New Nocturnal M220 LED Dive Light

Here is the first look at the new small single LED light from Nocturnal, the Nocturnal M220 LED Dive light.

It uses only 3 AA batteries and is 5.5 inches long and 2 inches wide at the front. It weights 12oz dry and 6 oz in the water. It produces a white LED light, 220 Lumens. Depth ration is 100 meters. A simple twist on-off on the rear cap and it has dual O-rings for secure water protection - making it very hard to flood. Retail price is around $170 in the USA. There are a few for sale now, but the official release date is May, 2010.

Burn time is about 2 hours and then it slowly fades, according to Nocturnal - but I look forward to testing this out myself underwater.

The light beam is a high intensity sharp center with soft but wide coverage. This is a great dive light because of it's size and bright output. It is solid and very durable and machined out of aluminum and hard anodized. It could be used as a camera focus light with a diffuser to lower the intensity of the bright center spot.

At ISO 100 at 1/60 of a second you will get an f-stop of f11.5 at 12 inches. If you are using an SLR camera with a good macro lens I would suggest a camera setting of F22 at 1/250 second to help keep the hot spot from showing up in the exposure.

Better yet, a diffuser that would cut the light output in half would be even better. Still enough light to support auto focusing but not enough to show up in the exposure.

The Ultralight mount will work very well with the Nocturnal light. 

This dive light also comes with a write-mount strap, which is perfect for underwater photographers who want to use it as a dual purpose night light and focus light.

This light is carried at Marine Camera and other underwater camera shops.