Review 3 of 3
Price Paid:
$65.00
from 7dayshop.com, Guerns Summary: Basic features and cheap plasticky feel, but significantly cheaper and more powerful than most other ringflashes.
This is a very useful tool for macrophotography. Part of it sits atop the hotshoe like a normal flashgun, and the light itself screws onto the filter thread of the lens. The top part is obviously modified from a more conventional flashgun, as it even has a vestigial remnant of an adjustable-angle bounce head (completely useless on a ringflash, of course). It runs on four AA batteries, which fit into the top part after removing a horrible, flimsy plastic cover, which slides out completely and could easily get lost.
The attachment of the light onto the lens is by means of a built-in 49mm ring, with stepping rings provided to allow connection to lenses with 52, 55 and 58mm filter threads. Using extra stepping rings to mount it on a larger lens would probably result in vignetting, as the light is not very wide. It works absolutely fine on my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 AF macro lens, which has a 55mm filter thread. I usually use it on my Nikon F801 (called N8008 in America - can't understand why a Japanese company use one name for this camera in Europe and another in America, but I digress), and have also achieved good results using it on my FM2 (which has no TTL flash metering, but there is a chart on the back of the flash for calculating the correct aperture).
As it has a higher guide number than most ring flashes, one could be tempted to use it for more general photography, but the limited features (see below) make it less suitable. The high output is still useful though, as it allows a small aperture for greater depth of field (which you need to make the most of when photographing in true macro at 1:1 scale).
The features on the flash are, as might be expected at this price, pretty basic: no second-curtain sync; no strobe; no facility for filters or diffusers; not even manually variable output, but most of these features are hardly relevant for macrophotography, which is, after all, what this flash is designed for. The limited features are forgivable, especially at this price (quoted in pounds: £65 = about €100/US$100), but the flimsy, plasticky build and the limited lens-compatibility are less forgivable.
The equivalent flashes from Nikon and Sunpak may well be more robust and versatile (and certainly compatible with more lenses), but cost several times as much. This is a perfectly adequate macro flash for anyone on a limited budget. Strengths: Good value for money.
High guide number (15m/ISO100).
Accurate autoexposure with TTL metering.
Fast recycle time. Weaknesses: No manual output control.
Horrible cheap & nasty plasticky feel (build quality does not seem to match other Vivitar flashguns).
Awkward battery compartment cover.
Fiddly attaching to and detaching from lens.
Cannot be used with lenses with wide filter threads. Similar Products Used: None Customer Service: Not used
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