flash vs ring light

[jerseycowboy]

what are the advantages/disadvantages of a ring light over a flash setup for macro shots?

[AirBrontosaurus]

Ring-lite:
Pros: Great for macro (duh). Even lighting. Designed for close-up use. Variable brightness for shadows.

Cons: Decent ones are very expensive. Can't really be used for anything except macro. Create softer image shadows.

Regular flash:
Pros: versatile. When used with a bracket, give almost the same amount of light as a ring-light. More options than a reing-lite.

Cons: Takes some work to get the light calibrated correctly. Can create hotspots on the image.

Personally, I'd recommend a flash because of the versatility. Unless you really want to specialize in macro, I think a ringlite will be very expensive and won't help you out as much.

[jerseycowboy]

Thanks. I found a ring light for cheap on here, so I was wondering what the advantage was of one over the other. I guess I could also get a nice bracket for the flash if I chose to go in that direction.

[AirBrontosaurus]

Well, cheap ringlites are different from the Canon MR series. If you see a ring-lite for <$100, then you'll probably not get very much control.