make a 48 led macro ring light for slr for $10

16
I really like taking macro shots. There's a problem though, without the proper lighting macro shots are really hard to take. You have to use slow shutter speeds, a tripod and can't use your flash becouse you get ugly shadows. The solution is using a ring flash or ring light, but those cost more than 60 dollars. I wanted to get a ringlight for less than 10 bucks, so I started searching around and found a couple of sites that served as inspiration for me to build my own ringlight. metku.net/index.html (http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/ring- light/index_eng) naturemagnified.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-diy-macro-ring-light.html (http://naturemagnified.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-diy-macro-ring-light.html) Those lights are really good, but I took a bit from each of them and used some of my own ideas to get a different ringlight. I hope you like it (http://cdn.instructables.com/FMI/0CDU/G8VVK5N8/FMI0CDUG8VVK5N8.LARGE.jpg) About This Instructable License: 50,009 views 72 favorites (/member /Ruta9/) Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) Follow 4 (/id/How-to-add-filters- and-lenses-to-Canon-SX100is) More by Ruta9 macro (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyword- macro/) ring (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyword-ring/) light (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyword-light/) ringlight (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyword- ringlight/) led (/tag/type-id/category-technology/keyword-led/) Tags: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) + Collection I Made it! Download (/id/Make-a-48-LED-Macro-Ring-Light-for-SLR-for-10/?download=pdf) 9 Steps Favorite (/id/Make-a-48-LED-Macro-Ring-Light-for-SLR-for-10/) (/) let'smake sharewhatyoumake> (/about/submit.jsp) (/) Explore (/tag/type-id/) Create (/about/submit.jsp) Contests (/contest/) Community (/community/) Login (/you/) Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-48-LED-Macro-Ring-Light-for... 1 of 16 3/8/2014 3:50 AM

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Page 1: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

I really like taking macro shots. There's a problem though, without the properlighting macro shots are really hard to take. You have to use slow shutterspeeds, a tripod and can't use your flash becouse you get ugly shadows. Thesolution is using a ring flash or ring light, but those cost more than 60 dollars.I wanted to get a ringlight for less than 10 bucks, so I started searching aroundand found a couple of sites that served as inspiration for me to build my ownringlight.metku.net/index.html (http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/ring-light/index_eng)naturemagnified.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-diy-macro-ring-light.html(http://naturemagnified.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-diy-macro-ring-light.html)Those lights are really good, but I took a bit from each of them and used someof my own ideas to get a different ringlight.I hope you like it

Step 1: What we need

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-48-LED-Macro-Ring-Light-for...

1 of 16 3/8/2014 3:50 AM

Page 2: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

First of all, we need:-48 LED UFO camping light. I bought mine from ebay (search for "UFOcamping light") for about $7 including shipping. This will be our ringlight.-58mm UV filter, or whatever size you want. You can use a broken or old filter,we really only need the threads. I bought a new one from ebay for $2.50-4 AA battery case. This will power up our lights. I bought it locally for about $1.-Car cell phone charger with coiled cable. I had a broken charger, so I used thecoiled cable for this project.-Cell phone charger or AC/DC adapter(Optional). This will be our alternativepower source. The one I used came with a bluetooth headset.-Round food plastic container(Optional). This will be our diffuser. It must beround, transparent and the UFO must fit inside it. Just $1 on a local store.-Heat shrink tubing or tape-Epoxi glue.

We also need a solder and a cutting tool.

The battery case I got had connectors like those 9V batteries, so I got a coupleof those connectors as well.

Step 2: Prepare the cables

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Macro Photography andPhotomicroscopy(/id/Macro-Photography-and-Photomicroscopy/)

LED macro light - DIY(/id/LED-macro-light-DIY/)by zorwick (/member/zorwick/)

Blackberry Battery CanonCamera Ring Light Hack(/id/Blackberry-Battery-Canon-Camera-Ring-Light-

Macro Photography: AnEssential Skill for GoodInstructables (/id/Macro-Photography-An-Essential-

HOMEBREW RINGLIGHT(/id/HOMEBREW-RINGLIGHT/)by Bankara (/member

Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 3: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

I had a broken car cell phone charger with coiled cable. I wanted to use itscable so I took it apart. The casing comes apart when you unscrew the tip, thenI cutted the cable off.Then I attached the 9v battery connector to it.I attached another connector to the cell phone charger. It was a nokia charger, itgives 5.5V so it can be used to replace 4 AA batteries.

