Posted by Bob Johnson on December 5, 2011 at 12:53 PM
I have just bought a Canon 100mm 2.8 USM macro lens and I was thinking of getting the Rayflash Ring flash to slide on my 580EXMKII and use it with a 5DMKII
Does anyone have experience with the Rayflash?
The Rayflash is only £149 but Is there a better alternative for similar money?
The Rayflash is quite large and more suited to portrait photography than close up, you are probably better off with a good flash bracket that will move the flash closer to the subject and a decent diffuser... Kirk do good brackets and Lastolite make good diffusers... of course if you are handy you can always fabricate your own...
HTH
Phil
Posted by Phil Ellard on December 5, 2011 at 1:26 PM
no idea mate looking foward to the galapogos pictures thursday
Posted by John Robinson on December 5, 2011 at 4:04 PM
Bob
Its surprising what you can do with the on board flash. I can use mine with the 150 macro and get no lens shadow. I also use a Jessops equivalent to the speedlight and the flash head is higher so the results are even better. It has built in diffuser and bounce. You can make brackets and reflectors with white card and all sorts. Having no money means i have always had to invent something !!!!
JohnR
Posted by Bob Johnson on December 5, 2011 at 4:09 PM
Thanks for the help fellas.
Bob
Posted by Matt Cole on December 6, 2011 at 4:51 AM
I wouldn't recommend a ringflash Bob as they're practically impossible to diffuse. Also, as far as I know there's no way of adding ratio control to this Rayflash so the light would be perfectly even and hence wouldn't look very attractive. Far better to follow Phil's advice. Use the 580 on a side bracket and try to get it as close to the subject as possible. Also, try to use a large diffuser. The post on my blog below describes a diffuser that I customised to use with my 580 (you'll need to scroll down to get past the discussion of the MT-24 diffuser):
Discussion
5 repliesDoes anyone have experience with the Rayflash?
The Rayflash is only £149 but Is there a better alternative for similar money?
Bob
The Rayflash is quite large and more suited to portrait photography than close up, you are probably better off with a good flash bracket that will move the flash closer to the subject and a decent diffuser... Kirk do good brackets and Lastolite make good diffusers... of course if you are handy you can always fabricate your own...
HTH
Phil
Its surprising what you can do with the on board flash. I can use mine with the 150 macro and get no lens shadow. I also use a Jessops equivalent to the speedlight and the flash head is higher so the results are even better. It has built in diffuser and bounce. You can make brackets and reflectors with white card and all sorts. Having no money means i have always had to invent something !!!!
JohnR
Bob
http://mattcolephotography.blogspot.com/2011/10/macro-flash-diffusion.html
Matt