Ring Lights: Pro vs. Speedlight Comparison
Mad props to NYC photographer John "Jean-Luc" Ricard, for boldly going where no one had gone before. He put together a video that tests the light quality differences between a $1,000+ professional ring flash and the speedlight-based Ray Flash ring flash adapter.
(Of course, since this was made, the Orbis ring flash adapter has popped onto the scene, too.)
This is exactly the kind of thing that helps photographers to decide which way to go when taking the plunge. If you were trying to decide between high-end and lightweight, you'll probably owe John a beer after this.
(See more of John's work here.)
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by David, at 1:00 AM.
36 Comments:
This was the exact video which pushed me over the edge to "splurge" for the Ray Flash. One of the most informative comparisons (if not the best) to illustrate how effective these portable offerings are. So far I really dig the Ray Flash. Quite a clever design!
How is he triggering the SB800's with the Rayflash on the camera?
What a great video - awesome to see the differences. I was surprised at his analysis. There seemed to be a pretty substantial difference between the color and depth of the light in both shots.
Good comparison video from a basic standpoint, but I think misses the potential capabilities of each type of ringflash.
Here's what i think he missed:
The Ray-Flash - since it's based on a speedlight - will allow you to work at much lower power settings and at closer range to the subject.
The Profoto ringflash gives you lots more strobe power and will allow you to work at smaller apertures. The closer you get to the subject, the more light you're adding to the scene.
I find it hard to dial my Profoto ring down low enough a lot of the time. I even keep a ring of 3 stop neutral density on it when I'm just using it for Fill.
I think tools like the Ray-Flash or Orbis give you some interesting possibilities of mixing the ringflash look (or the ringflash as fill look) with shallow depth of field.
nice comparison. would live to see this with an orbs, too.
btw: the link to john's page seems to be wrong.
jens
There was some lively discussion at the strobist flickr group when the video was posted.
the link to john's website has too many wwws :)
I have been using both, expensive ring flash and ray flash, and i must say if used right ray flash can produce awesome effects :)
Hmm, well, first of all great video and a really good effort. Not everybody has a $1000 ring-flash to experiment with :D
...but I definately see a difference in the pictures. It doesn't necessarily have to be the flash, though, it could be the settings or the video.
And what I don't get is, why he didn't use the ray flash at full power in order to get the ISO lower,...recycle times?
Julian
The resulting images don't look the same at all. Sure the light from both of them give close to the same shape, but there's definitely a light quality difference. (Remember, shape, quality, quantity...) The pro ring gives much more definition to the light and has a much more pleasant falloff, whereas the strobe ring looks like it washes out and is acting more like a diffuser.
I suppose that's because the pro flash emits the light as a ring while the ray flash has to bounce the light around a whole bunch to forge it into the shape you want.
Not that I'm knocking going inexpensive (it's my prefered route), I just wouldn't hold my breath while waiting maxim to come calling about your portfolio full of ray flash shots.
The only thing that bugs me is the necessity of having to crank so much the ISO that could damage in a professional level the pics on a 100% image. As far for the other things, is excellent.
Nice comparison, I just got my Orbis today (3 Days from Englend to Germany, pretty fast delivery, I`d buy a Pizza from that guys), and can´t wait how it holds up.
Thanks as always.
Ps: I stated Strobist as my source for knowing of Orbis, I hope you get an cut.
Celebrity Photog's 1st Assistant says:
His cord winding skills could use improvement ;-)
That profoto cord is beat..
I thought it was hilarious that he didn't hold back on the quality of the 24-120 any more than Mike Johnston did.
All fine and dandy if you're okay with ISO 2500!!!
I'm not. (Nikon D200)
I would like to see a comparison between apples and apples. How about a comparison between the rayflash and the orbis. Two products that are close in price.
I use an Alien Bees ringflash for fill in food photos, but my RayFlash gives me the ability to work battery powered... truely cordless. With the RayFlash on my 5D for fill, I have a choice of going ETTL with my other 580EX or plugging my poverty wizard into my PC sync socket and velcro-ing it to the flash to radio fire either another 580EX, Alien Bees units or my two recently resurrected Norman 200B battery powered studio flashes.
Thanks for the comparison John.
I did see some differences, but the price and portability difference is the real dealmaker here. As strobists, a Rayflash, 2 SB's, a couple of umbrellas and the the ability to do the shoot anywhere anytime counts for a lot.
BTW - John has hosted a couple of our NYC strobist meetups at his studio And I can attest that he's quite knowledgable, a generous host and an all around nice guy as well.
