Need some Diver Help with Ligthing

[Dreampixels]

I am looking for some help with under water lighting for photography.

I would like to be able to install a video camera in a crab trap as a standalone unit.

I have built an array of about 45 Ultra Bright LED’s with a visible angle of about 20 degrees which surround the camera. Each LED is rated at 25,000 MCD.

When lighted one does not wish to look directly into them as the light they make is very very bright to the eye.

However when in 12 to 15 ft of murky water with the camera running it is like having no light at all. Next to total darkness as seen by the camera.

Is their anyone with Diving Experience that that can give me some idea of how many candle power is used when they do recover operations when the water clarity matches that which we crab in. I am looking to illuminate a 1 square foot area from a distance of about 1 foot.

I am talking water with lots of suspended matter. I know water clarity has so much to do with this so give me a worst case scenario just before the impossible occurs.

Is there a particular wave length of light that works better then others?

Thanks

Dp

[Ronster]

 

[thezipp]

I have been diving for 40 years. We found that the HID lights penatrate silty water better than LEDs light do. But I am not sure why. Go to a dive shop and see if they have any small 10 watt HID lights. Problem is these tend to be more costly.
Jeff Z

[thezipp]

Also don't surround the camera. Move the light off to the side. You don't want to light up the water directly in front of the camera. This creates too much backscatter. You just want to light the object you are trying to video.
Jeff Z.

[Dreampixels]

Thanks for the replies Zipp. I am trying to do this rather cheap and dirty - my whole rig at this point is some where around 50 bucks.

I am trying to make this stand alone drop it in the water and come back later.

My next attempt will be cutting down the distance between the subject, camera and lighting. The last attempt was about 1 ft away. Also I am going to try some white material in the subject area.

I am very uncertain how the underwater life will react to the lighting - can you express your findings in this area as to how the life reacts to bright lights?

[Mr. Ray III]

<-----call this guy if you need some sort of stand fab'd up.