Which Flash for Studio Macro

I'm planning ahead for when I'm working again and can afford to spend money on macro photography.

I'm looking to get a couple of wireless flashes (and controller) for off-camera use when focus stacking.

Given all of the issues with Yongnuo, I'm looking at Flashpoint (Adorama branded Godox) flashes, which seem to have a good reputation. This, combined with my good experience with Adorama make this look like the best choice.

These flashes will ONLY be used on manual at low power for focus stacking in a studio environment. I've already got a Sigma flash for ETTL.

Does anyone have a specific recommendation for which Flashpoint flashes and controller I need?

It shouldn't matter, but I'm using a Canon T4i.

Heya,

For studio macro, why not use a small wired strobe? Cheap, go all day, no batteries, modeling light, similar size/weight as a good speedlite if you get a small low power one.

If you want the R2 system and manual, here is the flash you'll want to consider:

Flashpoint Zoom R2 (manual, with built in R2 receiver) $69:
https://www.adorama.co​m/fplfsmzm.html

A few of those flahes, with a single R2 family controller will do the job:
https://www.adorama.co​m …2c.html?RRref=p​roductPage

You don't have to buy any receivers or anything, they're built in, just one TX controller to control and operate the groups, add flashes to your whim.

Add batteries.

Really though, I'd get $50 120~150Ws budget strobes for studio work that is day to day and some cheap YN603 transceivers via PC Sync cables.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18375439
Heya,

For studio macro, why not use a small wired strobe? Cheap, go all day, no batteries, modeling light, similar size/weight as a good speedlite if you get a small low power one.

If you want the R2 system and manual, here is the flash you'll want to consider:

Flashpoint Zoom R2 (manual, with built in R2 receiver) $69:
https://www.adorama.co​m/fplfsmzm.html

A few of those flahes, with a single R2 family controller will do the job:
https://www.adorama.co​m …2c.html?RRref=p​roductPage

You don't have to buy any receivers or anything, they're built in, just one TX controller to control and operate the groups, add flashes to your whim.

Add batteries.

Really though, I'd get $50 120~150Ws budget strobes for studio work that is day to day and some cheap YN603 transceivers via PC Sync cables.

Very best,

I really need two of them and that takes the price up. Plus I'm working in my living room and don't have an excess of space, and have to work close into the subjects.

I'm not really familiar with strobes. Can they take upwards of 300 consecutive activations for focus stacking?

Edit: Those were exactly the flash and controller I was looking at. Thanks for the information.

Depending on your gear, TTL flash may not be too accurate. You can compensate for it I suppose. I just use a meter and shoot manual.

My thinking may just be a hold over from Medium Format film days. TTL exposure didn't work as well as manually metering & calculating and compensating for lens extensions/macro gear even though they provided full metering. Flash at close distance seemed to be my issue even with longer 180 to 300 mm MF lenses. Manually working just looked better to me. Possibly specular highlights fooled TTL on some things..?

Ive used both speedlights and strobes.

Ive not heard of any complaints these days. So it's likely just my nightmare.

Angmo wrote in post #18375469
Depending on your gear, TTL flash may not be too accurate. You can compensate for it I suppose. I just use a meter and shoot manual.

My thinking may just be a hold over from Medium Format film days. TTL exposure didn't work as well as manually metering & calculating and compensating for lens extensions/macro gear even though they provided full metering. Flash at close distance seemed to be my issue even with longer 180 to 300 mm MF lenses. Manually working just looked better to me.

Ive used both speedlights and strobes.

Ive not heard of any complaints these days. So it's likely just my nightmare.

I was never going to use ETTL for studio macro. It's too easy to control all of the parameters.

My plan, based on advice from others, is to use manual flash at low power. I can do 100+ exposures at a session and not worry about cooking my good ETTL flash.

I already know what I want to do; I just needed to make sure I was getting the right thing with which to do it, and it seems like I actually picked what I needed.

Now to get the money to buy the equipment...

Temma wrote in post #18375482
I was never going to use ETTL for studio macro. It's too easy to control all of the parameters.

My plan, based on advice from others, is to use manual flash at low power. I can do 100+ exposures at a session and not worry about cooking my good ETTL flash.

I already know what I want to do; I just needed to make sure I was getting the right thing with which to do it, and it seems like I actually picked what I needed.

Now to get the money to buy the equipment...

Ah yes, sorry. Missread the eTTL you mentioned.

I have blackend speedlights shooting a lot. Kinda burned the little guys up over time. Was a lot of shooting and time was of the essence for a bunch of it.

That's why I shifted to strobes.

Angmo wrote in post #18375486
Ah yes, sorry. Missread the eTTL you mentioned.

I have blackend speedlights shooting a lot. Kinda burned the little guys up over time. Was a lot of shooting and time was of the essence for a bunch of it.

