Ring Flash Recommendation?

[R. Slaughter]

First, note that Canon's $500 unit is not something I can convince myself to buy... There are, of course, a ton of reasonably-priced off brands (Yongnuo, Neewer, Aputure, etc) on Amazon and elsewhere. Do any of you have experience good or bad with any of these? Looking for a little lighting help with bug pics. EOS R and EF 100 L Macro and others

 

[Alexander Rosenwald]

I got some experience with Yongnuo ring flashes.

Version I which is still available on Amazon and other places was crap. The battery compartment had a tendency to disintegrate. The unit also had terrible compatibility issues with the 80D and some other cameras.

The YN-14EX II is much better. It has the same battery door as the 600EX-RT which is fine. It works flawless on the RP. On the 80D it has still some issues. The camera menue reports "incompatible flash or flash is switch off" but the changes take place and pictures are illuminated correctly. There are no problems if you do the changes on the flash unit itself. What I don't like is the bulky generator unit with not less than two dummy IR assist lights.

The YN-14EX II is surprisingly hard to find. Most offers are directly from China.

Most other real flashes (not LED ring lights) appear to be re-branded version I.

 

[R. Slaughter]

Thanks! that's the kind of info I need. I don't know, to start with,. if LED ring lights actually can do the job or if they are ALL woefully inadequate and an actual xenon flash is really the way to go..

 

[RDM5546]

I have the both Canon Ring flash and the YONGNUO YN14EX-II TTL Macro Ring Flash LED Flash Light with Adapter Ring for Canon. I also have the EF 100mm F2.8L and EF 180mm f3.5L Canon macro lenses plus closeup rings. I have never taken a picture of bugs with either. Both work with the EOS R and the EOS 5D Mk IV. I also have some supplemental LED lights and flash lights for challenging cases.

I paid only $125 for the Yongnuo YN14EX II which is a bargain in comparison with the Canon MR-14EX II ring flash. I was amazed that the Yongnuo was essentially the same as the Canon for the cases I compared them. They are both very similar.

There is an older YN14EX I which had bad reviews. Adorama lists for sale the Yongnuo YN14EX II for $124 as well as the older one with bad reviews for $104.

 

[R. Slaughter]

Thanks for that info. ( would have probably bought the wrong version for lack of info