Sony HVL-RLAM Macro Ringlight for Sony Alpha SLR Camera

Comments about HVL-RLAM Macro Ringlight for Sony Alpha SLR Camera:

I was deliberating for a while between the rather inexpensive Bower ring-light FLASH and this Sony branded ring-light. The other reviewers made it clear that there is a distinction between this constant light and the usual TTL flash.

As its purpose is macro photography which is most often manually focused, I decided the constant light could be a good thing to help fine-tune the M focus with good visibility and it offers 2 intensities of brightness. On top of this, the much higher priced and "official" Sony product must be better, right?

Well, I should have paid greater attention to the other reviewer who pointed out that its brightness is often inadequate. You use a flash when there is not enough valuable light or you want to distribute light more evenly on the subject. I often do macro photography at night due to the time it takes, being home a leaf, an insect, etc. and set it up in front of macro lens on tripod and manually focus different apertures to find nice depth of field. So far, this light has not provided adequate light to reach a decent exposure on a single occasion. OK, I have worked around this by taking higher ISOs or faster exposures but these produce too much noise or too little DOF for an excellent, result in my view. Thus I felt duped by this purchase and have subsequently ordered the Bower ring-flash + step-up ring to fit the 49mm Sony macro lenses. I hope its TTL metering will live up to the specifications. It should be capable of much brighter.

Finally, this Sony product, unlike almost every other I own (lenses, camera, etc.) feels lightweight, plasticky and very clumsy. In order to fit in the provide pouch everything needs to be screwed apart - adapters/lens-mount, flash unit, ring-light and even the mounting block that goes between the flash unit and hot-shoe on a native Sony camera, making assembly a fiddle each time. I will review the Bower alternative as soon as I have had a chance to try it out.

Comments about HVL-RLAM Macro Ringlight for Sony Alpha SLR Camera:

The Sony macro ringlight is a useful addition to certain sized macro lenses.

However, with the included adapters, it is limited to 49 and 55 mm diameter lenses. Works OK with Minolta 100/2.8 macro, but not with the superb Tamron 180 macro.

The light output is switchable between two levels of intensity. However, for some shots, even the higher of the two settings was not enough.

Note: the HVL-RLAM is not a flash!!! The output is constant.

Comments about HVL-RLAM Macro Ringlight for Sony Alpha SLR Camera:

This excellent unit is NOT a flash unit. It is a lamp and gives excellent lighting but is lit whenever on.

Problems Encountered: No problems BUT do NOT expect a flash unit.