I can't say exactly how many emails and PM's I've received asking me if I would consider building a DIY Ring-Flash for them, but I know it has been a lot. It's just not that simple of a build...it would take me 50 builds to even begin to become consistent. Not to mention, there are just too many variances with camera/lens/flash combos. Don't let this scare you though, it's a relatively easy build, especially if you watch the two videos below.
But when Kenj8246 (Kenny) sprung the question, I returned the offer if he would come up and vist me (about a 2 hour drive for him). Well it worked...I spent a few nights building the ring-flash part and then when Kenny arrived this morning with his Nikon D200, Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro, and SB 800 Flash, we finished the bracket-stay and completed a DIY Ring-Flash for him.
I took this opportunity to try my best to create two 10-min videos detailing the build process. I really want to help those out there interested understand how it's built.
Couple of last things. This was never my original idea, I would like to thank this flickr user for publishing his photo tutorial. Also, it's important to understand that you can not use manual focus with this DIY Ring-Flash...even so, all of my past 2 months of summer macro photos were taken in AF with my Canon 30D and Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
My favorite shot this summer using this DIY Ring-Flash:
The1 wrote:
how do you use manual focus? i guess you wouldn't use one of these with an mpe lens, awesome work though
I wouldn't say "can't" necessarily. For example, when I used a 20mm ext. tube with my 100mm macro lens, even though it did AF I found that the AF was far less effective and therefore I manually set the focus at somewhere a bit less than 1:1 and just moved the camera until the subject was in focus.
Begs the question for the MP-E users out there...how do you use the lens most of the time? Do you affix the camera position and MF until the subject is in focus or do you fix the focus and move the camera until the subject is in focus? A little of both?
Good instructional videos, Roy. Think you would also be a good teacher if you ever tire of being a IT msg supervisor. That is, unless you don't wanna be a metalworker.
lextalionis wrote:
The MPE is a fixed focus lens. There is no focus control on the lens. You can only adjust the magnification from 1X to 5X. At any given mangnification the focus is set see table below.
MagX MM Inch
1X 101 4.0
2X 63 2.5
3X 51 2.0
4X 44 1.7
5X 41 1.6
Ahhhh...Thanks Jim...now that you mention it I do remember focus isn't adjusted at all on the MP-E 65mm.
So in this case you certainly could use the MP-E 65mm with this ring-flash. You would simply make two camera mount holes in the top of the bracket to accommodate the best end-of-lens positions inside the inner-ring (aka vent reducer)...ideally making the inner ring like a lens hood.
I also think, because I've done this with my setup with the Canon 100mm macro lens, that you could actually use the outer rim of the ring-flash as support and pivot point while shooting. Hummm....it would be interesting to get my hands on an MP-E 65mm to try one out with this ring-flash.
lextalionis wrote:
Ahhhh...Thanks Jim...now that you mention it I do remember focus isn't adjusted at all on the MP-E 65mm.
So in this case you certainly could use the MP-E 65mm with this ring-flash. You would simply make two camera mount holes in the top of the bracket to accommodate the best end-of-lens positions inside the inner-ring (aka vent reducer)...ideally making the inner ring like a lens hood.
I also think, because I've done this with my setup with the Canon 100mm macro lens, that you could actually use the outer rim of the ring-flash as support and pivot point while shooting. Hummm....it would be interesting to get my hands on an MP-E 65mm to try one out with this ring-flash.
Problem is the MPE is not a fixed length lens. It goes from about 4 1/2 to 9 1/2 inches in length from 1X to 5X. Makes for extra fun in design. :-) I'm reluctant to suggest working from a filter ring because of the mass and almost certainly messing up the filter threads eventually.
A semi-conic section that fitted over the end of the lens and a flash fired onto the conic section might work, but the light losses would be pretty high. :-(
p.1 #10 · How I built Kenj8246's DIY Ring-Flash...
Even though the MPE isn't a fixed length lens, it can still be accommodated to the Ring-Flash. That's why I said you would probably end up drilling two holes in the bracket for the camera. The forward hole (closest to the ring-flash) for say 1-2/3X's mag, then the back-most hole (moving the lens and camera back away from the ring-flash for the 3-5X's mag position. Honestly, thinking about this now, I would make a slight dip downward in the top bracket bar and just mount a rail to easily move the camera and lens back and forth.
A production media artist here at work wanted to use my ring-flash to take photos of our IP Phones to generate a user guide. When he brought his Canon Rebel XT and Canon EF-S 60mm macro I thought for certain that we would see vignetting; however, even though the lens was about 4" back inside the inner ring, we still didn't see any vignetting. I think this is because the inner ring is 5" in diameter.
I think the ideal position for the end of the lens is anywhere from about 1" back/inside the inner ring to about 3" back. Though I haven't tested, I think that even if the end of the lens protruded an inch beyond the ring-flash it would still work. I do wonder how flare would act if the lens was on the same plane as the face of the ring-flash aka higher probability the flash would enter the lens.
