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Review: Roundup: Ring Flashes

Want to take awesome studio quality photographs without the studio? Strap a ring flash onto your camera and start shooting.
review image
Photos By Jon Snyder for Wired.com
WIRED
Compact — about the size of your standard Dunkin' Donut. Versatile — fits onto any Canon EOS body made since 1987. And speaking of EOS, if you're shooting with one of these rigs, you're lucky: The flash communicates with cam's internal light meters and helps give you greater control and yields ideal exposures. Powerful enough to illuminate people and small objects with from more than six feet away.
TIRED
Don't have a Canon? Sorry you can't take advantage of many of the flash's functions. Only works with macro lenses, no wide-angle glass allowed. Kills batteries dead — we had to replace four AAs at the end of every shoot. Doing some rough and tumble fieldwork? Be careful, it's more delicate than a porcelain hand grenade. $430, canonusa.com Ray Flash

Originally devised for dentists seeking to illuminate close-ups of bicuspids, ring flashes are ideal for spreading photons evenly and softly across small spaces. What do we love 'em for? Portrait photography in a pinch. When you're out in the field and don't have time to set up a studio, these rings of fire can't be beat.

Roundup: Ring Flashes

Learn How We Rate ##### Wired

Easy to set up — the Ray simply routes light from a standard flash into its ring. We popped ours onto a 580 EX II and were shooting in seconds. Ring's diameter wide enough to accommodate every lens from Wired.com's photo department (we have more than eight!) Lightweight (just over a pound) and durable (endured repeated poundings).

Tired

Roundup:

How We Rate
  • 1/10A complete failure in every way
  • 2/10Sad, really
  • 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
  • 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
  • 5/10Recommended with reservations
  • 6/10Solid with some issues
  • 7/10Very good, but not quite great
  • 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
  • 9/10Nearly flawless
  • 10/10Metaphysical perfection

Canon MR-14EX

Canon MR-14EX

Ray Flash

Lomography Ring Flash

WIRED Fits perfectly with Lomo-branded cameras, but can be snuggled into almost any hotshoe. Multicolored filters yield some psychedelic effects. The most affordable of the flashes tested. Yeah, it was designed with shutterbug hipsters in mind; doesn't mean photo geeks can't love it too.

TIRED Color filters broke after a week of use. Super cheap plastic construction means this flash will likely shatter after prolonged use, but it's not really meant to do heavy lifting anyway.

$65, lomophotography.com

Alien Bees ABR800

Alien Bees ABR800

WIRED Superb power — kicks out a blistering 320 watt seconds. Batteries not required, it's AC-powered. Large flash ring adaptor makes it easy to use any lens size with the unit. This was the closest thing to a studio flash we tested.

TIRED AC-only power means you're anchored to a wall at all times. Mobility is limited to how far the power cord extends. The camera-mounting bracket is a total mess: You have to remove the bracket, screw the camera to the bracket, reattach the flash and then readjust the camera to the ring. Flash's large size makes it difficult to reach some of the camera's controls.

$400, alienbees.com

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Jon Snyder is the Associate Photo Editor at Wired.com. A frequent contributor to San Francisco magazine his images have also been seen in theAtlantic.com, The Bold Italic, and Wired magazine. ... Read More
Associate Photo Editor
TopicsAccessories and Peripheralscanon