Would you like cave diving as much if the caves were well lit?

[Kelly Jessop]

I dont mind mine or my buddies light but am not enthused with big lights coming my way especially in my eyes.

I agree,a lot of cave diving etiquette has taken a back seat,and diverting or shielding a light for another on-coming team is rarely,if ever done anymore. I prefer low power lights,my eyes adjust well,and the back scatter from light cannons really interferes with my periphery,so when someone is coming toward me with their death star pointed at me,there goes my night vision.

[MORGAN]

I like the dark - it's part of what makes a cave a cave. Tracy and I are diving with DR 10 watt HID's and have never felt the need for more. Too much light is just, well, too much!

[DA Aquamaster]

+1 on the small light comment. Marci and I dive 10W and 12W LEDs and frankly we don't see the need for more light either. There are not that many cave passages with enough volume and visibility to really benefit from them and in the smaller, funner passages 10W is more than enough.

Personally, I think excessive light tends to degrade your ability to pick up your team mates' lights in your peripheral vision even when all of you are equally over lighted, especially in darker walled, less traveled tunnels, so I don't see big lights as a plus on most dives.

My dry caving experience is dated and comparatively limited, but I much preferred dry caving in a 'real' cave with my own lights to strolling through a lighted tourist cave.

[RN]

While I love my 21 watt I like the area around me lit up, not the entire cave. For those of you with small lights that think it's enough. I used a 10 watt for years before I went brighter. I always thought it was enough until the 21 watt. Now I can see so much more. I see things I never knew were there. I still have my 10 watts and still dive them in smaller caves, but I was wishing I had brought my 21 watt to Cozumel because one of those caves had some big rooms that could have used some more light.

All that being said, usually minimal light is enough. Half of a good number of my dives are done in conditions where any light doesn't make a difference anyway!

[tecterri]

I've wondered when I'm in a really dark or very large tunnel what it would be like if suddenly someone switched on the lights I really like to "see" as much of the cave as I can, but I also enjoy shielding my light and enjoying the view with my buddy's light only.

[Xenia]

I've wondered when I'm in a really dark or very large tunnel what it would be like if suddenly someone switched on the lights I really like to "see" as much of the cave as I can, but I also enjoy shielding my light and enjoying the view with my buddy's light only.

+1
I love the darkness that's why I shield my light. However, when I don't cover it I love to see more cave and the more the light the better. I can't forget how much I re-fell in love with Manatee when Bobby modified my light. The dark rock would absorb it beautifully but I would see more rock and that was amazing.

And then there's video and photography! How amazing is that Diepolder picture by Wes Skiles... How much light was needed to get such a picture in such an immense system, I cannot even imagine!

[amphipod06]

"Would you like cave diving as much if the caves were well lit?"

seriously?

Dive safe,

Celia

[DA Aquamaster]

And then there's video and photography! How amazing is that Diepolder picture by Wes Skiles... How much light was needed to get such a picture in such an immense system, I cannot even imagine!

From what I've heard, that shot was made with very large slaved strobes. Providing that much light for the whole dive would require some serious battery power.

[RN]

From what I've heard, that shot was made with very large slaved strobes. Providing that much light for the whole dive would require some serious battery power.

Another tidbit of information. I heard the divers in that shot are all Wes. He set up the camera and left the shutter open while moving to each position in the dark and turning on the strobe he was holding when he got there. I've played around with that on land and it works quite well.

[DA Aquamaster]

Another tidbit of information. I heard the divers in that shot are all Wes. He set up the camera and left the shutter open while moving to each position in the dark and turning on the strobe he was holding when he got there. I've played around with that on land and it works quite well.

Now that's pretty cool....

I have done something vaugely similar taking astonomical photos with my 6" refractor "stacking" several medium length exposures on one digital image to avoid the electronic noise that occurs in a single long digital exposure.