A620 homemade ringflash attempt

[dunker]

i've been on the look out for a good candidate in the shops for ages, everything the right size is usually too clear but i spotted this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/dunker/rf_001.jpg

it's pretty wide so it covers the flash nicely but i made the hole for the lens slightly too big so it needs to be stuck on with blu-tac. it's not a perfect light spread as there's a bit of left/right light/dark but it's alot better than without i think. i left the lid on and cut a hole in that too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/dunker/screw_rf_001.jpg

pic about half-size, i just dropped the screw inside then put the lens through the hole and shot, it's like a mini light tent almost :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/dunker/spider_rf_001.jpg

this guy is still hanging around on the corner of a door frame in my kitchen, it's been there nearly 24 hours now, shots before of it were at f/2.8 but with the ringflash i could put it in AV mode and use f/8 then experiment with the 12 flash settings, could only find 3 settings in manual mode for flash, dull-too bright-nuke, unless i'm missing something.

i'm still on the look-out for better pots to use maybe something a bit thicker will diffuse better?

[elise1030]

Can you tell us how it is attached to yuor camera? I'm trying to visualize what it would look like and how infact it would work. I have an A610.

[dunker]

small white pot, cut a hole in its bottom and slip it over the camera lens like this stuck on with a tiny slither of blu-tac. focusing can be more work though in very low light as the pot cuts off light coming in as you get closer, so manual focus is needed and a bit hit n mis.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/dunker/a620_mirror_rf.jpg

spotted my new pet, brian the web weaver on my way back so i snapped another of him :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/dunker/spider_rf_002.jpg

he really likes his? door frame hehe

[Transit]

Interesting set up :)
so the flash just shoots through the cover thus difusing it ?

Pete

[TMR Design]

I've done something similar with a white styrofoam cup. It works fairly well.

[dunker]

styrofoam prolly works better i would think as it's thicker, i'll be on the look out for some :) you could also cut out a piece from another cup and stick it over part of the first cup that's nearest the flash so it's thicker on one side and might diffuse the light more evenly.

[dunker]

Interesting set up :)
so the flash just shoots through the cover thus difusing it ?

Pete

yeah exactly, without it flash is pretty useless for very close up shots as it just blows everything out plus a huge camera-lens shadow.

[elise1030]

So is the flash on the outside of the 'ring' or on in the inside?

[dunker]

So is the flash on the outside of the 'ring' or on in the inside?

it's on the outside, the pot/cup/ring covers the flash and as the flash fires the ring diffuses the light.

[TMR Design]

It actually works pretty well. I also got fairly decent results using a white plastic cap from a can of spray paint. I don't get any shadows or vignetting and it does diffuse the flash pretty well it allows me to use flash indoors in lower light and get good color, contrast and exposure.

[dunker]

It actually works pretty well. I also got fairly decent results using a white plastic cap from a can of spray paint. I don't get any shadows or vignetting and it does diffuse the flash pretty well it allows me to use flash indoors in lower light and get good color, contrast and exposure.

did you expermient at all with 1st or 2nd curtain settings? would that make any difference in lighting?

[TMR Design]

I played a bit with that and for the most part I could not detect a difference. There were times that it seemed to be better lighting and better exposue when I used 2nd curtain.

[Action_Man]

I initially thought this was a crazy idea but i thought i would try it anyway, the two shots below are vIrtually unprocessed other that one simple sharpen each.

I only experimented for a few minutes and will look into it further tomorrow :) ...

Hand-held plus on-board flash with no attachment.
110316

Hand-held plus on-board flash and ring-flash attachment.
110317

[elise1030]

I think I'll give this a go later with a styrofoam cup. I'll post some of my pics as well to show you my results of the experiment :D

[Gabbana]

cool idea.

[Chenla Ou]

great useful information

[elise1030]

I found the styrofoam to be too dense and it cast a shadow over my subject. I'm yet to find something else suitable to use.

[dunker]

i tried a styrofoam cup as aswell and even glued a little tab on it to cover the flash better but it's not as good as my nivea cream pot, it does'nt spread half as good. for me white plastic/upvc? works best so far.

[TMR Design]

Hi Elise and Dunker. You are correct.:D

I just did some tests and a plain white styrofoam cup does not really do it.

I also tried a few plastic items with varying amounts of translucency and overall it performed better.

In general I have found that all experiments with the internal flash just don't give me great or predictable results. I have decided to approach this type of macro work differently, as in this thread.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=217597

[dunker]

hi TMR Design :) one of the first camera diy things i did was a lightbox, it's a bit fiddley but works well. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html it was in one of the sticky threads on this forum i think. cost about 3 quid for the tracing paper from smiths. second thing was a mini bean bag so i could give my plastic! arrgghh tripod socket a rest.

[theRIAA]

i made one of these (actually a couple) a wile ago... for my A620 (kick ass).

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6549/img2435ok6.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4667/img2431lz5.jpg

i basicly built a box out of cardboard around part of the camera (it just slides on and off). lined the whole thing with alu foil, put a styrofoam cup in as a difuser and then put some alu foil on the inside of the cup (covers flash area, dithers away in sorounding areas) to help better evenly diffuse the flash

, oh and this is my first post :D << how do you turn off damn smilies...