We're planning on visiting Longwood Gardens in a little over a week and I wanted to be sure I was prepared for what ever lighting there is. I'd seen LED ring lights on ebay and decided to buy one. Most have limited brightness settings based on turning on & off banks of the the LEDs either left or right. I wanted one with continuous stepless dimming. I bought one made by JJC in China (most of the LED lights on the market are made in China, come on USA) and it arrived today. It operates on 4 AA batteries and mounts to the front of the lens in the same way Cokin filters do with a flat adapter ring that fits a slot on the back of the ring light. It cost $38.90 with shipping. I had to supply the batteries.
I wanted continuous dimming so that it could be used as a fill light when photographing flowers in bright sun or as a primary source when the light is low. The above isn't bright sun (obviously) but our windowsill this evening. It was shot with the ring light at its brightest setting. The camera was set at ISO 400 and the exposure was 1/100th at f/11 handheld. The DOF could have been a bit deeper but it is just my first experiment and I think this light is going to be very handy.
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Great idea, Jim. I had not considered LEDs seriously because I did not think they would be bright enough. But 1/100 sec at f/11 is not bad! Did you get the one that "Includes various sized step rings (49mm/ 52mm/ 55mm/ 58mm/ 62mm/ 67mm)"? If so, I'll need to shop more because both of my macro lenses need 72mm. Thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteThat's the one Wayne. I used it on my 18-135mm EFs lens which will take the 67mm adapter.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim,
ReplyDeleteI'll research some other models.