Archon D10u zoom underwater review

Just ordered d10u through Amazon and received torch for scuba video and still recording application.
Unit is very well constructed and uses two o-rings for seal.
They supply two spare o-rings, but "supplied" silicone grease was missing from packaging.
Zoom is very tight, but no access to seal for zoom section.
Wide beam pattern looks adequate and fairly uniform except for slight bright spot in center.
Torch has high, low, flashing modes, all activates by successive twisting tail section.
Their other model D11v is fixed wide angle at 110degrees (suited for GroPro) and slightly brighter overall by 20%,
but at 68 degrees beam angle, this one should be brighter for general scuba photography.
Narrow beam shows square chip projection.
I will pressure test to 130ft diving spec to verify advertised design.
Uses (1) 18650 with built in protection circuit ...a 2100mAh (tested) battery last 55 minutes until "blinking", then another 10 minutes in low power mode. Battery after discharge showed 2.85volts, which is proper.
The unit at narrow handle gets quite warm on discharge. They claim 70 minutes which is quite likely with a 2650mAh battery.

Note: although listed on Amazon for $46.80 USD w/free shipping, was shipped from China and took 4 weeks for delivery.
Have not been able to find a US distributor online or on eBay. Prices vary by as much as 3x.
I choose Amazon, so if I had any complaints, there is someone to complain too that might make it right and I didn't want to give
a company in China my CC number for security reasons.

If anyone has further interest, I will post photos of inexpensive camera/torch bracket for underwater photography.

Stew Corman

Archon D10u zoom hardware evaluation

This is a followup to my initial review.
I am evaluating the Archon D10U zoom torch as used for video shooting in a scuba application with a Panasonic Lumix ZS25 in an underwater case.
At 1x camera zoom, the camera is equiv to 24mm lens, 2x is 50mm, 4x is 100mm, etc. The torch has zoom capability from 8-> 68 degrees, whereby at narrow beam, it projects a square image of the LED emitter.

The test setup has the torch mounted in an eBay "bike" clamp mount on an inexpensive Tiffen Stroboframe aluminum tray mount, pivoting sideways with a #10 SS socket head cap bolt . The original top mount bar has been modified by replacing with SS bolts and locknuts, and to allow tilting of the arm slightly downward by a small horizontal groove and two #10 cap bolts. Test setup was with camera case assembly mounted on a tripod at 3ft distance from a wall, whereby at full torch zoom of 68 degrees, the round beam was 30 inches in diameter and showed a slight hot spot in center. When zoomed in to 20 inches, the beam was more uniform and slightly squared, and when only 14 inches wide was most uniform and more squared in shape, but limited in utility.

Photos of both the mounting hardware and beam patterns are located at the following Picasa album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113529...&authkey=Gv1sRgCMXEmYTNuJifDw&feat=directlink

Conclusion:
I very rarely shoot at wide angle, but prefer to keep about two to three feet from subject and zoom in at 3x or 4x. The beam spread of this torch seems acceptable for these settings and quite bright, and with a color of 6500K, should provide good coloration, even at several more feet distance for larger subjects. The bright spot at the center may require placing a thin spot of petroleum jelly on the front of the lens to disperse the intensity. I will have the opportunity to experiment for real first week of May in Cozumel.

Stew

I bought Archon lights three years back at much higher prices. I paid my D10U at 1500RMB, which is roughly 250 USD now including shipping. It works well as a focusing light