Sales

Shortly after returning from Mexico I sold my CamOne infinity & accessories at a fair price via Taucher.net. While satisfied with the underwater footage I got out of it in the darkness of the caves, the image quality of sunny above land takes wasn't quite good enough for me to want to keep it for any experimental action shoots.

A month later I let go of my Dive Rite reels and a Beaver lift-bag. Figuring I could use a finger spool as safety, rent a primary reel whenever needed and having no use for the salvage bag.

This month I also sold off my precious TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO, TillyTec LED 1000 and three Scubapro regulator sets, based upon the improbability of a dedicated dive trip in my near future.

The diver behind the camera

Speleological video dive in Kalimba, challenging one's buoyancy skills, sinus equalization, body positioning and camera handling technique.

Enlightened caveman?

Worn in these pictures: stainless steel backplate, harness, pouch with spare mask (not visible), pouch with arrows & cookies, small knife, safety reel, primary light source (TillyTec LED 1000 + Goodman handle + umbilical + Green Force Flexi II NiMH battery pack), two backup torches (TillyTec MPL 500 & 1500) and my video lighting setup (TillyTec LED 2000 VIDEO ×2 + Y-umbilical + TillyTec TT 3 NiMH battery pack). All together about 10kg of gear.

To be added: wings, double tanks, regulators, backup knife, mask, fins, wetsuit, primary reel and housed camera with armed tray.

Steinbock Konstellation

In plain english: underwater camera lighting support constellation (codename "ibex") to be tried out & adjusted as needed on location.

TillyTec MPL 500 & 1500 LED torches

After getting a TillyTec MPL 500 single LED torch as second backup at boot 2012 for my upcoming cave diving trip, I decided to trade in both my old Green Force Tristar Diamond head and TillyTec W30 backup light (plus some cash) for a new TillyTec MPL 1500 triple LED torch.

According to TillyTec the MPL 500/9010 has a 30W halogen equivalent 10° beam, delivering about 9000 Lux or 500>197* Lumen at 5500°K for about 3h at nearly 100% and up to 10h at diminishing output.

The larger MPL 1500/30010 has a 85W halogen equivalent 10° beam, delivering about 30000 Lux or 1500>370* Lumen at 5500°K for ca 1h.

Both torches are of course compatible and can be shortened in lenght from about 20cm (3x AA batteries) down to 12cm (1x 18650 cell).


The MPL 500 & 1500 are meant as hand-held torches, but an optional shaft clamp with velcro strap is available allowing Goodman-handle style finger-free use. And the MPL 1500's larger head actually fits into my TillyTec LED 1000 & 2000 flex-arm clamps, an interesting option especially for video using the 85° wide beam model, e.g. as short wireless version or together with a MPL-1 battery pack connected via umbilical cable for up to 4h of bright light.

boot 2012: TillyTec

Tilly's booth was well visited as always, but I managed to get some personal time with the man himself for a friendly chat before getting down to business and buying a TillyTec MPL 500/9010 (99€ incl. pouch & trigger-snap), that is, a small hand-held 1-LED torch, equivalent to a 30W halogen light, as mandatory second backup besides my W30.


UPDATE: Traded in both my Green Force Tristar Diamond head and TillyTec W30 backup for a TillyTec MPL 1500/30010 3-LED torch.

TillyTest

Having decided to journey to Düsseldorf for the annual boot fair, I thought I'd pre-check my lighting setup before visiting TillyTec again.

	Flexi II	TT 3
LED 1000	>180'
2x LED 2000	-NA-	>120'

My TillyTec LED 1000 still got 3h15 out of my Flexi II battery and my two LED 2000's burned for 2h15 on my TT 3 pack. Which should be enough for an extended stage dive or two dives a day w/o recharging.

I actually interrupted both burn tests before the batteries ran out of juice so as not to drain them completely. I've got no means to measure the lights intensity, but though not 100% at the end, I'd say they delivered enough throughout for practical purposes. Vamos a ver.

Recharging the Flexi II (4.5Ah, 12V, NiMh, 1000g) took about 4 hours, the TT 3 (9.0Ah, 12V, NiMh, 1625g) remained plugged in overnight.

Burn test

Even with two TillyTec LED 2000 light-heads connected, it looks like I can still get more than two hours out of my TT 3 battery-pack, though not quite at 100% towards the end. I actually just turned off the lights after 130' in order not to deep-drain and possibly damage the battery.

	Flexi II	TT 3
2x LED 2000	-NA-	>100'

LED it shine

TillyTec's fairly unique offer to upgrade almost any of its light-heads or battery-packs to a newer more powerful one is quite a clever business proposal and in my case an irresistible temptation deal.

I seriously considered upgrading both my HID 35 & LED 1000 to a LED 2000 SPOT & VIDEO resp., as suggested by Tilly at Boot 2010. Besides 50% more output, this new combination would not only improve my technical setup as needed for cave dives but also result in a better video lighting solution, the latter being my main reason to upgrade.

