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Cheap ring falsh for 990

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Dscmax

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I'm searching for an inexpensive ring flash for my 990. I know about potential damages caused to the 990 by flash not from Nikon. I don't want to pay 500 US$ for an original Nikon SB29. Any suggestion ? (I'm not able to make a ring flash with white LEDs or with prism as Kim does ... but if he could sell me ...).

I would like receive info by 990 owners who made real life test not "I heard...".

Many thanks in advance,
Massimo
 
I got a Unitron RL80 on eBay for $42.00. Works like a charm. I already had the required adapter ring (I've amassed quite a collection in the course of screwing things to my camera).

When I put the meter on it, it read 42 volts!! Now there has been a LOT of debate over the exact amount of voltage that can be harmful to your camera, but I just ran it though a Wein Safe-synch regardless as it also serves as a hotshoe to PC adapter. I've taken some great pictures with it. When I want to get REALLY REALLY close I have to crank down the power on the unit, and go to manual on the camera with settings of 1/1000 shutter and f11.1 OR I use a handy Nikon ND4 or ND8 filter, but for anything over about 6 inches out, it doesn't need all that.

Of course it's full manual, and each shot sometimes take a little bracketing, but I really enjoy it. I count it as one of my better-value camera accessories.

If the person I bought it from still has the original picture posted...



I've since found out that the EXACT same ringlight is also called the Sunpak GX8R...



Good luck,
Kevin
Dscmax said:
I'm searching for an inexpensive ring flash for my 990. I know
about potential damages caused to the 990 by flash not from Nikon.
I don't want to pay 500 US$ for an original Nikon SB29. Any
suggestion ? (I'm not able to make a ring flash with white LEDs or
with prism as Kim does ... but if he could sell me ...).
I would like receive info by 990 owners who made real life test not
"I heard...".

Many thanks in advance,
Massimo
Click to expand...
 
Apparantly,

The SAME ring light is sold as a "Capro" brand as well. Here's one on eBay going for $46.00 with 20 hours to go which is a little nicer than the one that I got in that it has the original carry case and AC adapter.

Even the text for RL80 is the same - they just stamped a different name brand on it ;>

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1229478725





Let me know if anyone from here winds up with it.

Happy Shooting,
Kevin
 
Vivitar 5000 Macro is a ringlight that sells for about $98. I've not used one, but I have the impression (excuse the pun) that it's popular with dentists.

Vivitar has another model that sells for about half that.

== jim
Kevin Highsmith said:
When I put the meter on it, it read 42 volts!! Now there has been a
LOT of debate over the exact amount of voltage that can be harmful
to your camera, but I just ran it though a Wein Safe-synch
regardless as it also serves as a hotshoe to PC adapter. I've taken
some great pictures with it. When I want to get REALLY REALLY close
I have to crank down the power on the unit, and go to manual on the
camera with settings of 1/1000 shutter and f11.1 OR I use a handy
Nikon ND4 or ND8 filter, but for anything over about 6 inches out,
it doesn't need all that.

Of course it's full manual, and each shot sometimes take a little
bracketing, but I really enjoy it. I count it as one of my
better-value camera accessories.

If the person I bought it from still has the original picture
posted...



I've since found out that the EXACT same ringlight is also called
the Sunpak GX8R...



Good luck,
Kevin
Dscmax said:
I'm searching for an inexpensive ring flash for my 990. I know
about potential damages caused to the 990 by flash not from Nikon.
I don't want to pay 500 US$ for an original Nikon SB29. Any
suggestion ? (I'm not able to make a ring flash with white LEDs or
with prism as Kim does ... but if he could sell me ...).
I would like receive info by 990 owners who made real life test not
"I heard...".

Many thanks in advance,
Massimo
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Dscmax,

As long as you use the Wein SafeSync, you can use any ringlight with the CoolPix.

I use a Hershey ringlight that I custom-modified to work with a Norman 200B power pack about twenty years ago. This is a big, powerful ringlight and I've had to make some devices to reduce the power to accommodate the limited f/stop range on the CoolPix. The flash itself is not automatic, so I use a flash meter.

The point is that you are not limited to Nikon flash units (either ringlight or regular flash).

One option, in automatic ringlight flash units, would be the SunPak line. They make two different models.

Cheers,

Tyler Monson
Seattle, Washington
 
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1007&message=985269
Dscmax said:
I'm searching for an inexpensive ring flash for my 990. I know
about potential damages caused to the 990 by flash not from Nikon.
I don't want to pay 500 US$ for an original Nikon SB29. Any
suggestion ? (I'm not able to make a ring flash with white LEDs or
with prism as Kim does ... but if he could sell me ...).
I would like receive info by 990 owners who made real life test not
"I heard...".

Many thanks in advance,
Massimo
Click to expand...
 
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