Dive light

Water attenuates light by absorption, so use of a dive light will improve a diver's underwater vision at depth.[1] As the depth increases, more light is absorbed by the water. Color absorption depends on the purity of the water - pure water is most transparent to blue frequencies, but impurities may reduce this significantly. Color vision is also affected by turbidity and larger particulate matter.[2]

Submarine Electric Lamp, with and without Reflector.

A. Metal case containing electrical fittings. B. Glass globe and incandescent lamp.

C. Stand, which also protects the globe. D. Ring for suspending lamp. E. Reflector.

Early underwater lights were fixed electric flood lamps or portable lamps with dry batteries for use by divers in standard diving dress.[3] Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd developed a model of portable lamp with a parabolic lens and attached to the divers corselet via a ball and socket joint allowing the diver to use both hands while working.[3]

In 1906, the tungsten filament was introduced and used to produce 200 to 3,000 candlepower incandescent dive lights.[3] The Siebe Gorman & Company introduced a 250-watt mercury vapor hand lamp in 1919 that could produce as much as 18,000 candles.[3] For diving in turbid water, 45-watt Sodium hand lamps became the preferred choice.[3] These early lights had to be turned on underwater to avoid cracking the heated glass as it entered cold water.[3]

The first lantern available to the US Navy had 150 candlepower.[4] The early testing showed a need to increase the length of cable on the US Navy Standard Lantern from 125 feet to 250 feet in 1915 to allow for greater operational range.[4] The United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit continues to evaluate dive lights for wet and dry illumination output, battery duration, watertight integrity, as well as maximum operating depth.[5]

Halogen bulbs came into use in the latter decades of the 20th century as they produced more light for the power used. They were followed by high intensity discharge lamps and later, light emitting diodes, both singly and in arrays. Surface supplied divers could use power from a cable in the umbilical, but scuba divers need lights that are independent of a connection to the surface to make best use of their mobility advantage. The portable power sources progressed from lead–acid batteries for rechargeable lights and zinc–carbon batteries for disposable power supplies, to alkaline batteries, Nickel–cadmium (NiCad), Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), and most recently, rechargeable lithium–ion batteries[6]

Waterproof miners lights were found to be suitable for moderate depths and were popular for cave diving. For greater depths, home made, and later professionally manufactured canister lights continued the tradition of a powerful but heavy and bulky power supply, connected to a lightweight, easily carried light-head, which could be carried in the hand or suspended from a clip or round the neck when both hands were needed for a task. The Goodman handle was developed to allow the light head to be carried on the back of the hand, which freed up the fingers for other tasks. This was later developed into the Goodman glove, a soft partial glove which supports the light in the same way as a Goodman handle. As of 2000, canister lights with sealed lead-acid batteries(12V 7AH) were standard for primary cave lights, with HID also popular for caving as they were more efficient, using lower wattage for equivalent lumens – an 18W HID would be brighter and burn longer than 50W halogen. The disadvantage of HID was that it could not be turned off then immediately on again and was much more expensive.[6]

There has been a continuous increase in lumen output for lower power of light sources, and increased power density of batteries. By the second decade of the 21st century compact hand held lights with several thousand lumens output were available in wide and narrow beam configurations, sometimes combined and sometimes combined with red LEDs and flashing sequences similar to strobes. These lights are often also suitable for use as video lights and can substitute for strobes for still photography, at a price. Some LED lights are also available with ultraviolet output for viewing and photography of fluorescent organisms.[6]

Both narrow beam spotlights and wide beam flood lights and combinations have been available since the early years. Some of the light heads had reflectors which could be slid along the axis to focus the beam, but more recent lights simply provide a separate set of LEDs for narrow and wide beam, and switch from one to the other as needed. Variable power output is also common on these lights and the power selected allows low brightness for a long burn time or higher brightness and shorted burn.[6]

An early canister light attributed to Frank Martz around 1965 used sealed beam automotive lights. Later cave lights used test tube light heads. These were made commercially in the early 1970s by Lamar English (English Engineering), and later Mark Leonard produced a range of canister lights with both circular and rectangular section canisters in acrylic and aluminium. Mark Leonard co-founded Dive-Rite, and American Underwater Lighting took over from English Engineering, Bill Gavin modified the English light with quick disconnect cables, which AUL produced as the Spectrum 1000 Extreme Exposure. NiCad batteries were in use in a few canister lights by 2000.[6]

There are several options when it comes to light head/bulb types:

Xenon (incandescent) - emit a warm natural light, and tend to be the less expensive, however, offer less brightness and have a shorter battery life than LED or HID lights.

