 120 degree optics available. These can be swapped by removing the front bezel. My favorite for this trip is the 120 degree since I was shooting the Panasonic 8mm Fisheye lens. I used the 90 as well but it was just a little too narrow in some wide angle situations with the fisheye lens, but would be no problem with a rectilinear lens. The 45 and 60 would be more likely to be used for diving rather than imaging for deeper light penetration and overall brightness with a concentrated beam.
Buoyancy and Handling
The light is about 1.75 lbs. negative. I added a Stix FB-10 float belt and a few Stix FUL-3 float to the arms and it made the system perfectly neutral. Having large lights is actually an advantage in getting steady underwater video. The mass of the system helps stabilize it underwater. I usually hold the system by the back of the light heads to get a wider stance to help avoid any wobbles.
Battery Life and Charging
The specs have this at 40 minutes at full power. In practice, I was able to get almost 2 dives out of the lights by turning it off between shots. Charging can either be done through the back of the light without removing the battery, or by removing the battery pack.
Light Performance
Like I said before, these are some seriously bright lights. The whole idea with a bright light is to be able to use it at shallower depths and still pull off a darker background. Usually in clear tropical water the ambient light is so strong in the shallows that lights have little effect on a wide angle scene. The lights were bright enough to pull of some still images at depths of about 40 to 50 feet.
The Video above was shot with the GH4. There are select clips in the video notated with the "Orca" light being used.
Pictured from left to right: Orcalight Seawolf 860, Orcalight Seawolf 1560A, and Orcalight Seawolf 2260A lights.
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