Light & Motion Sidekick Duo

Cameras such as the Gopro are poor at capturing light in low light conditions. The low light resulted in hundreds of blurry photos, so I decided to purchase a light to fix the problem. I wanted a light that could be attached to a selfie stick since I use the Gopro mainly to submit photos of marine creatures captured while freediving to iNaturalist. In terms of competition with the sidekick, only the Knog [qudos] ACTION Video Light for GoPro and the SeaLife Sea Dragon Mini 600 Underwater LED Light, which mounts to a SeaLife Aquapod, can be compared. Due to the lack of a dive arm, the Knog suffers from greater backscatter. It would have been nice to buy a new selfie stick with the Sea Dragon Mini, but I don't think I would have liked to do that. Having tried the light for the first time, I am reasonably satisfied with the performance of the light. Despite the amount of lighting I have, I still have trouble taking sharp pictures most of the time. Though it would likely take tens of thousands of lumens to achieve this. biggest advantage of this light is the ease with which I can now take pictures of animals in crevices. Before, I had difficulty taking photos of animals in crevices. Now this light is a good fit in many cases. While the benefits are clear, the downsides are also apparent Even when the light is on flood mode, the light does not fill the field of vision. Dark edges appear on the photos when this is done. It may also require you to fiddle with your EV settings to get good photos if your edges are too dark, otherwise the center will oversaturate. It's too difficult to operate the controls. Basically, I only want to leave it in high power flood mode, and then turn it off and on a lot since I only want to take photos for a minute at a time and want to save battery power. As there are two buttons, the correct design would be to turn it on and off, and toggle through the settings with the other. Choosing the setting I want, then turning it on and off depending on whether it remembered the previous setting, is all I would need to do. I must hold down both buttons to turn it off. Instead, I have to press the button three times to switch modes and then hold those buttons down three more times to turn it on. In other words, you need to press five buttons for what should take only The difference between wearing gloves in warm water might not seem significant, but it certainly makes a There is something uniquely different about this charging cable. It's a sign that you are out of shape if you lose it. While this is a serious disadvantage if you only plan to use the light on land, once in the water the proprietary charger is negated by its seal to keep water out. When it is permanently sealed, you dramatically reduce the chance of flooding the room with In general, the Gopro hardware doesn't seem to be as high quality as that which came with the device. I think it might be my imagination, but I think the Gopro is a lot looser than it was on the mount. There is a tendency for it to be knocked out of place. Currently, this is an annoying problem, but if it gets worse with age then that may become a more serious You will probably need to spend $1500 on a lighting rig for underwater photography if you are serious about it. If there is that much light around, the GoPro will be unable to consistently capture good videos and Aside from adding a minor boost to your abilities, the Sidekick permits you to take a photo in a few situations you wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Christina Mendez

| Apr 09, 2021

I purchased this Sidekick Duo product for a second time. The first one I used for about 3 years was on a GoPro Hero 3+, but I had to replace it after getting the Hero 8 because the screws on the mounting arm had corroded to the point where I couldn't remove it As far as the Sidekick Duo went, both the old and new units worked fine. However, the paint on the newer Duo (purchased in October 2020) had started peeling off badly by Light & Power asked me to contact them The motion was sent by email, and the light replacement was received. Light is more often used as a source for spotting objects and taking pictures or videos rather than illuminating objects. Flood beams work well on undersea walls, and the spotlight can reach deep into crevasses and coral openings because of the broad beam.

Isla Goodwin

| Sep 01, 2021

Despite it's wide angle, this light is fantastic for GoPro's wide angle video. I love the ability to change the intensity of the beam and I really liked how it could be adjusted to change the distance of the beam. The only problem with this light is that it is so oddly shaped. Because I use it underwater, I cannot mount it directly on the GoPro housing. For that reason, I have to mount it with a regular camera strobe however, since it's over 1,000 feet away, I must use a strobe positioned further away from the lens. As a result of my love for the light, I was able to make it work. If the body suited more attachments (not just for GoPro), it would be five stars for me. However, this light is amazing, and it is worth more than other under ocean video lights on the market for twice or three times the price. This price point is 10 times the price!.

Katalina Love

| May 20, 2021

This light is a perfect size when space and weight are an issue on dive trips, and adds great light to critter light ups. Only issue I have is what I have to do to set it up. Over holding the on/off button is one of the easiest ways to lock the unit in the travel mode when turning on/off the light underwater. Whenever a camera was locked out under water, I found it difficult, if not impossible, to free it, so sometimes I had to finish a dive without camera lighting because of I find this to be a very important issue. Using two GoPro6 cameras will give you the best results.

Soren Krause

| Sep 28, 2020

While on the trip, all four of them failed due to flooding. The first three were only able to go down once Three dives into the 4th were enough for it to fail. I just don't get why disposable single use lights come in at 129 dollars each. We're just about to lose our warranty it's only good for two years. I wouldn't recommend these to anyone who doesn't dive much during the warranty period, but they may be okay if you get to dive early and often.

Sullivan Morris

| Oct 25, 2020

The reason I gave this three stars is that I have yet to use it. In the event of any changes, I will update the review. You can use this with HERO 5. I am here to tell you that. There is no need to attach an arm. I can tell the difference between Light in Motion and Gopro, but neither were able to tell me exactly if they were compatible. On the photo we see a generic floaty we also bought on Amazon and a suit for Hero 5. It gets me a little concerned that less than a 1/2" of the screw actually goes into the housing, but that is the look of the video on youtube, so I guess it is safe. I just have to say that I am happy to have purchased it. Moreover, there are general thoughts about this product. Using this light, there will be no need to use filters on your GoPro. If I had actually gone diving with it, I would have given it full stars. I have been unable to use the light with any gopro mounts that came with my hero5. The nut at the end of the screw has changed, and seems to be impossible to remove (previously it could) so I am not able to use it with my GoPro 3. There were no mounts included, neither with it nor without it.

Faith Cobb

| Nov 17, 2020