Ring Flash

[diyjoe]

I've been toying with the idea of buying a ring flash - not necessarily for macro photography - more just because I like the shadowless effect a ring flash can provide, but I'm not sure if they have much of a range

Canon of course do one that seems quite powerful, but costs an arm and a leg...

Anyone got any advice?

Cheers

Joe

[PaulB]

Ring flashes do tend to be underpowered, even as fill-in, for non-macro work; and on portraits - where studio units are sometimes used - give a circular catchlight in the eyes which does look a little strange.

[hurry]

It's simple to build a ringlight with some ultra bright white leds - must not be perfect like THERE (http://www.emling-online.de/digital/ringlicht2.html)

[teddynet]

"...give a circular catchlight in the eyes which does look a little strange."

I have a cheap lens mounted one, more for fun than serious macro work, and that *doesn't* give a circular catchlight in the eye, it's just too small.

It works OK as a fill-in flash if used with other lights and does give a weird effect even when used with tungsten main lights. If you're after something to experiment with then the basic model is fine, I got mine from Jessops [Centon] in the UK for under £100. They do a TTL version too.

It's not very powerful and is supposed to be set at f/5.6 @ 100 ISO with a range of 3 feet, or 4 feet on manual, but as a fill-in to main lights I've used mine for headshots with interesting results.

On a side note I've just checked the sync voltage and found it to be 4.5 volts, so it'll be OK with the 10D!

Rich.

[teddynet]

If you want to make a studio sized ringflash then a 'doughnut' or ply with some tungsten, or low wattage, bulbs mounted on it should give a similar effect if the bulbs are diffused. I'd guess that low wattage bulbs would be best both for diffusion and to save melting your lens hood.

I have no idea how big it has to be before you get that circular catchlight though.

I did see an interesting reflector once that had a shielded hole to one side of the flashtube which you shot through, this gave a slightly off centre ringflash look. I'd guess that if you're into getto lighting then some cardboard and tinfoil should provide hours of entertainment, and if it works some interesting pictures too.

I can't find the reflector mentioned above in the Calumet catalogue but I have found a Sunpak ringflash with a GN of 120 @ 100 ISO for £190 + vat and one with a GN of 40 that fits up to 77mm filter threads for £218 + vat.

Trigger voltages unknown!

Rich.

[diyjoe]

Thanks for your input folks.

I guess I just want to use it in place of a normal flash for taking snaps of people etc. I would reluctantly shell out for the Canon if I got a chance to play with one or see some results.

I saw the Centon one on Jessops - maybe I should just get that and try it out...there's always eBay if I want to sell it on...

Cheers

Joe

[evilenglishman]

--

[teddynet]

I haven't used mine on the 10D yet, I bought it to use on my S1 a while back, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work just the same on the D60.

The M20 is the non dedicated one isn't it? Just that the dedicated one does TTL and wouldn't work on the 10D coz I doubt it does E-TTL and basic TTL doesn't work on the 10D, dunno about the D60 though, I've never used one.

The flash works fine, it gives the surround shadow I bought it for and it does macro fine too, the range is about 4 feet max. If you're doing pics with people in bear in mind that the catchlight in the eye will just be a small dot like with a normal flash, it's just too small to be able to see a doughnut catchlight.

I found the light a little too harsh on some models but OK on others, it seemed to relate to the amount of makeup they wore, those with a heavy hand seemed to come out better!

HTH

Rich.

[evilenglishman]

--

[chris maddock]

evilenglishman wrote:
teddynet wrote:
The M20 is the non dedicated one isn't it? Just that the dedicated one does TTL and wouldn't work on the 10D coz I doubt it does E-TTL and basic TTL doesn't work on the 10D, dunno about the D60 though, I've never used one.


Yes the M20 is non-dedicated. Are you saying the non-decicated one will work and a dedicated one wont work? Just a bit confused by that line.

None of the Canon D-SLRs will work with TTL flash metering AFAIK - that involves measuring light reflected off the film, which of course we don't have. Certainly this applies to the D30, D60 and 10D. These all use E-TTL, which uses a preflash to measure light reflected off the subject to calculate the requirements for the main flash.
They are fine in manual flash mode (you set the aperture/shutter according to the flash guide table and distance)
I suspect the MR20s Auto mode will work, since that measures the reflected light itself - it's a wonderfully simple system, the Auto/Manual switch simply obscures or clears a hole to the light sensor. Going by memory, you set the camera to settings recommended by the flash and switch the flash to Auto.

KRs
Chris

[nucki]

hurry wrote:
It's simple to build a ringlight with some ultra bright white leds - must not be perfect like THERE (http://www.emling-online.de/digital/ringlicht2.html)

Thats amasing! really! but how much is it all together?
I think the nobody of the others was able to read german ;-)
Hey folks! look at his side and translate it!

regards
Peter

[Ikinaa]

nucki wrote:
hurry wrote:
It's simple to build a ringlight with some ultra bright white leds - must not be perfect like THERE (http://www.emling-online.de/digital/ringlicht2.html)

Thats amasing! really! but how much is it all together?
I think the nobody of the others was able to read german ;-)
Hey folks! look at his side and translate it!

regards
Peter

Use http://babelfish.altavista.com/ for complete web-site translation. Works well with this site...

I found it an interesting design, but not everybody can work aluminium or any other metal that way...

Ikinaa