Today's walk report: 082013

Night walk, new macro light test.

Way back on 051113 I went out and tested the Sunpak macro light discussed in this post. I was really disappointed in the light overall and more recently got one of these. The Neewer Macro light having two obvious advantages over the Sunpak light. One it has a diffuser and two you can have all the 48 lights on (full circle) or you can have just the left or right side on. A dimmer seems an even better option but hey, this shit is pretty darn cheap.

Anyway, I got into the Dodgers baseball game (Dodgers beat the Marlins 6-4) and decided I'd head out after the game. I grabbed a flashlight, camera with a Canon 60mm macro and shoved the macro light in my back pocket. iPod... I always have my trusty iPod.

But there was nothing fun to shoot. I was looking for insects and did see a single one sitting on a plant Well, there were a couple of little moths but you know what they did as soon as they saw the light coming toward them. Yep, they flew right into it.

I took a few photos just to get an idea on the light but my heart wasn't in it. Besides past 8 PM it was still hot and humid. I was perspiring profusely.

Rose, left side light on. 6 image focus stack.

San Pedro Cactus flower, light full circle.

Apache plume, right side lighting. 5 image stack. I didn't even see the fly until now.

That's enough. Thanks for visiting.

A walk report special preview edition.

Currently @ 05/03/2013 15:20 it is 94.5º.

It's only going to get worse and that does at least one thing for the daily walk... it pushes it later in the day. With that comes less light. I figured that out all by myself. As we approach summer and summer vacation I'm going to be more inclined to take pictures since the campus will either be closed or running a limited program. So I've been looking for a low-budget lighting solution for night-time macro photography. Maybe this is it and maybe not but for $27.99 and in having a $7.98 "gift" credit on top I figure it's not a lot to lose. While the reviews are, for the most part, really positive I have to consider that they probably aren't coming from professional, highly critical photographers. That's OK, I'm not a professional photographer. I'm not even close but the highly critical quality does hit home rather well. So we'll see.

Sunpak DSLR67-MRL Camera Light

Compare this to a professional solution at $739.00

Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX

or another at $489.00

Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX

That is simply-not-happening.

Time passes, it's now July 20, 2013...

NEEWER® Macro Ring LED Light

I just got one of these... It was just a few $$ more than the Sunpak, it has an option for left, right side lights or full and the biggest factor is the diffuser, cutting way back on the harshness of the light. It has 48 LEDs as opposed to 12 but at a glance it doesn't seem outwardly brighter. Which is a good thing since I found the Sunpak on the high setting for closeup macro work too bright for the most part. A dimmer would be great. Other differences 2 AA batteries as opposed to 3, AAA and an option to use AC--indoor macro work comes to mind.

I had a rather rushed session with the Sunpak here and I'll follow-up eventually with a link for the Neewer on this post.