Flash for Macro Recomendations

[Evanair]

So, someone stole my R1 kit for my Nikon when I was moving.  Luckly I had my camera bag at work, so all they got was my macro flash kit and the netbook I had for quick edits.

Anyway, I really am not looking to spend another 500 dollars on an R1 macro flash kit, so I was going to ask for recommendations for a ring light.  I'll lose out on the shadow control with two flashes, but I will defiantly save money.

I have been reading up on LED vs Flash tube, which I will probably end up going with the tube, I don't like ring light for video. 

 

Anyway, any recommendations or advice would be helpful, I've never used a ringflash before.

[ALwin]

3 minutes ago, Evanair said:

snip

How much are you willing to spend?  One of the things you have to consider with ring lights is their diameter.  If you buy one that is large enough to go around most of your lenses it may not be able to provide proper light to an object placed mere centimeters away from the macro lens.

 

Additionally, I have seen some fiber optics optical prism ring light type attachments that use the light from either the pop-up flash or hotshoe mounted flash unit of a camera.  The light from the flash travels via fiber to the optical prism attached to the front of the lens like a filter.

 

Then there are some specially designed lights for macro, which are not ring shape.  More like tiny LED lights attached to the front of a flexible arm or a flex arm that has fiber optic cables inside that take the light from the pop-up/hotshoe flash.

 

I think these are LEDs at the end of the flex arm

 

You have stuff like these which require a pop-up or flash unit, and I've seen smaller units that use fiber optics to transfer the light and the ring is mounted to the lens like a filter.  I don't remember which brand makes them, saw them at a camera store a year ago.

 

 

[ALwin]

Or you can make your own macro photography lighting rig

https://www.google.ch/search?q=macrophotography+rig&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnxPeJv_PNAhVCShQKHXnJDrkQ_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=1047#imgrc=kjJk2_bIz63OjM%3A

[Evanair]

Interesting light setup for the flex LED.  the filter size on my macro lenses are 55 and 57mm, so not too big. 

 

The funny thing is that rig is basically what the R1 setup is, just extremely big. 

I might look into those flex lights, I've found a couple "good" 3rd party flash tube macros for about a 100 bucks, but I'm unsure on how much I can trust the reviews on Amazon and BHphoto anymore.

[ALwin]

6 minutes ago, Evanair said:

snip

OK I am not talking about specific models, just different types of lights.  You can also consider right lights like these which are small and don't cost more than $100.  And of course I am taking your topic title literally when you say "for macro photography".  The main downside to these types, though they come in various sizes, is that you can't adjust the angle of the light to aim it at subjects which may be very close to the lens.  My macro lenses have very very short focusing distances.  That's why I own the Nikon R1C1 kit for macro photography, though I do agree that the "ring" mount is quite massive.

 

 

I have been wanting to buy a bigger ring light system for portraiture, but I haven't yet because it's not a priority.  I have two choices for portraiture right lights:

• This one: http://www.fvlighting.com/store/118150010201.html
• or this one: http://www.divaringlight.com/diva-ring-light-nova/

I like the larger size of the Diva light, but am concerned about the tube, while the F&V light is powered by LEDs but is smaller in diameter and the LED array seems a bit too thick for my taste.

 

I've used ring lights borrowed from friends to take portraits before and I love the way they light up the face and the reflection in the eyes.

 

(The photo below is not my work).

[Evanair]

The eye reflection is one of the nice things about ring flash.  I might rent one and try it using a combination with strobes.

Thank you for your help.  I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and re-order the R1 kit again (I've pulled off some amazing split light and Rembrandt lighting in macro... it's fun with two flashes). Also probably other that LED flex light hot shoe thing you linked (never seen that before), as I also ordered the 15mm 1:1 macro lens I fell in love with but can't mount the R1 system to it as it has no filter threads.

 

Input was very welcome.

 

[.spider.]

You can get Metz 28 slave flashes very cheap. You can attach them left and right on the lens or tripod head and fire them with the main flesh. 

[Riley-NZL]

All the macro photographers I know swear by just using an standard on camera flash with an homemade modifier.