Nikon R1 wireless speedlight sytem or Sigma 140 ring flash

[blind1587]

I am debating over the Nikon R1 wireless speedlight system and the sigma 140 ring flash. I have been messing around with macro a little bit lately. Which one is best for macro? Which one is more versatile? Is either suited for portrait? Pros and cons to each system? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[blind1587]

anybody?

 

[Derrel]

Neither the R1 or the Sigma ring flash has achieved much in the way of market adoption...I do not know of one single person who has either of those pieces of gear...most macro shooters are relying on their own lash-ups, or "other" flash bracket systems, or flash arms...

Ring flash produces rather flat, uninteresting lighting, with a most unusual lack of shadow pattern--great for what it was originally introduced for--surgical and dental photographs... TPF's own poster, Buckster, has an interesting DIY dual flash bracket he has made...his results look quite good.

 

[benhasajeep]

I have the R1 kit and like it much better than a ring light. I also own an older ring light from film days. Still works with digital but in manual mode only. I have added 2 additional SB-R200's to my original R1 kit. I can mount 4 of them on the ring on the front of my 105mm macro (listed by Nikon as the limit). 2 lights actually worked well, but I really wanted a 3rd for better shadow control. I ended up getting 4 since that was the max listed for the lens. The nice thing about the R1 kit is you can adjust the angle of the SB units. If you want a directional light for shadow control you can move them around the ring where you want them. Also you can adjust them independantly output wise for shadow control. Just like with portraits, you don't always want consistant light all around a subject. So, I believe you have more control with the R1 kit over a ring light. And of course if you wanted too. You can use the R1 kit as normal flashes combined with others for multiple wireless flash set up. They are not that strong though. But you could use them that way. In the R1 kit there is an adapter to connect to the ring to mount it on a standard 1/4 stud for off lens use. At $470 or so it is a pricy kit. But it does come with some extras, like wide adapters, gel filter sets, bounce card. All in all I think its worth it. Only down side is they use CR-123A batteries. I bought 40 of them on ebay since I use them in some other items.

To use the R1 kit you need to have a body with flash commander. If you don't have a body with the commander mode. You will need the R1C1 kit that includes the Su-800 commander.