Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light

Comments about Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light:

I use this for macro photography and it works well for that purpose.

When I first tried to charge it, I couldn't plug the charger all the way into the device and the charge light wouldn't come on. I left it for hours, but no charge. It worked when I switched it to AC. Then I read a previous review that suggested placing the switch between the AC and DC positions, and it worked. It is charging now and the switch is in the right position.

The case and the switch are flimsy, but it does the job and isn't bad for the price.

Comments about Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light:

I bought this about two years ago, and it's held up well. I use this light exclusively for macro work; it isn't powerful enough to use as a fill light. Unfortunately, it suffers from two problems. First, it doesn't put out much light; I end up shooting wide open, unless there is significant ambient light. Second, the battery only holds a charge for three or four days. On the plus side, continuous output means there is no waiting for the thing to recycle, and it also makes a handy flashlight. I would recommend this product, but with some caveats.

Comments about Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light:

When first plugged in the charging circuit did not respond. After several minutes manipulating the ac-dc-off switch, the charging light went on when the switch was between the ac and dc position. After the battery was charged, the light worked properly for several days of on-off tests. I've had one similar failure since the first and corrected the problem the same way which leads me to believe that either the small switch is of very poor quality or there is an intermittent short on the circuit board. In either case, the next time this happens I will investigate further and find a better solution from my electronics junk box! The throw distance is under 10 inches which may be a limiting factor depending upon the macro lens you have.

Comments about Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light:

I use this with the Olympus 35mm f3.5 lens for macro work. I photograph vintage watches for WUS and this provides me with enough light to hand-hold shots, making it perfect for location shooting.

Built-in LiOn battery, so you don't need to lug around yet another set of batteries. Downside: if the batteries go dead, you're SOL.

Charge time is about 1 hour, I get around 2 hours of light out of it by turning it off when not directly in use. Constant battery performance with sharp drop-off at end of battery life.

Upside is very even and good illumination, downside is the hotspots generated by the LEDs on shiny surfaces (such as watches!), but I can live with it.

Great price/performance point, highly recommended for dedicated macro work, especially in the field.

Only downside in terms of handling is that the on-off switch could have a better detent to prevent inadvertent switching of the unit in-case, can generate some heat if this happens, but not enough to torch anything.

Comments about Bower SFDRL Digital LED Ring Light:

The light did not work from the day I took it out of the box. I could not get it to charge nor would it work on ac or dc. I took it apart and found that one of the LEDs had too much solder on it and shorted itself out. Once the excess solder was removed it worked fine. During the work on the LED two wires pulled off of there solder joints which were obviously cold jointed from the factory. One ground wire from the plug connector and the other was the positive lead at the circut board to the light ring. Once these were resoldered the light worked fine in ac mode. To get the battery charger working I had to short two legs of one of the chips together. I found this accidently when my meter probe slipped and hit two legs simultanously. Once the battery wore down from that charge, it has not charged since. Anything I do, I have plenty of ac available so it is no big deal. Aside from all that, the light does what I need it to.