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When Godox entered the flash market, it was a game-changer for the business. Their AD200 vary opened the door to photographers with out gold plated budgets: not solely was Godox low cost, however the gentle high quality was additionally on a par with skilled lighting.
Since then, Godox has progressively expanded its vary of speedlights and TTL strobes to incorporate new choices like LED studio lighting, gentle wands and macro flashes.
One in all their newest choices is the Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76. The 76 within the identify signifies the facility output of 76w, and the Ring signifies that it is a ring-style flash.
Not like many different fashions in Godox’s lineup, it is a guide flash. It’s a transfer to maintain the pricing low as they provide TTL options.
Extremely Really useful
Wonderful value-for-money ring flash that offers lovely, smooth gentle for shadow-free macro photographs.
While macro images might be enjoyable, it’s not at all times so simple as shopping for a macro lens. It introduces two issues for photographers, each of which relate to gentle.
The primary of those pertains to the provision of sunshine. Macro requires capturing at f/8 or smaller apertures attributable to depth of subject implications. This limits the obtainable gentle. Longer exposures and tripods remedy the issue for static objects, however capturing a bee with lengthy publicity would pose issues.
The second pertains to the flash itself. Utilizing a traditional speedlight causes shadows from the lens on the topic as a result of lens’s proximity to the topic. Even bouncing a flash off the ceiling may cause shadow points.
Prior to now, I’ve gotten away with this on my digicam product photographs by capturing slightly additional again from the topic and cropping, but it surely isn’t best. You lose a good quantity of decision with this strategy.
That is the place specialised macro flashes come into play. They connect to the entrance of the lens, guaranteeing the topic is properly lit while minimising the shadows you’d get from standard speedlights.
Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 Specs
- Worth for cash
- Simple to function
- Mild high quality with minimal shadows
- Battery capability
- No TTL or HSS
- No wi-fi “grasp” for extra flashes
- Mild fall-off means backgrounds might be darkish and never appropriate for bigger topics
- Suitable cameras: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax
- Flash Energy: 76Ws
- Information Quantity: 14m
- Flash Length: 1/300 to 1/20000 Second
- Recycle Time: Approx. 0.1 to 1.5 Seconds
- Energy Vary: 1/1 to 1/128
- Constructed-in battery: Lithium battery 7.2V 2600mAh
- Full energy flashes: As much as 660
- Lens Compatibility: 49mm/52mm/55mm/58mm/62mm/67mm/72mm/77mm Filter Threads (by way of Included Adapter Ring)
- Internet weight: 458g
- Dimensions (W x H x D): a2.8 x 4.7 x 2.0″ / 70.0 x 120.0 x 50.0 mm (Controller) 5.1 x 5.1 x 1.1″ / 130.0 x 130.0 x 27.0 mm (Ring)
Construct High quality
The flash management unit mounts to the speedlight mount on the digicam and supplies simple to make use of controls.
The Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 consists of a flash unit and smaller equipment. The flash unit has the ring flash that attaches to the entrance of the lens and the set off/battery unit mounted to the hotshoe mount on the digicam.
The 2 models are linked by way of a sturdy, coiled cable. You additionally obtain a choice of metallic filter attachments for the commonest filter thread measurement. These filter attachments can help you mount the ring flash to the entrance of the lens.
Exterior of that, there are the standard extras you’d anticipate with any rechargeable speedlight: a battery, charger, USB cable and a smooth pouch used to guard the flash from scratches. There is no such thing as a energy adapter, which appears normal today.
The charger is tiny, smaller than the battery itself, which I like. There’s a little friction getting the battery out and in, but it surely’s not extreme.
The smooth pouch supplies you with a way to retailer the flash and equipment. It’s smooth and can solely actually undertaking it from scratches, not breakage.
Whereas the smooth pouch is a pleasant contact, a smaller sleeve or pocket for all of the filter thread adapters would have been useful. The unfastened filter thread adapters are prone to scratch something within the pouch, defeating the pouch’s objective.
A flash helps with the flexibility to seize movement, even with guide shutter pace limitations, because the flash can freeze motion.
The standard and development are affordable contemplating the value level. I feel Godox made compromises in the proper locations, guaranteeing their merchandise nonetheless provide reliability and affordability.
The buttons on the MF-R76 really feel strong and properly constructed. The rotational adjustment technique just isn’t my desire however dependable sufficient for on a regular basis use.
General, it’s an entire package deal with nothing main to complain about and no actual deal-breakers.
