In this article …

• Why should you use lights to film underwater 360 video?

• What kind of lights are best for underwater 360 video?

• What is the best setup for underwater 360 video?

• Setup 1: Lights below camera and pole

• Setup 2: Camera forward of lights

• Setup 3: Camera in line with lights

• Setup 4: Camera below lights

• Setup 5: Lights below DPV/scooter

• How bright do lights have to be for underwater 360 video?

• What configuration does Mantis Sub recommend?

Why should you use lights to film underwater 360 video?

We know it gets darker the deeper we dive because water absorbs light. The different colors are absorbed at a different rate - red first, then orange, followed by yellow - which means at 20m / 60ft all that is left are shades of green and blue, and very little detail. Using only ambient sunlight your video will look washed out, even in very bright conditions.

The only way to bring detail and vibrant colors back into your video is to add it yourself with underwater video lights. This will produce much more vibrant colors in your video, and show the beauty otherwise lost in shadows.

Video lights show detail and colours that would be lost without them. Even at shallow depth.

What kind of lights are best for underwater 360 video?

360 video captures a very wide spherical panorama, and as such the best kind of lights are domed video lights with a very wide beam angle - 120 degrees or more are ideal.

Lights with flat ports can only have a 90 degree beam angle underwater, which means you'll need more lights to illuminate the same area. Flat port lights also show a hard edge between illuminated and dark area, whereas domed lights have a soft transition from light to dark.

This makes domed video lights cheaper overall, easier to use and the recording much more pleasing to look at.

Domed video lights have a wider beam angle and softer transition at the edge

What is the best setup for underwater 360 video?

In order for the lights to be effective at all, the total light path from light to subject to camera must be less than 10m / 30ft. Go further, and many of the vibrant colours are already absorbed by the water.

That means a maximum distance of 5m / 15ft between camera and subject, if the lights are mounted with the camera (also referred to as "onboard lighting". The ideal distance is however 1-3m / 3-9ft.

We must also be careful to mount the lights some distance from the camera to avoid backscatter (the effect of lighting up particles that float in the water). And we must prevent the lights from shining into the camera to avoid bright spots and wrong metering.

Here are several ways this can be achieved:

Setup 1: Lights below camera and pole

Equipment used:
- 1x Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition camera with SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC V30 A2 memory card
- 1x Mantis RS360 housing
- 1x Ball mount with 1/4-20 thread attached to housing, e.g. Ultralight AD-1420-2S
- 1x Ball clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-CSF
- 1x 500gr float, e.g. Nauticam 90x170mm Carbon Fiber Float
- 1x Triple clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-TSC
- 4x Domed video lights on short pole with adjustable mounts, e.g. Mantis Sun Mini
- 1x Ball mount with 3/8-16 thread attached to pole, e.g. Ultralight AD-3816-2S
- 1x 65” carbon monopod, e.g. Benro MMA49C

Setup 2: Camera forward of lights

Equipment used:
- 1x Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition camera with SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC V30 A2 memory card
- 1x Mantis RS360 housing
- 1x Ball mount with 1/4-20 thread attached to housing, e.g. Ultralight AD-1420-2S
- 1x Ball clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-CSF
- 1x 500gr float, e.g. Nauticam 90x170mm Carbon Fiber Float
- 1x Triple clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-TSC
- 4x Domed video lights on short pole with adjustable mounts, e.g. Mantis Sun Mini
- 1x Ball mount with 3/8-16 thread attached to pole, e.g. Ultralight AD-3816-2S
- 1x 65” carbon monopod, e.g. Benro MMA49C

Setup 3: Camera in line with lights

Equipment used:
- 1x Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition camera with SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC V30 A2 memory card
- 1x Mantis RS360 housing
- 1x Ball mount with 1/4-20 thread attached to housing, e.g. Ultralight AD-1420-2S
- 3x ball clamps, e.g. Ultralight AC-CSF
- 1x 500gr float, e.g. Nauticam 90x170mm Carbon Fiber Float
- 4x domed video lights on short pole with adjustable mounts, e.g. Mantis Sun Mini
- 1x Ball mount with 3/8-16 thread attached to pole, e.g. Ultralight AD-3816-2S
- 1x 65” carbon monopod, e.g. Benro MMA49C

Setup 4: Camera below lights

Equipment used:
- 1x Insta360 Pro 2 camera with 7x SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC V30 A2 memory card
- 1x Mantis Sub housing
- 1x Ball mount with 1/4-20 thread attached to housing, e.g. Ultralight AD-1420-2S
- 3x Ball clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-CSF
- 1x 500gr float, e.g. Nauticam 90x170mm Carbon Fiber Float
- 6x Domed video lights on short pole with adjustable mounts, e.g. Mantis Sun
- 1x Ball mount with 3/8-16 thread attached to pole, e.g. Ultralight AD-3816-2S
- 1x 65” carbon monopod, e.g. Benro MMA49C

Setup 5: Lights below DPV/scooter

Equipment used:
- 1x Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition camera with SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC V30 A2 memory card
- 1x Mantis RS360 housing
- 3x Ball mount with 1/4-20 thread, e.g. Ultralight AD-1420-2S
- 3x Ball clamp, e.g. Ultralight AC-CSF
- 2x Large domed video lights, e.g. L&M Sola Video Pro 15000
- 1x DPV (Scooter), e.g. Dive Xtras Blacktip Tech or Cuda X

The additional benefit of mounting lights below the mount point, and the camera housing above, is that this stabilises the rig very effectively, because they are heavier than water. A small float near the camera makes sure the rig is neutrally buoyant. The camera is always upright without any effort from the diver and the recording is smooth and stable.

How bright do lights have to be for underwater 360 video?

The best image is achieved when the video lights are brighter than the available natural light. Only then does the subject stand out - a well illuminated diver, animal or object against a darker ocean background.

If the natural light is stronger than that of the video lights, the lost colors at depth can't be brought back and the image will still look washed out.

As a rough guide:

• In darker temperate waters (latitudes higher than 30 degrees) use at least 16,000 lumens across the full 360 degree circle. For example 4x 4,000 lumen domed lights at 90 degrees to each other.

• In bright tropical waters (latitudes lower than 20 degrees) use at least 60,0000 lumens across the full 360 degree circle. For example 4x 15,000 lumen domed lights at 90 degrees to each other.

What configuration does Mantis Sub recommend?

It depends, but generally …

• for the Insta360 One RS 1-inch 360 Edition in Mantis RS360 housing, we recommend the “Setup 1: Lights below camera and pole” configuration.

• for the Insta360 Pro2 in Mantis Sub housing we recommend “Setup 4: Lights above camera” configuration.

• both also work great in the scooter configuration.