Ringflash. How good are they??

PaulieC

Hi Folks,

Due to a Christmas present snafu I now have around 300 quid that I didn't have last week and no present. I was thinking of getting a ringflash mostly for macro but also maybe for portraits, fill flash etc. The choices are between the cheap and not so cheap.

There are obvious advantages to getting the Canon - the ability to vary the light levels from side to side to create different shadowing effects, the ability to control slave flashes etc. but it is considerably more expensive (~380 euros from Kerso).

Anyone here got the Canon ? (or the cheaper flash for that matter) How does it work out in real life?

Thanks
PC

Fajitas!

The Canon one will only really do for macro, not portraiture, or at least, if you want the general 'ringflash portrait look'.

Do you have any other lighting kits? Or would this be your starting point?

Fwiw, for portraiture, and proper lighting, you'll be looking at this end of the size scale for good results;


That said, if it's just macro you're looking at, the Canon one'll do grand.

Do you have a 580ex already? An off camera cord can be very handy for the macro end of things, defo something to look at

PaulieC

thanks Al - that's pretty much made my mind up for me - if it's only sufficient for Macro, then the el cheapo one will suffice!

I have to 430EX flashes and I use them off camera (either with or without umbrellas) with an ST-E2. I was kind of hoping that the Canon ring would provide an extra little bit of kick, as well as giving some nice catchlights. I wasn't going to be using this as a sole light for portraits...

oshead

I've got both the Macro Ringlite MR-14EX and its big brother version the Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX. The 14EX works very well as a plug n' play flash. It supports E-TTL which is handy making it very easy to use. The light can be a bit flat from it compared to it's big brother, but you can counter that a bit by turning off one of the lights or using the ratio control to vary the light.

Where it really comes into it's own is with lifesize or greater shots. You can achieve really good images with very slow shutter speed (40th sec) by underexposing the ambient light and using the flash to freeze the image.

Another "real" plus is it comes with built in diffusion, not so on the MT-24EX.

Fajitas! wrote: »

The Canon one will only really do for macro, not portraiture, or at least, if you want the general 'ringflash portrait look'.

I agree. The ringflash is too small for portrait work. For portrait flash you need atleast 9 to 12 inch diameter.

If you would like you can have a lend of my MR-14EX so you can evaluate it. I'm not selling it, but I trust you will take care of it.

Dave OS

PaulieC

I probably wasn't clear when I said portrait work - I really meant only as an auxilliary flash for portraits or for close-up portraits. I wouldn't expect it to work as a portrait flash on it's own...

oshead

It can be used as a master flash. You can set it up with groups A or B for the other wireless flashes by setting the custom function 5 from 0 to 1. Something I havn't tried, except for some water drop shots I took over a year ago.

Dave OS

PaulieC

feck it, I'll get the Canon...money easy come easy go!

oshead

Well the offer still stands if you want to borrow mine for a while to test it out.

Dave OS

PaulieC

oshead wrote: »

Well the offer still stands if you want to borrow mine for a while to test it out.

Dave OS

Thanks Dave, I just bought it!! Hopefully have it by the end of the week. Now just have to wait for spring...

oshead

Cool, I look forward to seeing the shots.

Dave OS

ThOnda

Fajitas, that ring flash looks really big.

What is general opinion on the ring flash adaptors mounted on standard flash guns? Are they completely useless?

Fajitas!

ThOnda wrote: »

Fajitas, that ring flash looks really big.

What is general opinion on the ring flash adaptors mounted on standard flash guns? Are they completely useless?

A good one will be quite big, that one will happily fit a medium format SLR in.

Like most things, it depends on what you're after, some people think they're great and an easy way to get a look that's like a real ring flash, other people think they're sh*te, and they'd be much better off saving for the real deal.

I'm in the latter camp