BE AWARE OF THE POLARITY ON THE CABLES AND THE CONNECTOR.Otherwise the lights won't turn on, if this happens then detach the connectorfrom the cable and attach it the other way around

Step 3: Setting up the ringlight

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 4: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

The UFO already has a hole in the center, but it's too small for the camera lensto go through.We need to make room for the lens.The button is right by the hole, so we have to unscrew it. We'll be placing it alittle closer to the outer edge later.Use the UV filter to draw a circle around the hole, then cut it.Place the UV filter on the hole and glue it.

MAKE SURE TO PUT THE FILTER FACING THE RIGHT WAY.Also, don't get any glue on the glass or the threads.

Step 4: Connect the cable

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 5: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

Solder the coiled cable to the UFO, be aware of the polarity. If the lights don'tturn on, solder the cables the other way around.Originally the button was screwed on a little square spacer and the button thatcomes out on the front is a little button extender.Now that we made the center hole bigger that spacer is gone, so we need todrill a hole for the button. Big enough for the extender to go through, Then Iglued a little metal washer around the hole and finally glued the button on thewasher

Step 5: Preparing the back cover

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 6: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

We need to make a bigger hole on the back cover as well. This hole has to be alittle bigger than the front hole becouse the lens casing has to go through it.Then I used the dremel to cut a slot on the edges of the front and back cover forthe cable to come out.Glue both covers together and there it is! A fully functional ringlight.

But wait a minute, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve....

Step 6: Looking like a pro. Step 1

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(http://cdn.instructables.com/FSQ/FCNL/G8VVK2I8/FSQFCNLG8VVK2I8.LARGE.jpg)

Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 7: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

We have the ringlight, that's fine.But now we have this battery case that we have to take with us whenever wewant to tu use the light. Sure, we can put it in our pocket or hang it from thecamera strap. But that's not what the pros do.The pros put their battery cases on their camera hot shoe. And I want to do that.So, I took the outer rim from the cap from a can of Axe body spray and cut littlerectangular pieces of plastic that I stacked together. I wanted to glue them, but Iused the a little screw to hold them together instead.That screw was originally holding the UFO's switch button. We had to unscrewit on step 3 of this instructable, remember?I cut 2 squares, the size of the hot shoe, and 4 smaller rectangles to make alittle T shape.Then I glued this T on the base of the battery case.Now we can put the battery case on the hot shoe and look like a pro.But still... there's something missing.

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(http://cdn.instructables.com/F8H/5H23/G8VVK2O3/F8H5H23G8VVK2O3.LARGE.jpg)

Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 8: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

Step 7: Looking like a pro. Step 2

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 9: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

We have our ringlight and the battery case on the hotshoe, but the UFO stilllooks funny with all those leds sticking out, so we are going to build a diffuserfor it.First we take the food plastic container and cut a hole in the base, a little biggerthan the UV Filter.It's very important that the container is transparent or white, so that the lightcomes out OK. If we use a colored container the light is going to be colored.We also need to cut the side of the container, just about at the UFO height.Then cut a hole for the button and the cable.My container was transparent and glossy, so I took some sandpaper andrubbed it against the surface on both sides.To be able to attach the diffuser to the UFO I cut slots on the sides and usedblack elastic bands. You can buy these on sewing shops.After sewing two bands with black thread the diffuser is ready to go.Now we really look like pros

Step 8: Sample shots

(http://cdn.instructables.com/FMI/0CDU/G8VVK5N8/FMI0CDUG8VVK5N8.LARGE.jpg)

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Page 10: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

You're probably wandering how this bad boy performs.So, let's see some sample shotsSince South Africa 2010 World Cup is coming I used a Bruja Verón doll as a

(http://cdn.instructables.com/FR0/MPLP/G8VVK5N9/FR0MPLPG8VVK5N9.LARGE.jpg)

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Page 11: Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10

model. Vamos Argentina!!The first Shot is just the doll on a white sheet of paper, there was light thatcaused some overexposing on he head and shadows on the face.The second shot is using the pop up flash on my Canon 450D. What an uglyshadow.The third shot is using my ringlight. Almost no shadows at all!!

