This blog is devoted to the application of optical fibers in photography. I have several homemade (DIY) flash adapters channeling the light from the flash close to the lens. The technique can be used mainly for macro photography, but I will show examples for wide angle close focus techniques as well. The recent version is called fiberstrobe V3, hence the name of the blog is "fiberstrobe".

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Big Brother is lighting you

Although the NEX5 is not yet a perfect system for macro photography, I really enjoyed the ringflash project. So I decided to make a bigger version for the my DSLR (sony a100). I have two macro lenses for this camera, a minolta 100m f2.8 macro that is one of the finest piece of glass. I also like my sigma f2.8 50mm macro but the 100mm macro is more versatile and a bit bigger challenge to make a ringflash for it, due to the longer subject to lens distance. I had to use a bigger diameter tube to mount the fibers on it and tried to make the brunches of fibers adjustable. I'm still thinking how to make it appropriate for closer distance, when I use it for supermacro.
Few days ago I finished the Big Brother:


One added function compared to the previous ringflash adapter is that I drilled two holes to the bottom part in order to adjust the focus manually. It's not perfect but not bad. I used velcro around the tube to fix the fiber brunches. The idea is that in this way I can adjust their position and even their angle. The attachment of the other end of the fibers to the on-board flash is still not perfect, but it works. I used some cardboard, ducktape and a bit of velcro. And finally some pictures taken with the rig:





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