Macro lighting systems - Nikon

Slaphead

Slaphead

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Andy
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Having finally realised that in order to do macro photography to any reasonably decent level good lighting is paramount, I've decided to look seriously at macro lighting systems. While perusing various ring flash adaptors for standard flashes (cheapish but not impressed) and ring flashes I came across this - Nikon R1C1 macro lighting system.

The first thing that struck me is that it could be far more flexible than any ring flash could ever be, especially when mixed in with my existing flashes. Reviews of the system seem to indicate that it's good but a bit cumbersome. So the question is: Have any of you lot used this system, and if so what did you think?

I want to make a decision on this fairly quick as I'm due to go to a butterfly park in a couple of weeks, and I think that this will be of great help there.

By the way the lens I'll be taking will be the 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro.
 
Not used one, but thats probably the way to go if you have the funds. I just bought a Sigma ringflash for £140 which suits me fine. I can also use my other 3 Nissin flashes mixed in off camera with it to create some great lighting.
The ringflash alone gives quite a flat light, so I imagine something like the R1C1 gives more control in this aspect.
 
I have the r1 system, its basically the same but with out the su800, it is a great flash system and no more cumbersome than any other 2 flash macro system. Results from it are great. I can put a photo of it mounted to the 105 vr up at the weekend, I am away on business till late Friday.
 
Thanks guys. It looks like I'll be picking one up then. It does however look as if I'll be forced to take the su800 as part of the package as just the R1 appears to be out of stock everywhere here.

Dave, if you've got the time at the weekend it would be good to see it attached to the 105. It'll give me better idea of the size of the thing.

Thanks again.
 
I have the equivalent Canon twinlight flash. It is superb so I would say that if you can afford it, buy it. I doubt you will regret it.
 
Well, I went ahead and got hold of one of these, and it turned out to be far less cumbersome that I thought. At first it look a bit daunting, but it's really easy to set up, taking no more that a minute or so to mount the ring and flashes. Also the main parts fit very nicely into a standard middle sized camera bag so it's very portable - more so than a traditional ring flash.

I tested it out a butterfly house over the weekend and the results look very promising from just leaving it in automatic TTL mode. I'll have to play around with settings on the controller to get it perfect, but it's perfectly usable straight out of the box. I'll post the results when I have time to get them onto the computer.

On another note, it comes in a much larger box than I expected. on opening the kit I found out why. It comes with all manner of attachments, diffusers, gels, stands - even a flexible arm grip. It's such a rare pleasure these days to open a box and find a lot more than you expected in there.
 
Ive just purchased the nikon R1 and received it Saturday. I agree with all the above and must say, with more time to play and go through the setting, think this is going to be a very nice piece of kit. Will also post a few pics once I've had a good play with it
 
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