Rob Mulligan
You guys can really read more into the image quality from that teeny tiny video than the photographer could? Really? I'm impressed. I couldn't tell a thing, except that they looked pretty similar.
I, too, see a difference between the two. Slight, but significant enough to be noticeable, at least in a side-by-side comparison. The Ray Flash offers much better portability for use, say, in street portraiture.
I also found it interesting that JR said he thought the lens being used was the worst lens Nikon has ever made but it was the only one he had two of.
@ James
he would have triggered the other PWs by connecting the PW transmitter to the PC sync port on the camera - then just putting the PW in his pocket or something. I do this all the time to combine my ABs and shoe mount flash on TTL for fill.
the color difference you see is because of the higher ISO. and how did he trigger those sb-800s with the rayflash on?
But what's the ISO on the profoto setup? ISO100?
So the rayflash needs to be set nearly 4.5 stops higher ISO? Yow :-)
Too funny -
The only Nikon lenses he owns two of, he thinks are the worst they ever made!
To trigger the other SB800's, he could have just put them in SU400 mode and treated them like slaves...
Really ISO 2500 to shoot the ray flash at f/11? I'm thinking of buying the ray flash, but I thought that it would transmit a lot more of the light than that. Even at 1/2 power that's pretty miserable. Does that sound right to you guys.
* You can trigger SBs via CLS through the Rayflash without problems, I do it all the time.
* It doesn't have to be ISO2500 - if you don't insist on shooting at f11! I usually shoot at f4-f8, and from quite a bit closer.
* The Rayflash sends a stop more light when the SB is zoomed to tele (105mm), maybe here it was zoomed to wide.
Why is the model speaking in SPANISH!!?! whats the point of her talking anyways?!
I certainly notice a difference between the quality of light of these two ringflashes and I'd always choose the Profoto, given the consistent output and not having to shoot at ISO 2500!!! C'mon.
I'm still wondering why there's been no commentary on the Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite, which is an amazing ringflash that I've used for all sorts of shoots, from weddings to kids' Halloween pix (gets a cool spooky light when held high)...oh yes, that's one of the reasons I love this ringflash so much: Since it's on a cord, you can take it off the camera axis and hold it with one hand anywhere around the central axis. If you attach a hotshoe cord, you can then mount the ringflash to a stand for some very cool lighting effects. And for $200 more than the Rayflash, it's far more effective and professional. But the quality of the light output always blows me away!!
@cmc-
This may be news to you, but there are other languages in the world besides English!
Eric B
Form another pro assistant- it looks like a Profoto ring flash with a Dynalite pig tail. Was it a mod? In the second set the Profoto was sitting next to a Dynalite pack-a 500ws XL or DR. Sounds like a Dynalite pack as well.
Same here for that coiled cord.
Pause the video at 9:33 and take a good look at the images side by side. What really stands out is the contrast, in the Profoto shot the pants have shape as does the face, the Ray is flat like you used a big box with lots of fill. Don't think you can write this off to the difference in ASA.
In terms of battery vs. AC, Profoto also makes the AcuteB 600 which will run the Ringflash, so you can go in the field.
As far as the worst lens Nikon ever made, my vote goes for the 35-105 AIS (or the 43-86 non-AI).
Konstantin
I ran across this video several weeks ago. It's too long in tooth. He spent far too much time explaining things. ADHD sufferers beware.
I am mostly interested in the catch flight of ring light. Do you guys know if the ray flash can produce the catch light like this one?
http://www.noestudios.com/photo/ringlight/res/296_9631.jpg
What a great in-depth yet succinct comparison of the two products as well as how a ring light works and its features.
The difference is obvious, Pro lights have better controlled outputs.. The ray flash may be great for photojournalist and people who do photography as a hobby , but as a fashion photographer I can confidently say you'll never see such a tool replacing a ring flash in studio or in the field
For Brad Taylor, re: Canon MR-14EX (and similar ringflashes). That flash is designed primarily for macro/close-up work. It's a bit underpowered for a lot of work. The Guide Number is only 46 ft at ISO 100. The 580EX II's GN is 190 ft at ISO 100. If the RayFlash loses even 2 stops, that would go to a GN of 95, double (i.e., two stops faster) the MR-14EX. (The RayFlash folks say that it loses 1.5-2 stops, at most.) Put it this way: to do the same test, one would need to use ISO 10,000 for half-power and f/11 with the MR-14EX vs a 580EX II and RayFlash.
Also, the MR-14EX's light is not evenly distributed around the circle.
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