I am still trying to expand my knowledge of macro photogrpahy. Could anyone please help me out in the area of setting up a flash system. I am shooting with a Canon Rebel XTI and Canon 100mm Macro 2.8. I am using the camera flash right now and it disappoints me when I look at the photoes especially not having enough light. Any help would be very much appreciated. I don't have a huge budget but something around $300-$500.
You would need at least one external flash unit and some sort of bracket to allow the flash to be positioned off camera. You would also need a diffuser or two (depending on which type you get) to soften the light.
Something like a Canon 430ex would be fine for Macro work (if there's an even smaller flash to suit the budget that may be better, but the 430ex is a good all-rounder).
I shoot with a Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT), 580ex flash and Wimberley F2 Macro bracket. I also use an Omni type diffuser, then a cloth one over the top of that to further soften the light.
For the flash setup I use (and there are plenty of other types out there) you will need the F2 Macro Bracket ($169) and M8 perpendicular plate ($85). Both can be found on THIS PAGE. You will also need the P5 Camera Body plate ($52) which can be found HERE
That's a total of $306 for the flash bracket (excluding postage), and you're looking at around $300USD for the 430ex last time I checked.
1) Get the MR-14EX. It's a great flash for someone just starting out in macro and I still use mine from time to time. All you have to do is set the ratio control on it to make one flash ring brighter than the other and just let E-TTL take care of the exposure. I wrote an article on the MR-14EX verses the MT-24EX that you might want to see. B&H Photo lists the MR-14EX for $450, but you won't need anything else to go with it: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/194480-USA/Canon_2356A002_MR_14EX_TTL_Macro_Ring.html
2) If you are going to get a standard camera flash and use it for macro then get the 580EX II. It's more powerful than the 430EX so the flash duration will be shorter (easier to freeze motion). Flash recycle times are faster, it is weather sealed, much better construction quality, and it can be used as a master to control other Canon flashes. You may not be thinking about it now, but you might want the ability to use a multi flash setup in the future. I have a 580EX II and a 430EX and I can't recommend the later.
Thanks alot for your imput Dalan and Rev. After thinking about it I think I will splurge a bit and go with the 580ex with bracket system. I think I will want to be able to change the flash composition and with the ring flash you are somewhat limited to macro. I can also use the standard flash for my other photography work.
I again, thank you for your imput and it makes me glad there are people like you on this form that like to help us newbies!
I agree. Start with the 580. You'll like having a nice external flash for macro as well as other shooting.
You should probably get an off-camera-shoe-cord-2 with it. You'll need that to get the flash off of the camera's hot shoe and onto the bracket - or just hand-held at the angle and distance of your choice.
One thing that you may find is that it's nice to have an even longer cord than the OCSC2. I believe you can daisy chain two OCSC2s, but there is a diode in the cord that lets the camera know that the flash is not on the camera's hot shoe (I suppose that the ETTL system then ignores the lens focus distance data) so I'm not sure how many you could chain before the diode drops totally killed that line.
I built an extension cord that I insert into my OCSC2 to give me a bit more working length. Although it's not exactly the same type of cable, it has worked fine for me for a few years.
Ideally, you'd have more of the same type of cable that Canon uses, but it's a bit odd. It's got six conductors total, with one of them shielded from all of the others within the cable. My extension just uses a six conductor cable with no shielding of any sort, so I was concerned that using it might be a bit dodgy. But so far, the FCC has not busted me for emitting too much interference, and the flash has worked properly.
Anyone else on here used any kind of OCSC2 extension? They really are annoyingly short for a lot of what I want to do. For a flash on a standard bracket, however, they are probably just right because extra length might just get in the way all of the time
There is another option. If you have a external flash, attach an empty water bottle to end of lens, then attach a piece of frosted mylar at 45 degree at the open end of the bottle.
I don't mean to be a buttinsky but I too would like to get into a flash setup. I was looking at the ring flashes and the 430ex and 580exII. I see the advantages and potential for other uses of the non ring flashes. My only problem is the conflicting reviews. The B&H customers seem to like the 430 hands down over the 580. They speak much about inconsistent exposures. Why all the complaints?
Corax wrote:
There is another option. If you have a external flash, attach an empty water bottle to end of lens, then attach a piece of frosted mylar at 45 degree at the open end of the bottle.
The problem with keeping the flash on the camera is that the flash duration will be a lot higher than if you get it out toward the end of the lens.
jdjeff58 wrote:
I don't mean to be a buttinsky but I too would like to get into a flash setup. I was looking at the ring flashes and the 430ex and 580exII. I see the advantages and potential for other uses of the non ring flashes. My only problem is the conflicting reviews. The B&H customers seem to like the 430 hands down over the 580. They speak much about inconsistent exposures. Why all the complaints?
JimH. wrote:
I built an extension cord that I insert into my OCSC2 to give me a bit more working length. Although it's not exactly the same type of cable, it has worked fine for me for a few years.
That's a really cool hack! Where do you get the connectors?
I believe that the parts I got were Digi-Key's part numbers:
HR579-ND for the plugs
HR593-ND for the jacks
These are very nice little connectors because they clamp down onto the cables to form a water-tight seal and excellent grip. And they also employ small O-Rings inside to seal them when they're mated. The one-handed quick disconnect latch is really neat too.
But, it was something of a pain to solder the very tiny solder cups. And as you tighten the back shells on, you must be very careful to not allow the cable to be twisted. I ripped all of the connections loose on the first one I did as I was tightening the back shell and had to completely re do it.
I ended up using a small amount of silicone grease to lube up the shell and seal where they meet so that the seal wouldn't be rotated as the back shell was tightened. It was a pain!
In the end, between what I spent on the connectors and the time I put in, I could have bought another OCSC2 and just daisy chained them
But now that it's done, it really is a nice setup. I just don't know if I'd recommend doing it with those connectors. Larger, easier to solder and assemble connectors would have been a lot less trouble to install. But these do work well and are compact.
Corax wrote:
There is another option. If you have a external flash, attach an empty water bottle to end of lens, then attach a piece of frosted mylar at 45 degree at the open end of the bottle.
Thanks
I actually use something like that so that I can use the pop-up flash built into the camera when shooting with the EF-S 60 macro. It works far too well. People ask how I got such fantastic lighting and it's almost embarrassing to say that I just used the pop-up flash and part of a milk jug ;-)
I can just stuff that flat piece of milk-jug into my camera case behind the top piece of cushioning foam and it takes up almost no space - so I've always got it with me.