The battery unit and cable are extra strong than the ring flash unit. The flash ring feels lighter and cheaper, however I consider it’s a facet impact of being saved light-weight to make it simpler to handhold.
If I had been to criticise one factor, it might be the supplies and development of the charger. It isn’t a excessive use merchandise, however the plastic and development don’t match the remainder of the product, and I don’t really feel the utmost confidence it’ll go the space.
The flash is appropriate with most digicam manufacturers that embody a central pin within the hotshoe to set off non-HSS/TTL flashes. Godox signifies it’s appropriate with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji, and Pentax DSLR cameras with a hotshoe.
Nevertheless, having solely examined it on Sony, I can’t touch upon different particular person fashions from different manufacturers.
Measurement & Dealing with
The Godox MF-R76 is important however not unwieldy when mounted on the digicam. I might handhold it singlehanded for photographs with out discomfort if required.
The Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 is on the largish facet. It’s slightly cumbersome, as most macro flashes are, however not unwieldy. You need to watch out when capturing near topics, because it’s simple to bump close by objects.
The precise measurement will rely slightly on the lens you employ. My Laowa 100mm is on the longer finish of the spectrum, so it’s one you must be extra cautious of with the flash ring connected.
From a dealing with perspective, the MF-R76 is what you’d anticipate from a macro flash of this sort. There are some minor gripes I’ll cowl on the dealing with entrance, however none of them is a showstopper.
The filter rings are nice, however attaching them to the ring flash is cumbersome. They’re simple to slip in however slightly more durable to get out. Additionally, I feel they might have finished a greater job with how the filter is locked in and launched.
A macro picture of a whole bunch and 1000’s (sprinkles). Generally while you see a detailed up like this, it isn’t comforting to see what’s in it out of the bottle. I’ve photoshopped some hairs out to avoid wasting you the disgust of seeing them.
I have a tendency to take a look at usability and not using a guide as a information. In case you don’t have to select up the guide to make use of one thing (apart from the technical setup options), that’s a constructive.
Within the case of the Godox MF-R76, I feel the usability is nearly as good as you’ll be able to anticipate for the extent of performance. Exterior of utilizing the SET button to regulate the modelling gentle brightness, all the pieces else is the place I’d look forward to finding it.
The SET performance was slightly odd: it’s the place I’d anticipate to see a menu or normal settings space, which doesn’t exist. The icons make sense, and also you don’t surprise which button to push to vary performance. Nearly all of the time, you’ll simply be utilizing the dial.
Mild High quality
An in depth up of this Cape Daisy reveals the top quality of the sunshine and softness. I took this picture at 2:1 with a Sony a7RIII and Laowa 100mm 2:1 Macro lens.
It doesn’t matter a lot if the construct high quality is sweet; what actually issues is the sunshine high quality. Fortuitously, very like with the AD200 and Godox’s varied different widespread lighting prodicys, the sunshine high quality on the MF-R76 is great, and it doesn’t disappoint.
With a strobe background, I haven’t labored with ring flashes a lot earlier than.
The sunshine high quality is far softer than I anticipated for a light-weight supply this measurement, and the ring design does a superb job of lowering the shadows.
I’d usually work with an 80cm Octa softbox and strobe (Godox AD200) immediately above an object for lots of my product images, however that possibility creates shadows from the entrance of the lens for the shut up macro focal size 1:1 and a pair of:1 images. The Godox MF-R76 mitigates this and makes it arduous to see noticeable shadowing.
While it’s a nice gentle supply for small objects, it’s value noting that it does undergo from appreciable gentle fall-off that you simply wouldn’t get from a big gentle supply. It’s not dangerous, given it’s a macro flash, but it surely’s important to grasp these limitations relying on what you {photograph}.
Shut-ups with digicam gear are satisfactory: when you do get extra reflection than with one thing like a softbox setup, it’s nonetheless affordable given the associated fee and simple setup time. One of these use case just isn’t the meant objective of macro flashes.
In lots of instances with macro, you don’t need the background to have a light-weight on it, however the lack of grasp/slave means you don’t have the choice of including an extra flash if the necessity arises.
In case you’re planning on doing the type of macro that contain water droplets with refraction, it’s your decision an extra gentle supply for the background.
You might nonetheless use the Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 to set off a flash, so it’s not a deal-breaker, however you’re going to be doing it the old-school means of getting the precise gentle set off the extra speedlight relatively than a wi-fi distant.
