The ring light came with 6 adapters (49mm/52mm/55mm/58mm/62mm/67mm), which fit both of the cameras I use. The adapters work similar to Cokin filters where you attach a metal ring of the adapter to the lens of the camera, and then slide the light ring into the adapter.
I selected this particular light ring because it could run on DC power as well a battery pack. The power pack is mounted in the hot shoe but the mount is used purely to hold the batteries in place on the camera. The ring does not communicate with the camera, once you turn on the light it is permanently turned on. The power unit is 3.75" tall and 1.5" x 1.5". It weight 4.2 oz with the batteries installed, and 8.7 oz together with the right light itself.
I hoped I would be able to hook up DC power to the ring without going through the hot shoe mounted battery back because my SONY NEX5 does not have a standard hot shoe mount. However, even without the batteries you need to use the power unit. Luckily the power unit has a 17" power cord so for the table top photography I can leave the power adapter laying on the table, and when shooting outdoors I can stick it into a pocket (I just need to remember to wear a shirt or vest with a pocket at the chest level). I like this approach better than using the cumbersome hot shoe adapter for SONY cameras.
As I mentioned earlier the unit provides continuous lighting (not flashing). There are a total of 48 LED lights and three settings: all lights on, left half of the ring is on, and the right side of the ring is on.
To demonstrate how the light ring works I am using a 17 inch power strip (this is a boring subject for sure but the length of the strip shows the light distribution very well).
There are two sets of photos, four are taken with the light 2 feet away from the object. Another two are taken with the light 6 inches away from the object. The photos are not edited in any way, just shrunk and stitched together. I took all pictures with a wide angle lens (18mm) so you can see the light ring in the shot - this makes it easier to see which lights of the ring were turned on, and also shows what you get if you use a wide angle lens. The photos were taken with the ring light being the only light source.
Photo #1 shows show the strip at 2 feet with the full ring of lights.
Photo #2 same lighting and distance but above the power strip rather than to the side.
Photo #3 shows strip at 2 feet with half the lights on, on the right side of the ring.
Photo #4 shows strip at 2 feet with half the lights on, on the left side of the ring.
Photo #5 shows the strip from 6 inches from above
Photo #6 shows the strip from 6 inches from the side
For photos take from 6 inches the ring produced pretty good results, however photos with the subject 2 feet away were not good. I hoped to be able to use the ring light at 2 feet, but the it did not produce sufficient amount of light for use at that distance. It does reduce shadows at the 2 feet distance when used in combination with another light source.
The bottom line, I found good uses for this ring light, but it did not totally live up to my high hopes.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
Ali Julia review ★★★★☆
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