I also took a handheld shot of my own eyes, just to see the ring reflected on myeyes.The last picture is a belt from a friend's shop. I put the belt on a white paper andused only the ringlight as a source of light.

What do you think?If you liked it drop a comment below.

Step 9: Testing it a little further

My friend Tom, creator of the first UFO ringlight, asked me if the diffuserreduced the amount of light.I didn't how to answer that question right away, so I prepared a little experiment.I placed a pot with a little cactus on top of a black paperThe paper was taped on a table inside of a room with the lights off and all of the

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Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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Make Comment

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2 years ago Reply (CWR6XGXGRTHYTCY)

doors and windows were closed.The camera was on a tripod and set to ISO 100, Aperture Priority Mode and f/8.The white balance was set to sunny to see if there's any difference in colortemperature between shots.With the room completely dark the only available source of light will be theringlight, wich was connected to the wall cell phone charger to make sure therewill be no power variations during the test.I took a series of 3 shots with the diffuser on and 3 other shots with the diffuseroff.The first shot in the series is using the outer ring of LEDs, the second is usingthe inner ring and the third shot is using both rings.The camera will select the proper shutter speed to get a correct exposure oneach shot. According to the shutter speed selected by the camera for each shotwe'll know if the diffuser has any effect on the amount of emmited light and ifthere's any difference if you use the outer ring of LEDs, the inner ring or both.

Final results:Diffuser ON: 1.3" 0.8" 0.8"Diffuser OFF: 0.8" 0.5" 0.5"

According to this test ,there is a loss of 2/3EV when using the diffuser.Also, ther inner ring is 2/3 EV brighter than the outer ring.There is no difference in the amount of light emmited by the inner ring or bothrings together.The inner ring light is colder than the outer ring.

I noticed that all the LEDs were very white and bright when I put in fresh fullycharged batteries, but as the power began to drain the inner LEDs started toturn blueish, while the outer LEDs were still white. When I plug the ringlight tothe wall charger I get the same result, the outer LEDs are white and the innerring is blueish. The cell phone charger I used has a DC output of 5.5v 250mA,maybe if I use a more powerful charger I will get whiter light from all the LEDsand not just the outer ring.

jmccleve (/member/jmccleve/)

Wow, this a pretty cool looking camping light(http://campinglightsandlanterns.com/). My wife hates when I hang a flashlightfrom the top of the tent, this would work perfect.

(http://cdn.instructables.com/FWN/275B/G8XPR31G/FWN275BG8XPR31G.LARGE.jpg)

Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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jliang (/member/jliang/)

Sorry for any necroposting (there seems to be alot of this going on, but hey, it'suseful, right?) but I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to electrical wiring oranything; what exactly do you mean by "attaching"the 9v battery connector?

Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) jliang

I dont mind the necroposting, it means that my article is been read.Now, the 9V battery connector is what I called the plug I attached to thecharger. It has 2 round terminals, just as the 9V batteries. If you look at thesecond and third picture you can see it.Why I used this particular type of connector? becouse the 4AA batteryholder I bought had that kind of connector. You can see it on the thirdpicture in the previous step.

asda653 (/member/asda653/)

Necroposting I'm sure, but I really wanted to thank you (and all previousproprietors!) for this instructable... Second cam instructable I've done and it'sworking out great, mine doesn't look as professional but it is still pretty clean.

Thanks again. Awesome stuff.

Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) asda653

Don't worry about the necroposting,it's nice to see that my instructable isstill useful

joejoerowley (/member/joejoerowley/)

Cool project. Here is a very similar project (http://naturemagnified.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-diy-macro-ring-light.html) from last year.