Better but not quite optimal yet. Which is why I chose to keep my LED 1000 both for recreational & technical diving purposes and only exchange my outdated-technology HID 35, not just for one, but for two LED 2000 VIDEO heads, i.e. one as upgrade and one new.

Thereby gaining a dedicated dual video lighting solution that, at least on paper, should provide well-balanced hotspot-free illumination. My only slight concern being whether twice 175W of halogen equivalent 110° diffused output will indeed be bright enough for my needs...

As I have no cave diving scheduled yet for the near future, I refrained from: (1) swapping my primary LED 1000 for a LED 2000 SPOT, (2) upgrading my backup LED W30 to a W40 and (3) getting a new second backup. Preferring to wait for the LED 3000 to come out this summer and see whether maybe a W50 comes out later this year, before already gearing up once again for another trip to Mexico.

However... TillyTec's LED 2000 VIDEO are currently on back-order and me having a recreational dive trip coming up soon, I was sent only one LED 2000 VIDEO and one LED 2000 SPOT with diffuser in stead.

While not quite what I'd finally decided upon after long deliberation, at least I'll have the chance to try out both versions of the LED 2000 with the option to keep or exchange which ever one I please later on.

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UPDATE: Sent back my LED 2000 SPOT last week in exchange for a second LED 2000 VIDEO as originally requested and got it promptly delivered today, no questions asked.

I did not get to test the LED 2000 SPOT as a focus light, but for my videography purposes, it has too much of an hotspot, especially at close range, even with diffuser. The LED 2000 VIDEO on the other hand is just perfect for my needs, without any noticeable hotspot.

→ close-up videography of critters illuminated by one LED 2000 VIDEO

boot 2010: TillyTec

There's nothing like seeing and handling things one-self, so once again I pilgrimed to the huge boot fair in Düsseldorf. Primary target this year being TillyTec's LED 2000 and newly announced LED 3000 heads.

The standard LED 2000 has a 175W halogen equivalent 10° beam ideal for tec diving. Of particular interest for me though is the non-focussed version with a more diffused 110° wide beam meant for videography.

So now I'm seriously considering upgrading both my HID 35 and LED 1000, to resp. a LED 2000 SPOT (with additional pop-on diffuser) and LED 2000 VIDEO, as suggested by Tilly.


Whereas the LED 2000 has seven LEDs, the LED 3000 will use only one super-power LED with 250W halogen equivalent output! Plenty of light indeed, but alas way too focussed for use as video light.

TillyTec demos

Being pretty happy with my TillyTec lights, I gladly obliged when Tilly asked whether I could make some clips showing his lights in action.

The main demo, featuring TillyTec's HID 35 & LED 1000 and starring yours truly, has been on YouTube for about a week now and as of today you can also watch it on TillyTec's own website!

More specifically, the diver being filmed (a.k.a. yours truly) is using a TillyTec HID 35 with flood reflector, and the cameraman (a.k.a. Miguel) is using a TillyTec LED 1000 with diffuser. Whereas a bright focussed beam is better for long-range illumination and signaling, for videography a wider softer beam is preferred in order to avoid any hotspots, which is why both a flood reflector and diffuser were used.

Note that ideally the cameraman would have two bright lights (of at least 100W halogen equivalent), both fitted with flood reflector and diffuser, and the diver being filmed would have one powerful light (of more than 100W halogen equivalent) with or without flood reflector depending on the scene to be recorded.

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Embedded here is a 30" demo of TillyTec's LED W30 back-up light:

A look into the Room of Tears

The original 320x240 30fps AVI source clips used for this video were recorded in Aktun Ha with a Sea&Sea DX8000G digital compact camera fitted with a 0.6x WAL, by the light of a TillyTec HID 35 with 80° flood reflector and a TillyTec LED 1000 with diffuser.

For the record: Uploading this 2'22" (15.6MB) video-clip took about 25', excluding a failed first attempt and post processing by Blogger.

TIllyTec LED 1000 in Sac Aktun

Easy one jump cave dive towards Kalimba through a really nice section I sure hope to dive again with camcorder later on.

⊕ Both dives today were illuminated by my new TillyTec LED 1000, which I'm really happy about, even though it's just a pre-production model. And it's not only Tilly's big lights that shine brightly, his W30 back-up torch bundles an amazing lot of power in such a small 3x AA handheld package, enough I'd say as to be almost useable as main light source... two of these on an helmet could be pretty cool?

