I've been itching to find ways to use some of the great artificial lighting stuff that's available these days. I have some lighting goodies on the way, and if they do what they're supposed to, I'll post some pics in the next week or two.
In the meantime, I'd been curious about beauty rings/soft boxes, like the kind of funky and awkward one from Fotodiox. It seemed like a decent way to get a beauty light without spending a ton of money. Then it occurred to me it could also be a great main/fill source for macro. So, it arrived today and I just tried it with my SB-910 and 70-180 Micro Nikkor (which Sam will NEVER get his hands on) and here's a sample photo. This is at 78mm full frame (crop sensor camera) at f/11. My main concern was how much light loss there would be and if I'd actually be able to shoot at small apertures for macro. I'm pushing the power limit of the flash here, and TTL is totally weird. I had to set it to overexpose as much as 3 stops to get the proper exposure. I have zero experience with TTL, so I don't know if that's unusual.
The soft, all around light is perfect for macro and much nicer looking than a traditional macro ring flash. I expect it would be great, dialed down a bit, for fill in daylight, which would allow you to stop down more and/or shoot further away. This is 100% ring flash. No usable ambient light.
In the meantime, I'd been curious about beauty rings/soft boxes, like the kind of funky and awkward one from Fotodiox. It seemed like a decent way to get a beauty light without spending a ton of money. Then it occurred to me it could also be a great main/fill source for macro. So, it arrived today and I just tried it with my SB-910 and 70-180 Micro Nikkor (which Sam will NEVER get his hands on) and here's a sample photo. This is at 78mm full frame (crop sensor camera) at f/11. My main concern was how much light loss there would be and if I'd actually be able to shoot at small apertures for macro. I'm pushing the power limit of the flash here, and TTL is totally weird. I had to set it to overexpose as much as 3 stops to get the proper exposure. I have zero experience with TTL, so I don't know if that's unusual.
The soft, all around light is perfect for macro and much nicer looking than a traditional macro ring flash. I expect it would be great, dialed down a bit, for fill in daylight, which would allow you to stop down more and/or shoot further away. This is 100% ring flash. No usable ambient light.
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