That's why I shifted to strobes.

What I'll be doing is focus stacking using DSLR Controller. It allows me to set the time between exposures while focus stacking. That way I can give the flashes 2-3 seconds between exposures to recover and cool off. I'm TOLD that at 1/128 power, I shouldn't kill the flashes. I'd rather accidentally kill a $70 flash than a $300+ one.

Temma wrote in post #18375506
What I'll be doing is focus stacking using DSLR Controller. It allows me to set the time between exposures while focus stacking. That way I can give the flashes 2-3 seconds between exposures to recover and cool off. I'm TOLD that at 1/128 power, I shouldn't kill the flashes. I'd rather accidentally kill a $70 flash than a $300+ one.

Very true. $70. Strobes would be even be lower power and many are fan cooled. But, I hear you. $70 beats a strobe or branded speedlight. Keep an eye out for used gear too.

The speedlights I used weren't running at full power. MF forced me to stop every 12 pics to reload film. They were still nuked.

Heya,

A strobe is meant to pop thousands of cycles without batteries. Much faster recycling time than a speedlite. And it won't overheat.

A $69 flash with wifi receiver + batteries is going to be $69 + $10 roughly (eneloops, or other generic but good rechargeable AA's, 4x per flash). $80 a unit.
Two of those is $160. Plus a $40 controller. $200 straight up.

Also, these lights will need to be on stands or mounts to position them. Just like any other light would. Foot print is the same. Unless you're using them laying on their sides and stuff on a table with zero over-head or boom type control. But I can't imagine that being studio.'

I use a couple of these indoors for my product stuff, cheap, bulletproof, fires all day, no batteries:

https://www.adorama.co​m …LSbnsSjtNQCFdID​hgodn6MGRg

They're just a little bigger than a speedlite.

I use pc sync cables and YN603's with mine. But you can fire them via optical slave with the flash on your camera or a wired pc sync cable for $0.

Half the cost. No batteries. Never stops. Gain modeling lights.

Now you can afford stands with boom arms and build modifiers to control light (something you have to do with speedlites too).

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18375510
Heya,

A strobe is meant to pop thousands of cycles without batteries. Much faster recycling time than a speedlite. And it won't overheat.

A $69 flash with wifi receiver + batteries is going to be $69 + $10 roughly (eneloops, or other generic but good rechargeable AA's, 4x per flash). $80 a unit.
Two of those is $160. Plus a $40 controller. $200 straight up.

Also, these lights will need to be on stands or mounts to position them. Just like any other light would. Foot print is the same. Unless you're using them laying on their sides and stuff on a table with zero over-head or boom type control. But I can't imagine that being studio.'

I use a couple of these indoors for my product stuff, cheap, bulletproof, fires all day, no batteries:

https://www.adorama.co​m …LSbnsSjtNQCFdID​hgodn6MGRg

They're just a little bigger than a speedlite.

I use pc sync cables and YN603's with mine. But you can fire them via optical slave with the flash on your camera or a wired pc sync cable for $0.

Half the cost. No batteries. Never stops. Gain modeling lights.

Now you can afford stands with boom arms and build modifiers to control light (something you have to do with speedlites too).

Very best,

While I occasionally do still life (guns, etc.), what I do is very different from typical still life.

I'm doing focus stacking of insects, usually 1/8" or smaller. The light has to be VERY close to the subject. That's why the 300w equivalent CFLs I use are sometimes marginal.

I actually have already built a table top subject stage with mounts for a couple of speedlights pointing directly at the subject.

EVERYTHING needs to be on or mounted to the macro table and VERY close to the subject.

Temma wrote in post #18375526
While I occasionally do still life (guns, etc.), what I do is very different from typical still life.

I'm doing focus stacking of insects, usually 1/8" or smaller. The light has to be VERY close to the subject. That's why the 300w equivalent CFLs I use are sometimes marginal.

I actually have already built a table top subject stage with mounts for a couple of speedlights pointing directly at the subject.

EVERYTHING needs to be on or mounted to the macro table and VERY close to the subject.

Sometimes, for the sake of space close up, I've used Savage Translum. The light can be further off and it hits the Translum as opposed to having the flash in the way of other things close in. The light source (the difused Translum) can be worked in pretty nicely.

Medium Translum drops f-stop by 1.5ish. Sometimes, you can "rake" a snooted spot at an angle on the Translum to a get nice falloff on backgrounds or larger objects.

Heya,

I do a lot of flash macro in the wild and I do product often indoor in studio form. I use speedlites when I'm walking and portable. Inside, I'd use a strobe every time--no batteries, more light spread, more power and a modeling light to help with focus and seeing how light falls, more power means you can use modifiers and retain power while still having extremely short flash duration (at minimum output of the strobe). Wired, no batteries, nothing else special needed, and when you're at F8, F11, F16, F22 even, you can use on-camera flash to trip the strobes without having to buy any other special transmitters, or you can use a wireless system and pc sync cable, or a totally wired system if you prefer. Bottom line though is you want more output so that you can use shorter flash durations and still have surplus power that you can soak into modifiers to get soft diffuse light, instead of hard direct light, especially on an insect with a shiny exo or delicate hairs.'

