ROV light placement

Now that the Downunder ROV is back in action Downunder ROV:slight_smile: , I’ve been working on the quality of the video footage. One of my current challenges is the reflection back off particles in the water when I use the ROV lights.

A quick google search has flagged this as a fairly common issue with a couple of possible solutions:

  1. Move the light fixture further away from the camera so that the light reflected from the particles doesn’t hit the camera lens.

  2. Use a low light camera to reduce the need for external lighting.

I’m currently working on option 1 - anyone have any other solutions or ways to minimise the reflection?

We’ve been mounting the lights on the outside of the frame, which seems to give better results. The particles are tough because you have to move the lights much further apart to fix that issue. You could try blocking the light where it overlaps in front of the camera so you illuminate the target without illuminating the empty space in between.

Also, we’re working with a low light HD camera that is showing a lot of promise. Hopefully we’ll have something like that available in the future.