Ringflash?

Case, you're getting on my nerves, man.

Csae wrote in post #14799042
F16 is daylight buddy

Actually, "sunny 16" refers to a thumbrule indicating a shutter speed of 1/ISO in direct sunlight. So even in direct sunlight you should be good at 1/250 f/10 ISO 100.

You can be outdoors in the shade, or on a cloudy day, with 3 or 4 stops less light. It's still daylight.

I don't know why you feel compelled to slam SJRobbins' images. We can all see them and judge for ourselves.

As for Mr. Robbins, if you want to provide valuable information, meter that orbis thingy with a flash meter at a measured distance, outdoors at night, multiply the aperture reading by the distance to get a guide number and let us know what it is. Then we can do our own calculations.

If I want to provide valuable information? The OP wanted to know some ring flash options, I suggested more than one, and a couple of pics with the catchlights he was concerned about.. That's "valuable information" in my book *shrug*

I have the ABR800 and love it.. can't go wrong!

SJRobbins wrote in post #14800505
Ah, and midday is the only time its daylight? Gotcha.

No, but it is the worst possible one.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14800505
I've already explained the ISO400, but why bother actually reading or adding anything valuable to the conversation when you can just troll.

I read that.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14800851
If I want to provide valuable information? The OP wanted to know some ring flash options, I suggested more than one, and a couple of pics with the catchlights he was concerned about.. That's "valuable information" in my book *shrug*

You did provide valuable information, you are so far the only one who actually have shown any examples of ring flash used in this thread.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14800851
If I want to provide valuable information? The OP wanted to know some ring flash options, I suggested more than one, and a couple of pics with the catchlights he was concerned about.. That's "valuable information" in my book *shrug*

I appreciate your contributions to this thread. But I'm a quantitative kinda guy.

Thing is, the ABR800 is surely powerful enough for outdoor fill for your typical portrait shoot, and I figure I can strap the VML on my belt for power. But it's 2.5 pounds and doesn't support E-TTL or any kind of automatic metering.

So I'm looking for something more portable that I don't have to stop and meter every time I move. The various Speedlite-based options out there have limited power, and a guide number should help anyone figure out just how useful they would be in a given set of conditions.

Curtis N wrote in post #14801273
Thing is, the ABR800 is surely powerful enough for outdoor fill for your typical portrait shoot, and I figure I can strap the VML on my belt for power. But it's 2.5 pounds and doesn't support E-TTL or any kind of automatic metering.

So I'm looking for something more portable that I don't have to stop and meter every time I move. The various Speedlite-based options out there have limited power, and a guide number should help anyone figure out just how useful they would be in a given set of conditions.

You want E-TTL and Speedlite portability with ABR800 power? If you find it, let me know.

If you are not willing to operate with an ABR800 on a VML, then you can try the Roundflash: http://roundflash.com/ - Run it with a 580 EX II and put a Vari-ND on your lens to keep it at flash sync speed so you don't lose power going to HSS.

after trying rayflash, orbis and roundflash, i can say that my favorite is now roundflash. i still use rayflash wehn i need more power or harsher light.

check out this review: roundflash

ocabj wrote in post #14801323
You want E-TTL and Speedlite portability with ABR800 power? If you find it, let me know.

It's generally accomplished with one 580EX in master mode and about twelve more as slaves.

Green Li wrote in post #14801480
after trying rayflash, orbis and roundflash, i can say that my favorite is now roundflash.

That's good to know. Now can you get in front of it with a meter and give me a guide number?

The Canon Ring Flash would be interesting to use as fill, but it's to proprietary in it's implementation for my taste. It can act as a master in a wireless configuration , recycle time seems a bit slow.

Curtis N wrote in post #14801616
That's good to know. Now can you get in front of it with a meter and give me a guide number?

I'm on a trip, so I cannot really do that , but if I recall correctly the light loss of roundflash is about 2-3 f-stops, while rayflash is at about 1 stop.

Csae wrote in post #14799006
...I think you mean the filter size on your main lenses is 77mm and the fstop is 2.8

Thats not you describe lenses, you mark their focal length and their fstop, so when someone says they have an 85mm:1.8, it doesn't make the filter size 85mm....

For portraits the easiest is to just make yourself an adapter for a hotshoe flash to play around with, the normal portrait type RFs are like 300$ish, with the cheapest being the ABR800, then going into pack and head RFs/battery packs more around 1,000$.

The difference is power, a hotshoe adapter flash will only really be usable indoors and when you're using a longer lens will have a tiny catch-light and not much power (which might be a good thing if you only want fill from it).

Yes, thank you I missed the ampersand...like you missed the how in your sentence. I have a 17-50mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 both with 77mm filter size.

And, I'm not too keen on toting a ABR800 around...

Tim S wrote in post #14802420
And, I'm not too keen on toting a ABR800 around...

The ABR800 is a versatile light. Even if you don't use it on camera as a ring flash, you can still implement it off camera on a light stand (or even a tripod). I often bring two Einsteins and the ABR800 as my 3-light location kit, and either run the ABR800 on as primary, for fill, or off-camera as a rim or hair light.

I have the elinchrom ringflash and love it... I had the ABR800, but found it to bulky to handle.....

I'd love two have an Einstein (or two) to go with my AB800's but for now I think I'll pass on the ringflash idea. Thank you to those who gave opinions and ideas. Curtis, I think a beauty dish will serve me better than a ring flash.

How are catch lights from the Q-Flash system?

Curtis N wrote in post #14801273
I appreciate your contributions to this thread. But I'm a quantitative kinda guy.

Thing is, the ABR800 is surely powerful enough for outdoor fill for your typical portrait shoot, and I figure I can strap the VML on my belt for power. But it's 2.5 pounds and doesn't support E-TTL or any kind of automatic metering.

So I'm looking for something more portable that I don't have to stop and meter every time I move. The various Speedlite-based options out there have limited power, and a guide number should help anyone figure out just how useful they would be in a given set of conditions.

There was a long thread on the Strobist group about the various HSF ring flashes and how efficient they were, and although plenty of people took readings with meters, as with any modifier that spreads the light, a reading like that only tells you part of the story, hence why where were people saying "it eats 3 stops of light?!?!" when in reality it doesn't, because the spread of light is substantially different - obviously it eats *some* light, but how much is hard to quantify with a single number. I'm not suggesting you don't know any of that, but that's why I generally have no real interest in the numbers (other than apples to apples comparisons), but I do agree everyone should look to find the limitations of their hardware - whether you do that with gut feeling or a set of numbers, that's personal preference.

Power aside, I love the Orbis because it just slips into the back of my bag, and I can grab it and fit it on any of my flashes (I have several different makes, models and sizes) in 10seconds flat if I feel I need it, it also cost me £70 (2nd hand), which is within my "buy it to have it in the bag" range