Here’s a nifty new device that has been brought out to fit onto existing Canon & Nikon flash units - a ring flash with a large enough central aperture to fit over any lens. Always fancied one of these for wedding & portrait work but they were usually just designed to fit on macro lenses.

It looks like a cheap way into ring flash but I wonder how much stress it would put on your expensive flashgun.

about 500grams :-) don’t suppose its any worse than the various other accoutrement you can attach to hot shoe flashes such as soft boxes etc.

Hmmm. That's an interesting little (big) toy. They only mention the SB800 in the Nikon line. Does anyone with both know whether it's likely to fit the 600 as well?

is it just me or would you not end up with some wicked red eye from something like this? Not so sure it would really be great for portrait work.

no - you dont get red eye at all from ring flashes - thats why they are great for portrait work - in fact you tend to get a really cool effect in the eyes from them.

Why not? isn't red eye reduced as the flash gets farther away from the lens so that the angle causes the flash to bounce off the eye and away from the lens. If the light is coming right from the lens would it not bounce straight back? I remember getting my picture taken at the orthodontist when it was all over and the lady was using a flash ring for the close-ups of my teeth. She then took a shot of me and had a horrible time with the red eye. I assumed it was because of the flash ring.

Well - studio ring flash guns, such as this one, are quite different to macro lens ring flashes. The large diameter ring is often used in conjunction with other light sources too but the larger area avoids red eye as this is generally caused by light that reflects off of the retinas.

The flash on a camera is bright enough to cause a reflection off of the retina - what you see is the red color from the blood vessels nourishing the eye. Many cameras have a "red eye reduction" feature. In these cameras, the flash goes off twice - once right before the picture is taken, and then again to actually take the picture. The first flash causes people's pupils to contract, reducing "red eye" significantly.

Because large ring flashes don't have a single point flash aimed directly at the eye, the pupils behave differently and are less likely to reflect.

here is an example of a portrait taken with a studio size ring flash and you can see that rather than cause red eye it creates a lot of light movement and 'sparkle' in the eyes instead.

Well I’ll be dammed, I thought they got that look with make up :-)

i think you only normally get make up in your eyes if you're a rabbit in a laboratory :-)

ahh, i was thinking it might be something like that. thanks for the lesson

This would look great on my Canon SD450 P&S!!

~looks for hot shoe~

Dang, oh well, another bummer for me!!

Totally kickin' find mister!!