Before the great folks at ExpoImaging were sponsors of the LensFlare35 podcasts, I had heard about their Ray Flash product and ordered one. They signed up to become one of the show sponsors a week before it arrived and I’d had a chance to test it. However, I still wanted to put this device through its paces, because I love doing macro photography of flowers.
The Ray Flash is an inexpensive substitute for traditional studio ring light units and is designed to replicate their lighting effects. It is portable and lightweight, and has been designed to take advantage of a camera’s TTL metering capabilities. Because the Ray Flash relies on the hot-shoe flash to generate its light, it contains no electronics, no flash tubes and requires no cumbersome cables. The light distribution is accomplished through a sophisticated system of internal light-shapers designed to distribute and project the light evenly around the lens.
The Ray Flash creates a distinctive ring light effect: a three-dimensional shadow-wrapped look around the subject. Because ring flash light originates from a circle around the lens, it produces a virtually shadowless look on the front of your subject, while producing a soft even shadow around the edges. The attachment is ideally suited for fashion, wedding, portrait and macro photography as either a main or fill light.
The Ray Flash is designed to fit the Canon 580EX (I & II) and weighs about 16 oz. This makes it lightweight enough to be supported by hot-shoe mounted flash units. The 4 1/8” internal diameter of the Ray Flash is large enough to accept almost all of the professional lenses from Canon.
I first tested the product on Macro Photography. Any photographer will tell you that the main issues with using a macro lens and trying to get a good image are wind conditions, lighting, and depth of field. The interesting thing is the Ray Flash helps with all of those by throwing that extra bit of light on your subject. First, if the object is moving just a bit, you are able to use a higher shutter speed to stop it in its tracks. Second, with that extra light, you can use an aperture with a greater depth of field AND you can move around and maybe get a better lighting angle because you now have more control of that light.
In this image (above), I didn’t use the Ray Flash. It looks ok, but lacks a little punch to it. Yes, I could tweak it in Lightroom, Camera Raw and Photoshop, but why not start with the best image that you can?
Now, add the Ray Flash (above). I didn’t fire a large burst, but the color has more punch to it! There is some reflection from the flash, but I didn’t put a polarizer on or try to manipulate the image in any way. So, a much better start with all the control you could ask for.
This is another example (above) where I didn’t use the Ray Flash – not too bad, but very soft light from all around – a little flat. I wanted a lot more punch to it and a more dramatic view of the morning glory! I had something in mind, but this wasn’t it. Once again, some curves adjustments, vibrance, etc., would make this a much better image, but I wanted to see that in the viewfinder.
This is the more dramatic shot that I was looking for; sun behind the flower so that the light comes through and shows the texture, while I fill in the front so that you can see the interior of it. Adding the Ray Flash really gave me the contrast range that I was looking for.
Sometimes the light provided by the Ray Flash is just enough to give you almost a ‘painterly’ look to your flowers as in the example above. I just love the extra lighting that it threw on this image – it really helped define all the texture that I was seeing through the viewfinder. This time, the reflection on the smaller pieces helped create the look I wanted.
Next, my photography student Anne and I moved on to working on portraits, both outdoor and in. She was kind enough to park herself in a spot to try the off-camera lighting capability of the unit and how it would function outdoors.
It was just great soft light, no reflections, no shadows and really set a nice mood for what we were trying to accomplish. And yes, this one came into Lightroom and I tweaked some settings! I punched up the saturation and vibrance, and reduced the clarity.
Finally, Anne took to the indoor studio, where she was learning to set up lights, pose people, and figure all of it out for the first time in her life. We wanted to take a portrait of Mary, but we wanted some soft lighting. So, we had the main light off to the left, a fill on the right (both umbrellas) and then we used the Ray Flash mounted on the 580 EXII flash attached to the camera (her Canon 50D) to fill things in and soften the look even further.
For Anne, the Ray Flash just seemed like the easiest thing in the world to use and she was comfortable with the effect it gave within minutes. And yes, I did some retouching in Photoshop, but this is my sister-in-law and there is no way I’d hear the end of it if the portrait didn’t look “just right!”
The Up Side
In my mind, the Ray Flash is an absolute must if you are doing any portraiture, both in-studio or out, off camera flash – you can STILL mount this baby on the flash and a stand – or macro photography. To be honest, I can’t believe I’ve been going this long without it! For under $200, it is a must-have addition to your camera bag.
The Down Side
I was only able to find three negatives with the product. I know, it sounds like a lot, but these are LITTLE nits. One, it does cast reflections inside of your flowers that may have to be taken out in Photoshop, especially on shiny wet surfaces. However, the advantages FAR outweigh this minor disadvantage and you can put a polarizing filter on the lens to help you with this.
The second thing that bothered me is how to carry it! It didn’t really fit in any of my camera cases and doesn’t have a protective case of its own. I actually ended up just tossing it on a coat in the back of my vehicle, where it lay exposed. It was just an odd-sized piece of equipment that I was afraid I might break, despite the excellent construction and heavy molded plastic feel that it has.
Finally, the fit on the flash – there is a little control that you turn to secure it on top of your flash – and I mean SECURE! That thing is NOT going to come off the flash head. However, because each flash unit is a little bit different, the Ray Flash can be tilted down slightly too much to be even with the front of your lens. Included in the package were these little pieces of rubber – kind of like a small rubber doorstop. You put one under the flash head and it magically brings the angle of the Ray Flash even with the face of your lens. Except – that piece of rubber fell out within the first five minutes of use and was almost lost for good! They give you two of them in the package. I don’t know what the permanent solution could be for this little anomaly, but the doorstop didn’t do it for me because I felt that I would loose it quickly!
So, bottom line is, visit their site for additional information at www.expoimaging.net and if you want to purchase one of these units, go to B&H Photo! I’m happy to have it as part of my camera equipment arsenal and I’m sure you will be as well!
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