Your DIY photo gear

[rottie102]

Anything you created?

I've been using adapted Nissing Ring Flash for a year or so but since very often I'm shooting fast moving objects in near pitch black, autofocus always struggled.
Then I bought a cheap Chinese hot shoe mounted 160 LED light. It was OK, however since I use it often in a group of skaters, it got knocked off few times, it broke the light's mount, I fixed it but I was always worried that one time it will be the hot shoe mount that will get damaged and I didn't even want to wonder how much it will be to fix on a 1Dx. Plus I never liked the massive sticking out bulk that either the battery pack of the ringflash or the 160LED light adds to the already big camera.

So with a help of one of my employees I created the 18 CREE Led ring light.

DIY CREE Ring Flash by WoofSnap, on Flickr
DIY CREE Ring Flash by WoofSnap, on Flickr
DIY CREE Ring Flash by WoofSnap, on Flickr

It's very light, very adjustable for any lens. It runs 2.5h+ CONSTANTLY on 6 AA rechargeables. It's more than bright enough for portraits.
Most importantly it's very low profile on the camera.

It's still a prototype, "MK II" will have adjustable brightness and different bracket which will allow it to mount either on my 5D or 1D, at the moment it only fits 1d size cameras. I know how to do it already, just need to find time.

Even a prototype it works very well, that's pretty much in their sweaty, very shiny faces


We tested the 6 AA voltage and it was always only around 8v, we connected it to a car battery and lost eyesight for half an hour so I know if I ever need more light, I just need to buy a 12v battery.

What do you think?

Edited by rottie102 on Wednesday 25th March 18:55

[Ed_P]

I use the Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens with the MT24-EX Twin Lite flash. All works a treat until you want to extend the lens beyond its 5X magnification by adding tele-converters and/or extension tubes. The subject is then so close to the end of the lens that the flash light shines passed it.

I and my brother-in-law designed and fabricated this:

Bespoke Flash Bracket for Macro by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

He has an engineering workshop and produced it for me from aluminium. Basically, there is a slotted plate that attaches to the lens' tripod ring. This allows backward and forward movement. At the end of the plate is a semi-circular piece with a ball-jointed cold-shoe attachment at either side. I also use some additional polypropylene sheeting, attached to the flash-heads for added diffusion. It all allows photography of subjects less than 1mm; like this:

Maturing Katiannid by Ed Phillips 01, on Flickr

[sgrimshaw]

For those without the skills to make their own, you can get ringlights which don't attach their battery/control module to the hotshoe:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-New-LED-WJ60-Macro-Ph...

[rottie102]

sgrimshaw said:

For those without the skills to make their own, you can get ringlights which don't attach their battery/control module to the hotshoe:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-New-LED-WJ60-Macro-Ph...

I couldn't buy one unfortunately. I use ringflash most of the time with a fisheye lens, every single one on the market has a diameter smaller than necessary to clear the front of the lens, since they are not designed to be used with fisheye. Nissin was the widest and I still had to modify it to not have it in every photo.

Plus the ebay one is not gonna be as powerful as 18 x 10W CREE LEDs.

[ExPat2B]

Both those setups look awesome...and nicely dovetail into a project I am considering.

I want to photograph some highly reflective critters, lizards and dragonflies, with a macro/ringlight/speedlight setup.

I have been experimenting with a Rayflash ring adapter on my speedlight, but the light is not diffuse enough, and I get blown out shiny patches on whatever it is I am photographing, and also the light is a bit flat. I built a small diffusor for it that also blocked 90% of the light on the left hand side but results are still not satisfactory.

I was considering building a bracket using two speedlights with diffusors to I could have diffuse light and ratio it left to right, but now I have seen those Cree LED's I am wondering if I could build a lower profile version... the smaller the better to avoid spooking them. I worry they would not be bright enough after diffusing them though.

[rottie102]

ExPat2B said:

Both those setups look awesome...and nicely dovetail into a project I am considering.

I want to photograph some highly reflective critters, lizards and dragonflies, with a macro/ringlight/speedlight setup.

I have been experimenting with a Rayflash ring adapter on my speedlight, but the light is not diffuse enough, and I get blown out shiny patches on whatever it is I am photographing, and also the light is a bit flat. I built a small diffusor for it that also blocked 90% of the light on the left hand side but results are still not satisfactory.

I was considering building a bracket using two speedlights with diffusors to I could have diffuse light and ratio it left to right, but now I have seen those Cree LED's I am wondering if I could build a lower profile version... the smaller the better to avoid spooking them. I worry they would not be bright enough after diffusing them though.

Put 9 or even better 10V through them and two will be more than enough for macro photography. They are stupidly bright!

[Jonsv8]

Be interested in how you tend to make a variable power one. The CREEs I have in my torch effectively strobe on lower power setting (you can see it clearly with rain drops) and that may be undesirable depending on shutter speed. I don't know why they don't turn off some of the CREEs instead, that might be an option for you.

[marctwo]

I made one of these and it works really well:

http://lifehacker.com/5440015/repurpose-a-drawer-l...

[Jollyclub]

Homemade belt clip. Couldn't find anything similar so made it with parts from eBay.

I find it quite useful if i'm using a camera without the shoulder/neck strap.

Probably only suitable for compacts/rangefinders though. Wouldn't try it on a DSLR.