I understand you're doing focus stacking on small objects in a studio setting (all that means is controlled environment). I've seen your table and setup. You want articulating arms/booms to hold your lights like you are already sort of doing. Doesn't matter if its a speedlite or a strobe or a constant light (which are way weak), you'll want them to be positionable, and take small diffusers (even if its just convex paper). But doing lots of consequetive shots, you'll want fast recycle, no batteries (no down time!), and high output because at close proximity macro I understand you need lots of light. Tons. And to make it soft and still have tons, you need to diffuse it and that means you need high output so you can control how much you still have while diffusing it.

I use YN560III's and YN685's for my speedlites, I have a fleet.
I also use Flashpoint Budget Series (FPBF120) 120ws strobe indoor and have several (modeling lights, optical slave sensor, $49 here in the USA from Adorama).
They're nearly the same size at the end of the day when mounted.

At 4 inches, the speedlite at 1/128 power is F16. With a modifier you'll have to turn up power. More power means longer recycle time, more heat, less shots. And you should be using a modifier for diffuse light.

At 4 inches, the strobe at 1/8 power is F35. This is minimum power on this unit, plenty of room to soak up light with modifiers for diffuse light. Fast recycle time, no wait time, no batteries.

(It is well understood that 1/128 vs 1/8 power is the difference in output here; but the point is that you get gobs of power at minimum power on a strobe at close range, with room to spare for modifiers, and you can get more distance with the strobe with more spread than a speedlite's barrel can manage)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/tuBq​oa

Heya,

It's pouring buckets here in Florida right now, so I'm cooped up. But that said, it gave me a little opportunity to do a quick demo of a very inexpensive focus-stacking setup.

Flashpoint Adorama Budget Series 120ws Strobe $49, two of them (key and back fill).
Cheap $10 white umbrellas x 2.
They're setup on cheap light stands with cheap boom arms to hold the light out where I want it.

Strobes output enough power and spread to be far from the subject when you're able to output F100+ at 4 inches, no need to do that, so I can do it at 24 inches and maintain F11+ no problem, with a huge apparent light source via the umbrella, to get soft diffuse light and no spectral harsh highlights.

They're optical slaves, so my camera's flash trips them. The modeling lights are on, which helps with seeing the subject for focus (since I'm manually focused and manually adjusting the rail). They're wired on AC, so no down time, instant recycle time. These are set to 1/4th power right now in these modifiers at that distance in the setup shot.

Just a little side table, and a cheap piece of black acrylic on top (I normally use it for reflections with prudcts, they're like $12 for a big piece).

Canon T4i with a macro lens (any thing will do, extension rings and a manual lens, etc) was used to show similar equipment.

Using a cheap manual macro-rail on a tripod (Fotodiox or Neewer I think?). I think it was around $30?

I didn't use a computer or tethering, I did it totally manually by moving the rail myself with Live View on and I just moved it around 1mm on its little scale at a time until I was from one side to the other of the subject.

I stacked with Photoshop -> Loaded all files (26 of them) into a stack -> Auto Aligned -> Auto Blend (Stack) and cropped it.

It's raining so I didn't go find a subject, but I can always do that for another demo maybe in a bit?

Today, I used a blue/purple fruit loop.

+++++++++++++++

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UrBf​Tq

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/V8Ys​5N

The rain held off, so I walked out and picked up a specimen to stack.

Again, used the manual focus rail. I focused manually via Live View at 10x magnification. I adjusted focus by 1mm through the subject based on the rail's little measurement markings, until I went through the entire subject.

The two $49 cheap strobes are at full 1/1 power for this one. Modifiers are approximately 5~6 inches from subject (the cheap white umbrellas). Modeling lights made it easier to focus with live view with exposure simulation.

Note, you could replace these umbrellas with sheets of paper for simplicity and convenience if you have a simple way to hold the paper with little magic arms/mounts. Works great too.

I used some wireless transmitters this time, cheap $15 Yongnuo YN603's, one on each strobe, with a $3 pc sync cable. And a single YN603 on the camera.

For the background I just took a green shirt and put it over a box in the background.

I mounted the specimen on a needle on some blue tack on a coffee table.

+++++++++++++++

Quick dirty setup on a coffee table:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VtSy​8y

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Vx8s​tD

I'm only familiar with TTL cables and radio triggers.

How exactly would those Flashpoint strobes be triggered? If you're using the on camera flash, will it be able to do 100 initiations to trigger the strobes? Can they be adapted to radio triggers?