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Orbis ring flash just arrived

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DAVELEE

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My Orbis ring flash just arrived opened the box put the ring flash on my sb900. I was concerned that one would have to keep hold of the flash, didn’t want it to fall out of the Orbit’s and hit the ground. I feel little chance of that as it is held very tightly in place. I do have the extension cord for off camera flash connected.

I set the flash +1 then hit the button BINGO works perfect. Camera on “P” flash on I-TTL.

I would highly recommend.

DaveLee

One day I may sell a picture with a little luck.
 
Dave,

I can't find a guide #, or number of reduced stops on the Orbis.

@ ISO 100, 20 feet from your subject, with your flash on full power, how much light is the subject getting? (what f stop can you shoot at that distance?)

V
 
The Ray/Orbis units looses I stop. Not unlike putting a softbox on your flash and just like when you use a soft box you work close to the subject. You can also read an article on smartshooter.com (for FREE) about ring flash with sample pics.

DaveLee

One day I may sell a picture with a little luck.
 
Thanks Dave.
I'm not looking to buy.
Just wanted to know how much light is lost with this diffuser.

I first started using ringlights (axial lighting) in the 90s, don't use em much anymore.

V
DAVELEE said:
The Ray/Orbis units looses I stop. Not unlike putting a softbox on
your flash and just like when you use a soft box you work close to
the subject. You can also read an article on smartshooter.com (for
FREE) about ring flash with sample pics.

DaveLee

One day I may sell a picture with a little luck.
Click to expand...
 
I am having a great time with my Orbis ringflash
Recommended ISO in the manual is 400.
It's a bit cumbersome in use holding camera in one hand and ringflash in other.
Advantage is that I can use it off-axis as well in contrast to the Rayflash.
 
Mine arrived today, nice bit of kit BUT

SB-800 falls out of the Orbis, it just plainly doesnt fit. This makes life VERY hard to hold a D700, Orbis and and an SB-800.

I know they say its not designed to hold the weight, but it doesnt even fit in snuggly. On the other hand the SB-900 is a nice tight fit, in fact it only just fits.

I have emailed them about a bracket that is mentioned that they are bringing out shortly. I am really not sure about the useful ness of it it around the lens to be honest, of camera maybe.
 
I find it very very difficult to hold my D3 with only one hand and get sharp images.

Has anyone tested how many stops of light loss occurs with the Orbis?

I have done a quick test. But I do not dare to show the results until I am sure I was not doing anything wrong. It would not be fare towards James, who has been very proactive.

--
Nicola (mr)
http://www.nicolacammisa.com
 
nicola said:
I find it very very difficult to hold my D3 with only one hand and
get sharp images.
Click to expand...
The ugly truth of the flaw in the Orbis design is that you realistically have to put it on a flash that is on a light stand and use two hands to hold/control the camera with the lens stuck through the ring.

I agree with the people who think that the Ray Flash is expensive, but once you take price out of the picture, it is a vastly superior design.
 
The solution will hopefully be a bracket and I already have something in mind in terms of design.

The special pre-order price I paid for the orbis was and is the highest price I was prepared to pay for something like that.

Assuming the Ray has a superior design, I would have never bought it at 300 bucks, even if sometimes I end up I wasting more money than that on lesser useful stuff.

Hopefully the bracket will do the trick with the orbis. Time will tell.

Cheers

--
Nicola (mr)
http://www.nicolacammisa.com
 
nicola said:
The solution will hopefully be a bracket and I already have something
in mind in terms of design.

The special pre-order price I paid for the orbis was and is the
highest price I was prepared to pay for something like that.
Click to expand...
As long as the price for the bracket and required TTL cord don't start to approach the price difference between the Orbis and the Ray Flash, it should be a reasonable solution. There needs to be a meaningful price discount to offset the added weight and bulk of the cord and bracket.
 
If you want a Rayflash cheap try contacting the manufacturer in the Czech Republic direct. I did and got one for a bargain price including shipping it was LESS than an Orbis :)
 
So one more thing to consider. The cost of a DIY bracket may be cheap, but how fast can you put it on the camera?

One thing I like about the Rayflash is it's quick-- you can pop it on the camera and be ready to go in less than a second.

The reason this makes sense (for me anyway) is that I already have a studio power pack RF so the Rayflash isn't meant to replace that. But it's great when you're shooting on the fly (ie an event or simply a quick paced location where you don't want to deal with a studio RF). You can quickly grab a couple of alternative looking RF shots, then switch back to regular shooting.

My prediction, though, is that both the rayflash and orbis will inspire knock-offs that are affordable.

--
Pete Springer
http://www.petespringer.com
 
The main selling point I considered when buying the Orbis over the Ray, besides the cost saving (almost half the price when compared to Ray) was the fact that Orbis is universal and not camera and/or flash dependent.

Provided it will last that long, when I have replaced my D3 and/or my SB800's or even added different bodies and flashes, the Orbis will be still quite usable.

The Ray may not, or at least that was and is my understanding.

Regarding the bracket, the one I have in mind will require lesser than 30 secs to fit ... my main issue is to find the readily available material I need. But, I alrdy have an idea where to get it.

As for the knock offs already on eBay (for the Ray now and defintely for the Orbis later on for sure) ... well ... I am quite happy that I have supported Jame Madelin, a nice guy and a fellow photographer, who had a good idea and the entrepreneurial skills to materialize it and who is always there and available, answering emails, when I need him to.

Cheers

--
Nicola (mr)
http://www.nicolacammisa.com
 
... I just remembered one of the reasons why I decided to buy the Orbis in the first place: it fits all cameras and flashes. So, even at a cheaper price directly through the Czech manufacturer I may have not bought the Ray!

Cheers
--
Nicola (mr)
http://www.nicolacammisa.com
 
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