Macro Ring Flash

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philljp

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Hi all,

I am interested in macro photography, so i've bought some extension tubes to use with my 50mm f1.8. There is great potential for some excellent shots, but I often find myself with not enough light to get a decent shutter speeds outdoors for hand holding or vs the wind on plants.

As a cheap alternative, I have discovered the LED Ring flashes on eBay for around £20:

eBay Link

Basically 32 x 5500k LED's powered by 4 AA batteries.

What do you think? Worth a try, or no where near bright enough?

Edit: I see the link doesn't work, but a search for "Flash FC100" should bring it up.
 
Last edited:
philljp said:
Hi all,

I am interested in macro photography, so i've bought some extension tubes to use with my 50mm f1.8. There is great potential for some excellent shots, but I often find myself with not enough light to get a decent shutter speeds outdoors for hand holding or vs the wind on plants.

As a cheap alternative, I have discovered the LED Ring flashes on eBay for around £20:

eBay Link

Basically 32 x 5500k LED's powered by 4 AA batteries.

What do you think? Worth a try, or no where near bright enough?

Edit: I see the link doesn't work, but a search for "Flash FC100" should bring it up.
Click to expand...

It looks suspiciously cheap to be honest. The problem with ring flashes is that they tend to give very flat lighting, as with macro the light is non-directional - it comes from all around your tiny subjects, so you get little or no light modelling, which is why many people opt for the macro twin lights, where you can vary the power and position of the two heads, but obviously they're expensive.

If you already have a hotshot flashgun, you might want to look into the possibility of a flash extension cord and getting your flashgun closer the the front of your lens, with some sort of bracket. It's perfectly possible to get good results with that arrangement.
 
Thanks for the reply, I think I have decided against it. Although the Sigma macro flash is a ring version, so wouldn't that suffer fro the same problems?

I'm considering a Canon 430EX II defused on an arm, do you think this would be the best all round/cheapest option?
 
I bought a Marumi ring flash from amazon and it works very well & not too expensive

Les :thumbs:
 
philljp said:
Thanks for the reply, I think I have decided against it. Although the Sigma macro flash is a ring version, so wouldn't that suffer fro the same problems?

I'm considering a Canon 430EX II defused on an arm, do you think this would be the best all round/cheapest option?
Click to expand...

That should work just fine- I shot macro with this arrangement for quite some time - 580EX and Fong diffuser - Canon Off -Camera Shoe Cord2.


IMG_3114-01 by tonky8203, on Flickr
 
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philljp said:
Although the Sigma macro flash is a ring version, so wouldn't that suffer fro the same problems?
Click to expand...

not so much,

The sigma flash is two small flashes mounted at either end of a ring diffuser, you can set them to fire at different strengths, so when you take the shot the light can be coming more prominently from one area.

It also freely swivels on the lens so this direction can be top / bottom / side


The advantage of the ring being the ability to get the light right in where you need it though is also its dissadvantage with it not lighting up the background that much so get dark surroundings and reflections in shiney surfaces lke ladybird shells

All of which can be overcome ..... but as with every gadget in macro photogrphy seems to have a certain compramise somewhere !
 
Not sure that it has been mentioned, but the LED version I believe are ring lights not ring flash.

They cannot freeze the shot, and do not provide enough light.

I bought the Sigma EM-140 and have been very happy; except that now I've added a raynox AND tubes and maximum magnification I am so close to the subject that the macro light cannot light it.

Lately I have been holding it off the camera! :( It is brilliant when you've got a bit of working distance though.
 
Was looking at the led lights will give them a miss now I think
 
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