Focusing Lights for Compacts and D- SLR's

Often underwater photography takes place in poor light. Sometimes the viz is low or the dive deep, so ambient light levels are reduced. Othertimes you are trying to shoot under overhangs or within overhead environment or at night. All of these conditions can make it hard for your auto focus to lock on causing your images to be out of focus.

The answer is a dedicated focusing light mounted on your housing. You need only a small torch to provide a kiss of light to provide a little illumination and contrast. An over powered lamp will create back-scatter and may not be "wiped" by your strobe. Our dive shop, Mavericks, carries a selection of suitable lights.

To attach your focusing light you need a mini arm that allows the beam to be angled to light your subject between infinity and the shortest distance you'll be shooting at. Usually we use a mount that attaches to your housing (either a screw or hot shoe fitting), a torch holder and a clamp to connect the two. Some housings don't have a suitable mounting point for a focusing light in which case we may connect to a hand grip or to your strobe arm.

Although some strobes have a built in modelling light, we don't recommend these be used for focusing. They are useful for confirming where your strobe is aiming, checking colours and for seeing your way in the dark. But as focusing lights they are restrictive. This is because you have toaim the strobe directly at your subject for the modelling light to illuminate it. This compromises your lighting angles at best and at worst will create lots of backscatter.

 

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