Lighting

Field Review: The Orbis (Day 1)

Chris Gampat
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10/10/2010
3 Mins read

Last Updated on 07/23/2011 by Chris Gampat

Ring Flash—it’s the type of strobe that many photographers love for the effect it gives off. Orbis recently sent me a copy for review and it is turning out to almost live on my Canon 430 EX II. Let’s start this review.

What is a ring flash?

Originally developed for dentists needing to illuminate areas for…dental work…ring flashes were curved light tubes that went around the lens of a camera to evenly light dark area. However, photographers got a hold of the units and loved the effect. And so, the ring flash came into use.

Ring flashes are used often in portraiture, events, at weddings, in fashion, etc. Perhaps most notable is their uses in macro work.

Modern day ring flashes come in various different types. Canon for example has the MR-14EX TTL and the more powerful MT-24 EX. These units have a commander area that goes into the hot shoe of the camera with the lights going around the lens. The former only works with Macro lenses unfortunately. Nikon’s SU-800 also tends to be quite a bit more advanced with wireless control of the unit.

Then you’ve got the Orbis. The Orbis is literally a giant ring that utilizes your current flashes and turn them into a ring flash. The giant hole in the middle is for the photographer to place their lens into. Users can hand hold the flashes or use a bracket like pictured above. I’ve used both as the Canon 7Dhas wireless flash control. The Orbis can come by itselfor you can purchase the arm bracketor get them together in a special package(which you would probably prefer anyway.)

How does the Orbis work?

The Orbis comes with a special felt pad that you paste onto the back of the head of your flash or if you can, into the giant port of the Orbis itself. It then slides right over your flash as you angle the head upwards. Then, set your flash to slave mode and fire away.

Since I’m using the weaker 430 EX III’ve needed to crank up the power using the 7D. Stronger, powerful and more expensive flashes like the 580 EX II, Nikon SB-900and the brand new Nikon SB-700will be able to give off loads more power.

How do the results look?

My usual dancers, theater majors, actresses, were out of town (or sick as I am as I write this posting) and so I used my sister and the wall in my room. Here are some of the results. The flash tends to give off some really nice, flat and event results and it best used close up to your subject.

For more info check out:

the orbis(tm) flickr group
the youtube channel
Our new gadget, the frio(tm)

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430 EX II 7d camera flash Orbis review ring flash
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.