Macro Ring Light

S

Steve_o

Suspended / Banned
Messages
125
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I'm trying to get into Macro Photography and I currently have a Canon 100mm Macro. However, I don't tend to use it with a light source on the camera.

I was looking at investing in a Macro Ring Light but I'm not 100% as to what would be a good product. I'm looking at the following unit on Amazon but reviews indicate it is an LED and not a Flash unit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...flash&rh=i:aps,k:canon+1000d+macro+ring+flash

Any advice welcome.
 
I don't know much about that particular ring light, but at that price you have two choices 1) it's so cheap it might be worth a punt; 2) at that price it won't be much good. The reviews on Amazon seem reasonable and useful. To be honest, and this is a personal opinion, I have never found ring flash very useful for macro with a 100mm lens. They tend to be low power, so aren't really powerful enough to give you enough light for small apertures such as f16 etc. This LED light looks to be one of these low pwer units. Even if they were, the exposure would be such that your main subject may be well lit but the background will go dark which will look unnatural. I prefer natural light. Have a look at the Macro forum and search for "show me your macro rig", this should give you plenty of other options - most people use a normal flash held close to the lens with a diffuser attached.
 
I got one of these a couple of months ago, although not for macro photography.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aputure-A...pt=UK_Camera_Video_Lights&hash=item43b3e523d1

I have only used it on the end of my Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro lens to take pictures of my cats eye, but you do see the LEDs in the cats eye. There is an adjustment on the flash for the brightness but even that is too much for eye shots - unless of course you use flatter batteries I guess.

You don't have to have these LEDs attached to the camera though which is great in certain circumstances.

I haven't experimented with the LEDs on the end of my macro lens apart from this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top