Bower SFD14C Canon E-TTL I/II Macro Ring Flash Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I didnt expect much with this being priced so much lower than other macro light rigs, but it works very well and took almost no time to figure out and use. I have taken a few pics with my new 100mm macro lens and this ring light makes shooting things like flowers and small items very simple. The Canon MT 24EX dual macro light is probably better quality, but the price difference was too much for me. I am happy with this light.

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Bower Dedicated Ettl Ring Flash For Canon

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Bower Step-Up Adapter Ring 67mm Lens to 77mm Filter Size Review

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(More customer reviews)This adapter appears to be made of aluminum, or perhaps another similarly light-weight metal and anodized with a black coating. The threads for both the lens and filter ends are cleanly cut and accept the matching threads of the lens and filter smoothly.
I can find no fault with this adapter.

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Allows you to use larger size filters on lenses with a smaller diameter thread. The first number is the size that screws into the lense, the second number is the filter size.

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Bower 52mm 0.45X Pro Deluxe Super Wide Angle Lens with Macro - VLB4552 Review

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(More customer reviews)I am so pleased with this lens! I went into the purchase with realistic expectations. I'm someone who enjoys photography with pinhole and toy cameras, and TTV photography, so I welcome quirks. Bower's sweet little wide angle attachment gives me plenty to play with.
If you think of your Bower wide angle lens as a filter, you will probably be pleased. If you're a cheapskate expecting a $40 screw on lens enhancer to do what a Nikkor extreme wide angle will, you're going to be cranky about this.
On a Nikon D80 with Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens, the Bower .45x Super Wide will increase your range of view to about 180degrees. It gets a lot in the image. Only the center area will achieve sharp focus. The edges become moderately to severely blurred. Vignetting is minimal to non-existent if the Bower lens is placed directly on the Nikkor lens. With use of filters, even a standard 52mm UV/haze filter, vignetting starts. Multiple filters? Serious vignettes.
Barrel distortion is pronounced. If your primary lens has any barrel distortion, photos you take with that and the Bower lens will likely look like they were shot in a funhouse mirror. (And that can be a fun effect!)
Autofocus becomes more tricky with the Bower lens. AF is considerably slower and very center-focus oriented. I find it faster to switch to manual mode when using this lens.
If you're looking for a fun toy and you have a sense of humor about your images, this is a great buy. If you demand clarity and integrity, save your money and buy real wide angle from Nikon.

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Bower VLB4552 52mm 0.45X Pro Deluxe Super Wide Angle with Macro

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Bower 3x 37mm Telephoto Conversion Lens for Digital/Film Cameras & DV/Hi-8 Camcorders Review

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(More customer reviews)I didnt get a wood box. Maybe its part of the lens? I dunno.
This has a mediocre clear shot when zoomed all the way in. Guess thats why its priced low. You get super duper vignetten' until you zoom in at least 1/2 of your cam's zoom. No big. Guess its supposed to be that way. I dig the 3x over a 2x. I can see in people in thier living room windows hundreds of yards away......shut up, im not a peeping tom.
this is good for wildlife reserves and such where you cant get close. tip: tripod=mandatory


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Product FeaturesDescriptionThis 37mm 3x professional telephoto conversion lens has been crafted to meet the highest optical standards for it's type in the photo industry. It has been designed to work with ANY digital, still and video cameras which have 37mm filter thread. You just screw this lens on front of your existing lens. It can also fit other thread sizes, such as 27mm, 30mm, 30.5mm, 43mm and etc., using appropriate step up or step down adapter ring.

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Bower FC52 - Close-up lens kit x 3 Review

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(More customer reviews)
Not too bad for a cheap set of filters. I'd like to shake the hand of the genius who thought to include the lens cap since the standard Nikon cap goes too deep when affixed, and could potentially scratch the filters.
The resolution on these is actually better than I expected.
Unfortunately, they don't work on my 55-200mm VR lens, but I didn't expect them to (bummer. I wanted that VR to really help). However, they do work great on my non-VR 18-55mm kit lens. Keep in mind, if stacked, they will cause some serious vignetting at the 18mm end --it's to be expected at the wide-angle, and if you really want to, crop it out, but I find it clears at around 20-25mm.
All-in-all, I'd say this is a good product for the price, and if nothing else, this series of filters is a good alternative to dumping a mountain of money on one of the upper-end macro lenses out there for people who just want to play around with macro photography.


