Jaajaa Photography wrote:
Hello,
   I have a technical question regarding what Speedlight  to use in combination with a RoundFlash Universal Collapsible Magnetic Ring and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for headshot/ portrait photography?

I'm aware the RoundFlash acts as a diffuser and I'm looking to pick up a speed light that will work well with my zoom lens. Brand names  and speed-light specs would be most appreciated.


Best,

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by roundflash, but I will tell you a bit of my experience.

A few years ago, I got a pair of Yongnuo YN-460II, it was about $85 for the two of them.
I wanted a dumb flash, just variable power with built in optical slave. (I have two camera systems
and didn't want dedication) I have used them with a 22" beauty dish, bare and with an umbrella.
The beauty dish worked great, distance was about 2 ft. Bare flash is hard light, but worked great,
the umbrella was not too good, I usually use that with a monolight, but only needed a few dozen
shots and didn't know about power outlets, so I tried the speedlight setup, one in umbrella and one
bare behind subject, pointed at background. The umbrella just ate up too much light, if I had a bracket
that held two, it would have been okay.

Jaajaa Photography wrote:
Hello,
   I have a technical question regarding what Speedlight  to use in combination with a RoundFlash Universal Collapsible Magnetic Ring and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for headshot/ portrait photography?

I'm aware the RoundFlash acts as a diffuser and I'm looking to pick up a speed light that will work well with my zoom lens. Brand names  and speed-light specs would be most appreciated.


Best,

In theory any Speedlite would work, a beauty dish may be a better option over Your modifier of choice.

fwiw

Jaajaa Photography wrote:
I'm aware the RoundFlash acts as a diffuser and I'm looking to pick up a speed light that will work well with my zoom lens. Brand names  and speed-light specs would be most appreciated.


Best,

How do you plan on "TRIGGERING THE FLASH?"  What features do you need the speed lights to have? Tons of products to suggests, more information on what you want would be helpful.

GRMACK wrote:
Down in the article on a link, the author made one himself that used two speedlights for more power.  The more power is the thing that I'd prefer over using only one speedlight.  Might work well for macro, but you'll have to get close for portraits as it may lose a lot of light if outdoors if using it in the sun.  Might have issues getting at the 70-200mm lens zoom and focus rings too if you need to access them much.
.

That was the other thing I don't like about those type of units, the lens is put through the donut hole, and once again the unit is BIG which makes it difficult to do any manual lens adjustments... it's either an awkward reach around or having to put your hand through the small space between the donut hole interior and lens.

I was using the YounNuo verson of Canon 600... usually had to reduce power (and I don't shoot high ISO's), but I usually shoot in a studio and not outdoors with a far away subject.

Motordrive Photography wrote:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by roundflash, but I will tell you a bit of my experience.

A few years ago, I got a pair of Yongnuo YN-460II, it was about $85 for the two of them.
I wanted a dumb flash, just variable power with built in optical slave. (I have two camera systems
and didn't want dedication) I have used them with a 22" beauty dish, bare and with an umbrella.
The beauty dish worked great, distance was about 2 ft. Bare flash is hard light, but worked great,
the umbrella was not too good, I usually use that with a monolight, but only needed a few dozen
shots and didn't know about power outlets, so I tried the speedlight setup, one in umbrella and one
bare behind subject, pointed at background. The umbrella just ate up too much light, if I had a bracket
that held two, it would have been okay.

Cool story.

FIFTYONE PHOTOGRAPHY wrote:
In theory any Speedlite would work, a beauty dish may be a better option over Your modifier of choice.

fwiw

I recently ordered the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL On-Camera Flash Speedlight (V860II-C). I have the Round Flash Ring and collapsible beauty dish. I'm planning on using the ring on females (no shadows) and the beauty dish for men (shadows).

2 Stops Down wrote:

How do you plan on "TRIGGERING THE FLASH?"  What features do you need the speed lights to have? Tons of products to suggests, more information on what you want would be helpful.

I'm not looking for a complicated set up. Just a speedlight mounted on the camera with a modifier attached.

