GEAR TESTS: KELDAN 4X & Keldan 8M Underwater Video LightS

Chris Parsons Nauticam Team Member

We brought two sets of Keldan Video Lights for demo. The Video 4X is a compact video light that puts out 6000 lumens of light in a smooth, even beam. The lens of the light is a dome, meaning the light pattern doesn't lose its width underwater. The Video 4X is an ideal light for SLR and Mirrorless video rigs. For the Shootout, we teamed it with the Panasonic LX100 in the Nauticam housing. This was a very popular setup from the demo gear bonanza - I didn't even get a chance to try it out myself. But I've used the Video 4Xs quite a bit previously. The build quality of these lights is great, and the magnetic switch makes them super reliable. Because the light has a removable battery (just twist the rear cap off and pull it out), you can have a spare battery charging - this means no downtime when doing a lot of diving like on a liveaboard. 

The other set of lights that we brought was the Video 8M. This is the larger, modular version of the light. It is modular in the sense that the user can swap out the light head (module), the reflector (110º or 50º), and the battery. There are currently 6 different light modules available, ranging from a 9000 lumen "FLUX" module to colored modules like red or blue. My choice for the shootout was the CRI module (white light with high color quality) and the Cyan module. The Cyan module provides a way to shoot scenes underwater that look very natural - i.e. look like there is no lighting, but that bring back shadow detail that would otherwise not be visible. Here's a little video that explains the concept.