Here are a few other cool ones built from circular strips.From April 19th 2010(http://www.diyphotography.net/diy-macro-lighting-led-ring)From November 15th2010(http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/ring-light/index_eng)There are a few other cool ones that use fiber optics too. I'm thinking of building afiber optic on that is adjustable with like velcro or something, so I can attach it todifferent sized lenses.

Good instructable!Joe

Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) joejoerowley

Yes, I 'm familiar with those projects.I credited two of them in the intro.I took some elements from each ofthose and added some of my ownideas (like the wall charger or thebattery case on the hot shoe) tomake my own version.I didn't want to use angel eyes for myproject becouse they run on 12v andthey are more expensive than the

Make a 48 LED Macro Ring Light for SLR for $10 by Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/)

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UFO. You can use 9v batteries with them, but I prefer using AA's.However, I think those angel eyes may have whiter light than the UFO.

I used a UV Filter to attach my ringlight becouse I wanted to keep the frontthread to be able to use my Raynox macro lenses. You may want to keepthat in mind if you plan on using close up lenses with your light.

joejoerowley (/member/joejoerowley/) Ruta9

Whoa, weird, I didn't see the introlast time, I remembered it seemedweird because you jumped right intoit. I was viewing all steps. Must havebeen some bug.I like your design a lot. How doesthe light compare to an externalflash for you? I feel like LEDs that Ihave tried haven't really been brightenough but the uniformity of thelight is very nice when you use theLED ring flash... Its a toss up. Iguess I'll just build one haha.Thanks for the inspiration!Joe

Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) joejoerowley

Well, it's just like you said a flash(external or not) is way more powerfulthan the ringlight. Remember thatyou can use a flash to light uppeople 15ft away from the camera.Also flashes have the right lighttemperature.On the other hand, when usingflashes for macro photography youare likely to get harsh shadows andblown out highlightsThis ringlight is not powerfull enoughfor taking pictures of a subject that'smore than 2ft away from the camera,but for macro is really nice.The light is even and soft, you almostdon't get any shadows at all.Another problem with these ringlightsis that you may not get the properlight temperature, but you can solvethat by tweaking your white balance.Sure, it's not perfect, but for 10 bucksI can't complain.

Phil B (/member/Phil+B/)

You made a brief comment about color shift and linked a partial solution toinsuring full power to the LEDs. Someone did a very similar Instructable anumber of months back. He also had problems with color shift. This would bereally great if the color shift problem could be fully solved without too muchtrouble. Color shift is not a problem if the photos are to be black & white, but it isa problem with color.

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Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) Phil B

I guess these cheap chinese camping lights do not have a really strictquality control when it comes to light temperature. After all, that's not whatthey're designed for. You may get a lamp with all white LEDs or you mayget a lamp with some blueish ones like I did, some peopple may getyellower lights, I don't know.Keep in mind you get what you pay for, I checked on ebay and this exactUFO now sells for $4 including shipping, I payed $7 about a month ago. Aproper 48 LED 5600K ringlight costs about $50-60.Although I don't think that color shift should be too much of a problem, ifyou know beforehand what you are dealing with .The cheapest most effective solution that I think of is to set your WhiteBalance to a setting that gives you the better results according to thespecific camping light that you got. If your camera supports Custom WBset it to your own ringlight. If you have a camera that can shoot RAW files,you can set your WB later on your computer.

Phil B (/member/Phil+B/) Ruta9

Thank you for the detailed response. I once saw a flashlight for pilots thatused three LEDs of different colors to get white light. It would beinteresting to experiment with red, green, and blue LEDs in combination toget white, but buying individual LEDs would surely be more expensive.

Ruta9 (/member/Ruta9/) (author) Phil B

That could be a really interesting project, but remember that you will bebuying 3 different kinds of LEDs and if any of those 3 colors is a little off you're still not getting white light as a result.

laxap (/member/laxap/)

Very nice!

thom_vee (/member/thom_vee/)

This is fantastic, you have made my idea into a fantastic , professional lookingring light. very well done, full marks for the diffuser and the battery compartment!

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