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Godox scales things down with their new Godox MF12 wireless macro ring flash

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The trend in camera flashes over the last few years has generally been to make them more powerful, yet more portable at the same time. Well, bucking this trend, Godox has gone the opposite way, producing a flash that’s on the lower end of the output scale, with the new Godox MF12 Macro Flash. It’s very reminiscent of Nikon’s R1C1 “Wireless Close-up Speedlight System” but at a much lower cost.

Technically, the MF12 is just the individual flash units – like the Nikon SB-R200 is to the R1C1 – and like the Nikon kit, you can attach several of them to a ring that fits around your lens, allowing you to place the light just where you need it. And they’re all controlled from the Godox trigger sitting on top of your hotshoe.

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How to create a DIY macro flash diffuser using a Pringles tube

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Macro is a challenging subject to photograph. Light, especially, can be a real struggle, so you often need to add extra light to overcome the bellows extension factor inherent in all true macro lenses. But dedicated macro flashes and ring flashes can be very expensive (at least if you want a good one). Are there other options?

Well, you can butcher a Pringles tube. We posted a tutorial on this way back in 2011 to be able to make use fo the popup flash for macro, but this video from photographer Micael Widell shows a similar method using an on-camera flash, allowing you to get much more power for those extreme close-ups.

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Canon finally unleashes 85mm f/1.4L IS, EOS M100 mirrorless, and three new tilt-shift macro lenses

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A bunch of new gear announcements from Canon today. First up, the EOS M100 mirrorless camera with an APS-C sized 24.2MP sensor and EF-M lens mount. There’s three new tilt shift macro lenses at 50mm, 90mm and 135mm. A new MT-26EX-RT twin macro flash is also being launched along with the new glass. But the biggest piece of news is the long awaited 85mm f/1.4L IS USM.

Many will see the 85mm f/1.4L as simply an update to the 85mm f/1.2L, but in many ways it’s a very different lens. Losing that third of a stop of light has resulted in a new optical design as well as built in image stabilisation. It’s also supposed to be able to focus much faster with full time manual focus override.

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A review of the Olympus STF-8 twin macro flash system for Micro Four Thirds

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Last year, Olympus Singapore loaned me a pre-launch unit of their new STF-8 Twin Macro Flash, together with their OMD-EM1 Mk1 and M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro for a test-run in the field. I’ve had the set for about a week — it was easy to use and the results were pretty good, although it took some time for me to get used to focusing using the LCD.

This review is grossly overdue, but I’m posting it because I had been receiving questions on macro photography performance on micro four-third systems. This not a technical review. Instead, I will explain its pros and cons, as well as simple steps to maximise its capabilities.

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