Studio NSFW wrote:
If you have the coin, the Canon 600EX-RT seems capable of almost everything.  The cheap yunggao (SP?)Radio trigger is comaptible and works better  than the Canon trigger, though, as Yunggao thought to put a IR focus beam in.  I am sure there are knockoff versions of the 600EX-RT that are functionally equivalent, but I had construction quality issues with my only Yunggao flash (Battery door on the equivalent ring light is flimsy and now held together by gaffers tape). I would not buy another.

Note that the manual on the 600EX-RT is thicker than the Manual for a 5DMkiii.  You can do a LOT with that unit.  I love them.

So far as triggering off camera, one option is to use a cheap, very lower powered flash on hot shoe and an optical slave on the off camera hot shoe flash, if you don’t want to spring for a radio trigger.  It the on camera flash has a thyristor (they almost all do) set it for the largest aperture possible and have your actual exposure at least 2stops down, three is betterer.  That will put the on camera flash too weak to impact exposure but it will still throw enough out to trigger the real lights.  It also can add a desirable catchlight. Don’t use A TTL flash as a trigger unless you have the TTL function defeated, or the camera system will attempt to correct your “mistake”.j

THEN I looked up the modifier in question.  A 600EX-RT would work in the on camera config shown in the on line illustration, but I don’t think that widget is going to do much besides eat a couple of stops AMD maybe SLIGHTLY diffuse.  Light source is all in one location and too close to the face of the box to do much in the way of spreading the light like a ring light. All of the above would refer to using the flash off camera in a more conventional lighting setup.

Thanks for the suggestion. I ended up ordering a Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL. I figure I can just use the Round Flash ring or beauty dish attached to the speed lite mounted to the top of my camera. I'm not planning on having another light source besides the sun.

GRMACK wrote:
Srobist had a review of the RoundFlash here:  http://strobist.blogspot.com/2013/08/ch … apter.html

Down in the article on a link, the author made one himself that used two speedlights for more power.  The more power is the thing that I'd prefer over using only one speedlight.  Might work well for macro, but you'll have to get close for portraits as it may lose a lot of light if outdoors if using it in the sun.  Might have issues getting at the 70-200mm lens zoom and focus rings too if you need to access them much.

Wish he would have provided a working Guide Number with the setups as I fear they would be really low.  The dual-head thing he made would gain a stop over the single-head RoundFlash unit, and using the right diffusion material.

Cool article. Thanks for sharing. Yeah I figure I'm going to have to get close up, because I'm not planning on lugging around additional lights or stands.

SayCheeZ!  wrote:
I've been using one of those (different name) for several years.
I love it and hate it at the same time.

It's more powerful than any ringlight I worked with on the market.
The lighting effects are awesome, but it's very cumbersome to work with.
It's so big that you can't just look up and see the model, you have to move the whole thing out of the way or peer around it.

Also, one other thing... the flash SIZE.

A standard flash on my Canon DSLR fits good, a slightly less than standard size flash on my Sony a7II is too small, the flash head won't reach the porthole.

I hear you. I figure the lens should auto focus on its own through. I ended up ordering the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL, hopefully it fits the RoundFlash modifiers. As long as I can view the client through the viewfinder it should be fine.

LightDreams wrote:
I have a vague memory of evaluating one of these roundflash modifiers way back...

As best as I can recall, I think they REALLY ate light.  More than a regular softbox.  I think it was at least 2 stops (more?).

Also I seem to remember that you had to get in really quite close to get an interesting light.  Close distances that don't sound like a match for the 70 to 200mm lens that you want to use with it.  Further back and it was just a very flat light.  Unless that's what you're looking for (maybe as a  really low powered fill light?).

As others have mentioned, awkward as hell in a number of ways.  But everyone is different so you may just find it's perfect for what you want it to do.  And hey, I tested FAR worse products.  Not to mention that some of my own early "Frankenstein" custom light modifiers were much crazier!   What we'll do to get "just the right light"... 

I guess I'll just have to test it out in the field for myself and see.