LED (light emitting diode) - are very durable, efficient and powerful.

HID (high intensity discharge) - are extremely powerful and have a nearly white beam. On the downside, HIDs are very delicate and quite expensive.[7]

A modern dive light usually has an output of at least about 100 lumens. Bright dive lights have values from about 2500 lumens. Halogen lamps provide this light at over 50W power consumption. High-intensity discharge lamps (HID)[6] and Light-emitting diodes (LED) can provide similar output for less power.[8]

Technical divers often use a Goodman type handle to carry a light on the back of the hand, so the hand can be used without dropping the light.[6] This handle type was originally rigid, and used to carry a canister light head, but is now also used for small one piece lights. Derivatives use bungee to hold the light in place, or are made of soft material and worn like a glove. These are variously referred to as glove handles, Goodman gloves, hands-free light holders, or soft hand mounts.[11]

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  Small dive light on soft Goodman type handle, side view
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  Small dive light on soft Goodman type handle, front view
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  Small dive light on soft Goodman type handle, side view, showing use of handle
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  Simple bungee hand mount

Narrow beam (spotlight) vs wide beam (floodlight), vs focusing (by adjustable lens or reflector):

Dive flashlight with different reflectors and collimator for LED XHP70.2

Beam angle is chosen to suit the conditions and activities of the planned dive. Cave divers frequently choose narrow beam lights when diving in good visibility as these provide good illumination over relatively long distances, which is useful when navigating into an unfamiliar space where it is actually possible to see a fairly long distance ahead. Some feel that in poor visibility, or at short range, a narrow beam is not much use, and a wider beam spreads the light over a more useful area. Others feel that in low visibility settings a wide beam angle is distracting as it tends to reflect back to much light from floating particulates (back-scatter). Video lighting usually requires a wider beam as the view angle of the video camera must be accommodated for good results. In the case of very wide angle video, such as the GoPro and similar, an extremely wide angle beam is necessary.

Beam angle may be as tight as 8 to 10 degrees in extreme cases, or as wide as around 140° with a plain flat glass port. Even wider angles are possible (exceeding 180°) with a domed port on the light, or a "test tube" light without reflector. LED lights usually use an internal "lens" to produce a focused beam. This actually focuses the beam by internal reflection on a parabolic surface. Several lens options may be available for different beam angles for a given LED, but most models of light use only the one chosen by the manufacturer.

A few underwater lights have a focusing facility by which the beam angle can be adjusted. There are two ways this can be done, depending on the basic emission pattern of the light source. HID lights, which generally produce non-directional light, are usually focused by a reflector, which can be slid longitudinally over the light. They produce a beam with a central bright area and a diffuse general illumination around it. This is good for illuminating a combination of near and far areas at the same time, but not good for wide angle video, as the hot-spot will confuse the automatic exposure software and the result is generally overexposure in the hot spot and underexposure around it.[12]

Other lights use a lens system over the front of the light, which may be focused by axial movement of the lens, which may be on a screw thread for fine control.

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  Beam angle comparison between two dive lights with the same LED; with lens on left and without lens on right
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  Comparison between two dive lights with the same LED; with lens on left and without lens on right
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  Two dive lights with the same LED; with lens upper and without lens lower. Both are switched on by screwing the back end cover clockwise to close an internal contact.

Primary, backup, video light

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  Surface supplied light head and closed circuit video camera on Kirby-Morgan 17 helmet.
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  Surface supplied light head and closed circuit video camera on Kirby-Morgan 57 helmet.
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  Surface supplied light head and closed circuit video camera on Kirby-Morgan 17 helmet.
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  Surface supplied light head and closed circuit video camera on Kirby-Morgan 17 helmet.
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  Surface supplied light head and closed circuit video camera on Kirby-Morgan 17 helmet.
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  Side view of caving head light and small one-piece lights attached to caving helmet for shallow cave dives.
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  Front view of caving head light and small one-piece lights attached to caving helmet for shallow cave dives.
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  Yellow battery canister for caving head light carried on back of sidemount harness.
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  Cave divers with head mounted lights.
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  Divers with canister lights using Goodman handles
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  Dive light taped to helmet handle

• Blackbeard's Glowing Shipwreck, P3 Magazine