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100 in 100, Part II: Macro lighting mini-buying guide

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100 photography tips in 100 days: Day 70

By Mason Resnick

May 23, 2008

For more tips, go to the 100 in 100 Part II Homepage

Looking for light sources for your macro flower photos? There's a variety of choices that range from simple, inexpensive jobs to high-end pro rigs. For the final installment in flower photography week, let's look at some selected products to light up your flora.

Low rent

Adorama Macro Flecta Reflector
This bounces any ambient light right into your subject and helps reduce or eliminate shadows, much like a fill flash. It's a 12-inch white disc that fits around most lenses and is held in place by elastic. It won't provide as much light as a ring flash, but the light it reflects will appear flat and soft. $19.95

Phoenix RL-59C Automatic TTL Ringlight
One of the least expensive ringlights currently available, the RL-59N has a range of up to 10 feet at ISO 100 and is available for Canon, Minolta, Nikon, and Pentax, models, and comes with 49, 52 and 58mm adapter rings so you can use it on several different lenses. $89.95.

Hobbyist's Delight

Olympus SRF-11 TTL Ring Flash
Olympus DSLR owners are limited to Olympus-made ringflashes--no independent label models are available. But the SRF-11 is a good one, with a guide number of 26 feet at ISO 100. It's designed for use with the Zuiko Digital 50mm f/2.0 macro lens via the lens' bayonet mount. $559.95

Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX
This E-TTL ringlight flash offers twin tube design so the tubes can be flashed together or separately so you can control lighting ratio. The ringlite is designed to work with the EF 50mm f/2.5, EF 100 f/2.8 Macro, and other Canon macro lenses via an adapter. Canon says that when the E-TTL system is used the flash emits just the right amount of light, balancing flash and ambient light automatically. Guide number? 46 at ISO 100. That's bright! $499.95.

Go Pro

Nikon R1C1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System
This spare-no-expense, full-control muscle macro flash system, consists of two SB-R200 Wireless Remote Speedlight, an SU-800 Wireless Speedlight commander, and a host of adapter rings, handles, and adapters to position and angle each flash just right. Output is controlled individually so you can have full control over lighting ratios in an intuitive manner. The R1C1 produces a blinding guide number of 33 at ISO 100, and works in i-TTL, D-TTL, TTL and M flash modes. Recycle time is a zippy six seconds or less. The system is compaible with all Nikons, but you'll get the most out of its features if you have a D2X, D2HS, D2H, or F6. $624.95.

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