For as long as I can remember, back when I had my first DSLR I always wanted a Macro Flash, the funny thing is I don’t even know why! They looked cool, I guess, but the big question for me was, ‘Will it make a difference?’

Well I have finally taken the plunge, after a lot of reading about the variations out there I decided on a Nissin MF18 Macro Flash, I opted for this one based on other reviews I had read, they were all good reviews, the flash performed as well as the Canon Macro Flash, and the price was about half, so that kind of sold it to me. If you would like to read more about the flash, please follow this link to the manufacturers page. https://www.nissindigital.com/mf18

This is my first proper test of the lens, I setup the tripod, and mounted the 90D and the flash, then proceeded to take a number of photos at different F stops, with and without the flash to show the difference. I shot using a remote to ensure the camera was in the same place for all the shots.

I haven’t done any editing work on the photos other than adding the camera information and resizing for the website, so they are as they came off the camera.

These first two shots were taken as f2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/40 sec on the non flash and 1/60 sec for the Flash one, I have added the camera information to each photo for ease of seeing the settings used, and to save me from typing more than I need to, which in turn means you have less to read!

Overall I like the flash, as you go through the photos you can see the extra detail in the centre of the flower, there is a marked difference between the two images, the non-flash shots are much softer than the flash ones. However I (personally) feel the flash ones are a little harsh, but this can be addressed by adjusting the flash settings, of which there are a lot.

I need to spend more time playing with the settings as there are a lot of settings on the flash, and it has a lot of modes and adjustments available, including adjuesting the EV value of each half of the ring flash, which I will explore soon, and start a new blog showing the results.

Thank you for reading, and happy snapping