[ entrance fee: 100 Pesos ]

Underwater videography gear

• camcorder , e.g. Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000
  
• underwater housing , e.g. Epoque EHS-1000HD
  
• wide-angle lens
  
• tray , e.g. Sea&Sea multi-stay
  
• flex arms with light-head grips
  
• videolight #1 , e.g. TillyTec LED 1000 with diffuser, umbilical cable, Green Force Flexi II battery, handle & float
  
• videolight #2 , e.g. primary dive light as listed under cave diving gear
  

Basic cave diving gear

exposure protection

• swim trunks
  
• hooded vest , e.g. Camaro hooded Ice vest 2/4mm
  
• dive suit , e.g. Camaro Stingray 2x7mm
  
• booties
  
  abc
  
• mask , e.g. Cressi BigEyes
  
• fins , e.g. Mares Plano Avanti
  
  monitoring
  
• dive computer , e.g. Suunto Vyper
  
• dive watch , e.g. Citizen Promaster Aqualand
  
• wrist slate & pencil
  
  buoyancy device
  
• stainless-steel backplate & harness
  
• wings , e.g. standard single-bladder from DiveSystem
  
• pocket with spare mask
  
• pocket with arrows & cookies
  
• primary knife
  
• secondary Z-knife
  
  primary regulator
  
• 1st stage , e.g. Scubapro MK25AF
  
• 2nd stage on 2m hose , e.g. Scubapro S600
  
• wing inflator hose
  
  back-up regulator
  
• 1st stage , e.g. Scubapro MK25AF
  
• 2nd stage on standard hose , e.g. Scubapro S550
  
• SPG
  
  stage regulator if needed
  
• 1st stage , e.g. Scubapro MK2+
  
• 2nd stage on standard hose , e.g. Scubapro R390
  
• SPG on short hose
  
  primary dive light
  
• light-head , e.g. TillyTec HID 35
  
• umbilical cable
  
• battery , e.g. TillyTec TT 3
  
• goodman handle
  
  back-up dive lights
  
• torch #1 , e.g. TillyTec LED W30
  
• torch #2 , e.g. Tektite Expedition Star
  
  reels
  
• primary reel , e.g. large Dive Rite reel
  
• safety reel , e.g. small Dive Rite reel
  
• jump & gap spools|reels as needed , e.g. Oxycheq finger spool
  

My basic cave diving set-up, with just one safety reel and without stage, weighs approximately 17.5kg plus about 17kg per full 11l aluminum tank! With two primary lights, underwater camera, primary-, jump- & safety reel make that 21.5kg plus tanks.

LED there be light

Seeing is believing. At first sight however I didn't see anything and actually thought their was no bulb inside TillyTec's demo LED 1000 at boot... that is, until I turned it on and saw the light.


Inside Tilly's bright new LED 1000 you won't find just any old bulb, but an award winning OSRAM Opto Semiconductors OSTAR, a 6-chip LED!

Teaser

Here's a little teaser to give you an idea about what I'd like to do with twice as much light and a better camcorder...

The original 320x240 30fps AVI source clips used for this video were recorded in Mexico's underwater caves in March 2006 with a Sea&Sea DX8000G digital compact camera fitted with a 0.6x WAL, by the light of a 125W* 5500°K TillyTec HID 35 with 80° flood reflector.

Burntimes

Deep inside a cave is not exactly the best place to find out your gear is not delivering as promised on paper. Which is why I did another burn test, in order to check out the two light setups I plan on using in Mexico, i.e. HID 35 with TT 3 and LED 1000 with Flexi II battery. To my surprise both actually performed a lot better than expected!

	Flexi II	TT 3
HID 35	90'	200'
LED 1000	195'

With more than 3 hours of juice, I should be able to do two decent 90' cave dives in a day without need to recharge in between, or do some extended exploration diving without worries of ending up in the dark.

boot 2008: TillyTec

Seeking illumination, I once more turned to TillyTec, maker of lights for divers venturing into darkness. The master himself wasn't there this year, but he did have a couple of shiny new insights to help his craving faithful to the next level of enlightenment.


Presented at boot were three new LEDs and one new HID. So instead of requesting a quote for a now seemingly dim old LED 500 & TT 3 set, I asked one for a bright new LED 1000 & TT 3 super set. And got a deal I just couldn't say no to (including: umbilical cable, diffuser lens, flexible video arm, attachment bag & strap, charger & plug, storage bag and a brand new LED W30 back-up light).

The LED 1000 has an halogen equivalent output of about 100W and should burn approximately 160' on my Flexi II battery. Whereas my HID 35 should last 180' on the TT 3, still TillyTec's most enduring battery pack. That makes both set-ups quite similar in output, color temperature and burntime.

Note that mixing light types is frowned upon by professional videographers, for whom similar just ain't good enough. For me however, this dual set-up is already a lot better than I'd thought possible given my budgetary restrictions and practical concerns.

Battery test

For a quick verdict I connected my TillyTec HID 35 via umbilical cable to my Green Force Flexi II, turned it on, dumped it into a bucket of water and got 70' of bright white light out of it.

Considering the battery had been lying around for some time since I last recharged it, I guess that's not too bad. To be sure, I'll do another test later on, to check whether when freshly loaded it can still deliver its specified burntime of about 90'.

UPDATE: My HID 35 burned exactly 90' on a fully charged Flexi II.