DIY Ringflash

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Saphire

I can't wait to have a go at making one of these when you finish putting instructions.

Agreed, a 'behind the scenes' for ring light construction would be useful.

[Lello]

Find of the day, I went out today to find some sort of bowl to make my macro flash ring, I ended up in the shop (If you can call it a shop) Wilkinson's and came across an aluminium down light shade, It was on sale for £4.00, but as it was the only one left on the shelf and there was a small dent in the side so I got it for £2.00 yes £2.00. I have now cut the back (junior hacksaw)
to fit the FZ30, I now just need some sort of tube in the middle and need to cut a slot for the flash unit (I need to buy a hot shoe cable) so the flash unit will reach. There were 2 sizes of shades in Wilkinson's the bigger one was £6.00, I still think that is a good price, as it already reflective and does not need any silver foil inside. So people go out get your selfs a bargain
Don't take any notice of the material in front, That was me messing about.
The second photo shows a temporary tube (made from cardboard) the inside has black tape on the inside of it and the outside has foil wrapped round it. All I need now is the courage to cut a slot into the unit to take the flash. That a tomorrow job. As I'm feeling a lot better I'm out tonight to make up for all the drinking I missed out on while I was ill. Happy new year

[Don Hoey]

Nice one Lello, well done.

Your mention of the need for hotshoe cable led me to look in Jessops catalogue. I notice Sunpak ringflash for £269:99 so I feel even better now as I bet you do too.

Your FZ30 appears to have a non dedicated flash foot from diagram in the manual. If so and you are going with Nikon for SLR then it maybe a good bet to get the Nikon SC-17 or SC-28 unit as it will work with both cameras and allow for future purchase of flashy Nikon unit that can then operate on ITTL.

I hope you enjoyed your New Years Eve.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Lello

All I need now is the courage to cut a slot into the unit to take the flash.

Lello,

An early morning thought. In view of the sucess in deflecting flash beam by using a mirror it may be possible to use that principle here and so make use of the camera pop up for the flash. Trying to look at angles but the manual does not give a decent side on pic/sketch with the pop up raised. If this is of interest post a side on pic with pop up raised so we can give this some further thought.

Don

[Lello]

Hi Don,You do like a project don't you
I wonder if you're thinking what I'm thinking, Cutting the reflector on three sides to lift it from the bottom, attaching a mirror to the flap that will be angled down to reflect light down into the bowl? If so how much light do you think I will lose before it hits the mirror?
see attached for pop up flash

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Lello

Hi Don,You do like a project don't you
I wonder if you're thinking what I'm thinking, Cutting the reflector on three sides to lift it from the bottom, attaching a mirror to the flap that will be angled down to reflect light down into the bowl? If so how much light do you think I will lose before it hits the mirror?
see attached for pop up flash

Following my post earlier today re using the camera pop-up flash with the ringflash setup I decided to check out that it would work.

I have attached a pic to show the card cowl required to deflect the flash into the ring. I found it essential to have the Stofen diffuser in position to spread the light in the ring. I did not have a small mirror to deflect the light so lined the box cowl with kitchen foil.

I have attached an image of the light at the front end of the bowl when flash fires. The double image is the result of using the double glazed workshop door for this.

Also attatched is a Fuchsia shot to show how soft the light is. Another test sample is in my gallery.

I will do a graphics job tomorrow as I am now at my daily image download limit, for today.

The Fuchsia was taken at 1/160 sec f11 ISO200 in near total darkness. The gallery pic, because of the lens/ringflash extension through using 2x converter, was 1/160 sec at f10 ISO400 again in darkness.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Lello,

Thanks for the pic as I can now get my head round your FZ30 setup. The great thing about using the pop up is not adding the weight of the flashgun to the front. I will do a flash TTL metering test tomorrow as that could be another benefit.

Test today show you do need eqivalent of stofen diffuser to help spread the light inside the bowl. Mine only sticks down about 1/4 inch but that is enough. If you do not have one we will have to think of a substitute. Perhaps Christine has tried out various things that may do the trick.

Don

[Saphire]

Not yet Don, I am still searching for a bowl, but I am following what you are doing to see if I can come up with some way of lighting up the bottom half of the reflector. I picked a roll of aluminum tape from the £1 shop I may use that instead of tinfoil. its very shiny but will give that ago.
To make the equivalent of a stofen diffuser you could use a plastic milk bottle and cut it to shape its roughly about the same density.

[Lello]

Well As you can see from 1st photo, I cut a window in the shade, but that was giving me to much flash just at the top, so I put on the deffuser I was playing around with yesterday and added a bit more foil just inside the window so the light travelled round (see 2nd photo) and as you can see in the 3rd photo it worked, (the room I took the shot of the Lilly is quite dark)
I'm happy with the result

[Don Hoey]

Great work, Lello.

The flash firing through was why I used the stofen but you have found an alternative solution. Very good pic of the Lilly as those petals will easily show glare. You seem to have a more even ring of light than me. Guess thats down to using a diffuser on the front. All round very impressive for a couple of quid, and not many others that can do that using just the camera flash.

I am impressed.

Don