flash or led ring for macro

iwols

iwols

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hi all just ordered some polaroid extension tubes to go on a d90 with 18-55mm lens to try a bit of macro and just wondered if i needed extra light and if so would you advise on flash or the ring led light you can buy for about 30 pounds any advice comments cheers guys
 
I would say at some point you will want a flash as these LED rings are not that great,so you will end up buying twice as most of us have done with other equipment.:)
 
thanks can anyone suggest a cheapish flash that would be ok for macro as there are so many about
 
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iwols said:
thanks what is ttl and do i need one with this on as they seem more expensive thanks
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TTL means through-the-lens and in this context it refers to auto exposure control. And yes, you need it.

Cheapest ring-flash that gets good rep is the Marumi - bit over £100-ish, though I've seen what appears to be an identical unit under other brand names for less.
 
I've got a Marumi ring flash which gives a nice even light, but it's not a true TTL (Through The Lens metering) which can mean over bright images if I've not got the FEC set right. I'm getting an Opteka dual flash for fathers day, but had a few minutes to test it before it was wrapped up, and it seems even better than the full ring flash. Looking forward to getting it on next week for a good test. The ring flash was £115 new and the dual flash was £89 IIRC off amazon recently.
 
modchild said:
I've got a Marumi ring flash which gives a nice even light, but it's not a true TTL (Through The Lens metering) which can mean over bright images if I've not got the FEC set right. I'm getting an Opteka dual flash for fathers day, but had a few minutes to test it before it was wrapped up, and it seems even better than the full ring flash. Looking forward to getting it on next week for a good test. The ring flash was £115 new and the dual flash was £89 IIRC off amazon recently.
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:thinking: It's fully auto-TTL http://www.kenro.co.uk/product/RINGFLASH_Group/3/529/Marumi+Ring+Flash.html just controlled by the camera rather than on the back of the gun.

Some folks mention that you can't control the left/right brightness to give a bit of modelling to the light, but a small piece of card BluTacked to the front does the trick.
 
Hi HoppyUK, the ring I've got says 'TTL dedicated' on the back of it and I've used it on a Canon 550D, 60D, 7D, 5D2 and 3 and when I click onto external speedlight settings the TTL option isn't highlighted and the 'External Flash C.Fn setting' menu just says that it's not connected or turned on. I also have to manually dial in FEC if I need more or less light on the subject. When I put my 580EX II flash on all the menu's are available and I don't need to use FEC at all. The ring is nearly 18 months old now though and maybe not up to date with the new flashguns. My new Opteka twin flash works fine with TTL on the 60D and 5D3 though and works great.
 
Thanks for the feedback Stuart. It does sound like the TTL is fairly basic! Cheers for the clarification.
 
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