Thursday, December 8, 2011

Light Without Power

I see an awful lot of posts in online forums from people wanting to know how to shoot in remote areas at night without electrical power. This always sets my daydream motor in motion because I've had more than my fair share of experimentation with various kinds of explosive substances many of which are powdered metals like magnesium.

I usually think of flares which burn very brightly, some of which are based on flammable metals, but also produce smoke and can be noisy. The other trick is to find something that will be bright and steady enough and not be excessively red like fire.

Since we're now using cameras with amazing light sensitivity, I'm starting to wonder if a simple gas or propane powered camping lantern could provide usable amounts of remote non-powered lighting.

The Coleman Two-Mantle Dual Fuel Powerhouse Lantern and Coleman PerfectFlow InstaStart Lantern supposedly provides 250-300 candlepower of light which I'd think could be usable in certain setups and more so if ganging up multiple lanterns.