The flexibility to set off an extra speedlight with a wi-fi setup just like the Xpro could be a superb addition. The Godox MF12 appears to supply this selection, however I can’t touch upon the way it matches the sunshine high quality of the ring gentle.
This picture reveals how a number of the gentle fall-off talked about might be constructive or adverse relying on what you’re capturing. For many macro eventualities, this could not be a limitation.
As you’ll be able to see from the above image of my Fujifilm X100V, no hotspots are displaying on the floor. It reveals how properly the sunshine is subtle with the ring flash, even with lighter color topics at a detailed distance.
The picture of the Fujifilm isn’t cropped. Because of this, the topic was near the lens on the time of the picture.
Energy
The Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 comes with a chargeable battery able to delivering 1,000 full-power flashes.
Energy to the ring flash is supplied by a 7.2V 2600mAh Lithium battery that Godox claims can do 660 full-power flashes. Having spent a substantial period of time taking images on a single cost and never emptying the battery, I’ve no motive to doubt their claims.
Let’s be trustworthy right here, you’re not capturing a macro flash at full energy recurrently, so if over 1,000 photographs is a constraint for you, I’d have an interest to know what you’re capturing. This could greater than cowl the common person’s flash necessities.
The flash presents 76Ws of energy. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it surely’s essential to recollect that is 76W of energy positioned about 10-20cm from the topic.
Most of my time was spent at 1/sixteenth energy, often 1/eighth once I was open air. The one time I felt the necessity to carry it to 1/4 was to shoot at objects slightly additional away, properly past the usually macro ranges.
Godox additionally means that you can modify extra energy to the left/proper or up/down (relying on the way you rotate the ring on the entrance of the lens). This lets you modify them independently or change one facet off fully if wanted.
Alternate options
Whereas the MF-R76 features a good pouch, a small bag for holding filters could be a beneficial addition. Fortuitously, I had one at house already from my Xvive music gear.
For options to the Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76, you’ll have to have a look at OEM and third-party distributors, though OEM will depend upon the seller. OEM choices are good, however the value level could not go well with all customers.
Exterior of the OEMs, rivals for this product are prone to be Godox themselves and another third social gathering manufacturers like Meike, Laowa and Nissan. Each Meike and Laowa provide TTL variations, while Godox has a barely dearer model with TTL for just below $100 extra.
This appears to be extra suited to the WYSIWYG crew who wish to see what the picture seems to be like earlier than they take it, but it surely received’t have the facility for vivid conditions open air.
Flash can also freeze movement, even at non-HSS shutter speeds, so taking images of a bee is prone to work with a flash however be blurred with an LED open air.
Worth for Cash
Stealing some sugar-coated gummies from my children.
At round US$180, the Godox MF-R76 scores excessive within the worth for cash rankings. Sadly, OEM macro flashes usually are available at 3-4 instances the value, which in lots of instances costs them out of the market.
Different third-party producers are additionally significantly pricier than the MF-R76, making Godox the clear winner within the worth for cash stakes.
There are some low cost LED options, however LED isn’t going to supply the identical gentle output stage, so this must be thought of as a part of the comparability. Godox does a LED ring gentle mannequin at $100 cheaper referred to as the Godox Ring72.
While some will level out the shortage of TTL, it’s clear that Godox has priced this at a $100 lower cost level with out TTL to decrease the entry level for macro flash. That’s an excellent final result for the patron since you’re getting an excellent high quality flash at a aggressive value.
Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 Assessment | Conclusion
As somebody who doesn’t historically shoot plenty of standard macros exterior of product photographs, I’ve to say I’m suitably impressed. The Godox Macro Ring Flash MF-R76 makes it simple to shoot macro.
Apart from having no TTL, it’s idiot-proof, and the low value makes it simple for macro newbies to experiment with lighting. If TTL is essential, there are different choices from Godox, however exterior of that, I’d say it is a nice entry level.
The standard and diffusing of the sunshine are surprisingly good. I wasn’t anticipating a lot given the dimensions of the flash, however the ring flash does an important job of limiting the shadows on the topic.
There aren’t plenty of negatives to boost concerning the Godox MF-R76: it’s easy, efficient, and priced at a degree the place even non-macro photographers would possibly think about giving it a shot.
Extremely Really useful
Wonderful value-for-money ring flash that offers lovely, smooth gentle for shadow-free macro photographs.
Disclaimer: All suggestions are neutral and primarily based on person expertise, with no bias to the merchandise or the model. The merchandise on this put up could comprise affiliate hyperlinks.
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