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Contemplating SB21B ring flash

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Posted by highlander: Sun Aug 7th, 2016 15:32

1^st Post

I am planning to get a 60mm f2.8D Micro.
I am contemplating getting a SB21b ring flash to use with it. I am aware these were designed to work together, but on film, and I will be using on a D7100.

Any advice?

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Posted by Robert: Sun Aug 7th, 2016 17:18

2^nd Post

Got rid of my 60 f2.8 AF Micro replaced to with a 55 f2.8 MF Micro. Much better lens in my opinion.

The 60 is varifocal, the closer you get the wider the lens becomes, down to a bit over 40mm I believe. AF is useless for close up work.

My 55mm 2.8 Micro was my most used lens on the D200. Now I have a D3 I have found a 105mm f4 MF because the 55 is a bit wide on the D3 for close up work.

The 55mm Micro is plentiful of eBay and at most Nikon sellers.

Can't speak for the flash, but Eric had one which had multiple heads which clipped around the lens. It seemed rather fiddly and expensive for what it was.

Nice to see you post! Was up your way last week.

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Robert.

Posted by jk: Sun Aug 7th, 2016 18:12

3^rd Post

The Sigma SG140 is the same but cheaper an the Nikon SB21b.
I have the Sigma and it works well. Is good for portraits as well if you want flat lighting!

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Posted by Robert: Mon Aug 8th, 2016 02:11

4^th Post

It seems the SB-21B was introduced in 1986 according to this:

http://www.bythom.com/sb21.htm

Probably pretty good, it will be manual only, but that may be better, depending on the location. Will probably be much slower to use because you will have to make more trial exposures to get it right. I like the idea of being able to turn one flash off and rotate the head. I think the unit Eric had was the R1.

The Sigma should work by TTL:

http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=58

Which on paper suggests a couple of pop's and you should be there.

At £380 it seems much more costly than the older Nikon SB-21B unit on the various sites I checked, tending to run at £80 to £200 ish.

Checking prices out I just fell off my chair (metaphorically, I hasten to add). The SB-140 UV unit is basically a standard SB flash without the yellow coating on the flash tube, it can be carefully rubbed off to get the same effect. Take a look at this eye watering listing from a well known Westminster dealer:

:'(

I just noticed, it's Mint -, perhaps one of the pages in the instruction manual are 'dog eared'...

Attachment: Screen Shot 2016-08-08 at 07.05.24.jpg (Downloaded 20 times)

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Gilbert Sandberg: Mon Aug 8th, 2016 07:14

5^th Post

H,
re: I am aware these were designed
You may be right, but what matters today, is the flash compatible with modern I-TTL cameras ?
I think not. As mentioned above, you may want to choose
-a later Nikon sort-of ring flash, the SB-29 (not certain if it will do i-ttl)
-a third party ring-flash
-some self-made modifier (to try if you like such systems, available at much larger cose)
-a true-modern I-TTL Nikon macro flash like the expensive R1C1 system
-more recent: some third-party LED ring-lights.
All this hassle must not let you divert from buying any 55 or 60mm Nikon macro lens, most are fine, but be aware that the older 55 2.8 Ai-s versions are non-cpu.
Regards, Gilbert

Posted by Eric: Mon Aug 8th, 2016 08:26

6^th Post

It depends how far you want to go with creative lighting close up. The Nikon system I had, was very flexible. You could vary direction, position and output from the heads spaced around a ring attached to the lens. As you can imagine, the detail you could create was far better than a basic flat on ring light. The heads could also be removed and used as small remote flash units controlled from the camera ...ideal for hiding in settings to fill dark spots....though their output was limited and they needed reasonable line of sight to activate at a distance from the camera.

This versatility is expensive and can be a bit unnecessary....that's what I found and sold it!

The Sigma I had before it was much simpler and worked well. I just feel this sort of ring flash is a bit flat.

____________________
Eric

Posted by highlander: Sat Aug 13th, 2016 05:11

7^th Post

Thank you all for your comments. I went ahead and purchased the 60mm and was delighted to find it in mint condition to the point I would question if it had been used at all. I have been experimenting with it without additional lighting to get used to the lenses foibles. (they all have them)

As for flash. In the end I went for a standard gun that can be used remotely and wirelesses but both the camera and flash do have studio sync cable capabilities. The flash I go was extremely cheap at £25 but has a guide number of 58 and all the features i need. It doesn't do iTTL but that has never bothered me as I manually set my flash units anyway according to either a hand held meter reading and then as fill-in, or I bracket.

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Website http://www.blythestormphotography.com

Posted by jk: Sat Aug 13th, 2016 09:28

8^th Post

Jan, the iTTL is in my opinion another example of a step too far along the technology trail.
Nikon strobe units offer iTTL, TTL and manual plus a couple of other strange unexplored modes.
With TTL mode all you have to do is set shutter speed, match aperture on lens and flash, check ISO is same on camera and flash.
Everything works perfectly just like iTTL mode which does the above automatically.

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