Been looking at the different ring flashes on eBay.... Still lost on what to get. Have a few questions as well!
IMO ring flashes are over-hyped for macro, a pair of flash guns of some kind does about as good a job for illumination, and doesn't fall into the 'flat lighting' (unless you want it to) that suffers ring flash macro shots. With 2 flashes (in manual mode) you can control each side's lighting to present the target lit how YOU want. Some of the ring flashes allow individual control, but it's much less control than you get with a pair of flashes. You can even use gels to control lighting colour from each side.
You need to spend at least £100 to get a real ringlight from what I've seen, and then it's a niche flash that will only really be useful for a couple of things (flat lit macro, and some people like the catchlights from rings for portrait)
Would the ttl function be useful for a ringflash?
I occasionally use a single flash as a fill-light for macro, on a self-made bracket that holds the flash's head next to the macro lens. This I use with a single TTL cord, and find that it allows me to round out the exposure to 'just about perfect' regardless of ambient light (assuming a flash compensation of about -0.7 to -1.0 because the flash is close to the subject)
So, TTL is useful for macro, I imagine it would be useful for a ringflash for the same reasons.
Would it be better to use a ringflash with led bulbs that provide light and not a flash of light?
No, the LED ringlamps are generally pretty close to worthless, you just can't get enough light out of them to make them give more than about a stop's worth of lighting.
Also read about ray flash and was tempted to try that as well!
What's your opinion on this guys??
There are people on here that swear by their home-made 'ray flashes', and to be honest, I think grabbing a few household things and making your own is probably better than spending money on a branded 'ray flash'. The official 'ray flash' is close to £200, and that's, IMO, a pretty criminal price for a piece of inactive plastic.
Using a ray flash, whether home made or bought, gives you the benefit of a ring flash, while still giving you traditional flash guns at the bottom line, that's quite a bit of flexibility.
