List Price: $500.00
Sale Price: $444.95
Today's Bonus: 11% Off
I have been waiting two years for the cost of this to drop. Then I read something about how there was going to be a price increase across the board on Pentax products so I bit the bullet and bought it. I have always primarily focused on macro photography so I knew I would eventually purchase this item.
Once the product arrived, I was quite impressed with the case it came in even though I do not plan on ever keeping it in there since the case is too large to accompany or fit into my backpack.
This flash is incredibly easy to use. I would explain how it works or attaches to the camera but there is no need. The controls are much, much easier than with my previous pentax bounce flash.
It is incredibly powerful while giving you the control to not blast your subject with what feels like a direct hit from a coronal mass ejection whenever you are in close proximity. I still get some reflections off of the shiny parts of flowers and insects but it doesn't seem nearly as bad as with a bounce flash/soft box setup. I am also able to pull off low ISO and high aperture values in which I couldn't seem to do very easily in the past while shooting in dark areas. (Easily shooting ISO 160-280 Aperture F13-19) If I had a performance complaint it would have to be that it is leaving a lot of my subjects completely shadowless, thus flattening the image. I hear this is a common complaint with all ring flashes. I also believe that I still have a lot of playing to do with it so I am sure I will get around this in the future. You can easily change the contrast left/right, up/down by turning the ring while using the switch located on the back of the ring for controlling the output to either of the semicircular tubes. I was pulling off some hand-held shots in dark situations in which I would never have been able to achieve with my bounce flash/soft box.
It seems to take a little longer to recharge between shots than my previous bounce flash but nothing to be overly concerned about. I do not tend to spray and pray when snapping anyways.
This ring has so far felt pretty solid. I have accidentally whacked it on the tripod (due to not having my tripod completely tightened) within the first hour of using it causing me to stop breathing until I found out everything was fine. It was a pretty hard whack too. The ring was mounted to my K-5 with the DFA 100mm WR lens attached so there was a little bit of weight and momentum behind the whack to the base of the ring.
I have heard people say that this unit is heavy. I really do not think so. It might be slightly heavier than a bounce flash with soft box attachment but it is not as bulky. When getting in close to certain subjects or while walking with it out in forest undergrowth situations, I feel my camera is much safer with this than when a big bounce flash is attached to the top due to me not worrying about catching it on a limb and ripping off the external flash attachment from the top of the camera like I accidentally have done with my pentax K-X in the past. An expensive lesson on being more careful.
This only got a 4/5 because of price. This is the first ring flash I have owned so take that for what it is worth. I have been snapping macro for 3 years now and I can't believe I was doing it without this.
I'll try to show some pictures and update my review on here in the near future after I play with it some.
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