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The Bower High Quality Close Up kit is available with +1, +2, +4 Close up lenses. They are close up lenses are diopters for close up photography. These close up lenses are high quality optical magnifying lenses that shorten the close focusing distance of the lens

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Bower SFD290 Digital Automatic Zoom Bounce Flash for Pentax K20D, K200D, K2000, K10D, K100D, K110D, Digital SLR Cameras Review

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(More customer reviews)I had this flash for a Sony and now for my Nikon D300. I also have a SB-600 flash unit which is of course way better, but also way expensive - I guess nobody here should expect the same quality for 1/4 of the price.
The build is overall cheap but okay for the price, it will last a while when you take care of it. The major downside is that it's not really a TTL flash. The title says something about "automatic", I'm really unsure what they mean with that. Fact is, it produces a strong flash, you can swivel the head (even at the wall behind you) but it doesn't communicate with the camera. You can still use it on-camera though, but it's more like a manual flash gun, so operating the camera in auto-mode will most likely produce an overexposed photo. If you're unsure if you should buy it... it's an okay budget flash which will give you more options than the popup-flash, but if you're more like the I-use-my-SLR-only-in-auto-mode guy than better invest $100+ in a TTL flash which will get more information from and to the camera than: Fire flash now!
But here's the deal: Buy a remote FM-trigger (I use the "CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax Flashes Other products by cowboystudio") and use this flash as an off-camera remote unit. Again, manual mode operation of your camera is recommended, but you can achieve great results with this off-camera set for $70 (flash + trigger). Combine it with a lighting stand, camera bracket and umbrella, and you have a portable studio lighting set for about $100-$130. This flash does even fit better on the remote trigger than my SB-600 because it has a screw-ring (not shown in the product picture) to tighten it to the flash-shoe-mount.

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The Bower SFD290 Digital Automatic Zoom Flash is an innovatively designed flash unit for both digital and traditional SLR cameras with a wide array of high-end features at an affordable price. This model -- compatible with Pentax SLR cameras -- features fully automatic operation and helps photographers fill shadows, add depth, avoid red-eye and improve image resolution.

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Rokinon 85M-N 85mm F1.4 Aspherical Lens for Nikon (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have the Rokinon version of this lens. It is great! I use it on a Nikon D700 and have compared it with the Nikon AF 85mm f/1.4 (which I had rented for a weekend to test) and I much prefer this lens to the Nikon.
When I used the Nikon AF version, I found myself having to manually focus to get the plane of focus just where I wanted it and so decided I really didn't need to pay extra (almost a $1k more) for the AF feature. So the only thing that would make sense for paying more was if the Nikon's Image Quality was significantly better... it wasn't. In fact, at f/1.4 (which is where you will be shooting this lens 99% of the time, else why buy an f/1.4 lens) I found the Rokinon/Opteka to be sharper and have more contrast than the Nikon.
There are a lot of reviews to be found on the inter-net for this lens. Some express concern for obtaining a good "copy". I am sure this lens is not as consistent in its build quality as Nikon is, but I got lucky right out of the chute with my first one. It is amazingly sharp, mechanically sound, and the IQ is just what I needed it to be (bokeh is wonderful).
Bought mine through Amazon from Cameta Camera. Great store with quality customer service.
For the price, you really can't go wrong.

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The Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 Manual Focus Lens for Nikon is an ultra-bright lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4. Although you can only use this lens in manual focus mode, it is fully compatible with the automated features available with digital SLR cameras. It is compact and lightweight, and offers the ideal focal length and bright aperture for use as a portrait lens.

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Bower SFD35N Nikon i-TTL Dedicated Flash Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)INITIAL REVIEW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I didn't own this unit for the initial review. I had to rate it or Amazon won't accept my comment, so I initially rated it a 4 based on my overall initial impression of "great value, OK features". I later edited this comment and reduced the rating to a 3 due to poor durability (one of the flashes burned out under relatively light use). I initially reviewed it to provide the following missing technical information. Researching found the following for comparison to Nikon flashes (The Amazon product description is difficult to read):
Model Name: Bower SFD35N Flash for Nikon
Guide Number: 34m/112ft at ISO 100(50mm at ISO 100)
Circuitry: IGBT Circuitry (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
AF Illumination: 0.9m-8m/3ft-26ft
Automatic TTL Range: 0.9m-17m/3ft-56ft (f2.0)
Color temperature: 5600K
Bounce angle: up 30-45-60-75-90 degrees
Swivel angle: left 60-75-90-120-150-180 / right 60-75-90-120-150 degrees
Flash duration: 1/700 sec (at full power)
Number of Flashes: 100-300 per set of batteries
Exposure check confirmation: Green auto check lamp
i-TTL indication: Orange lamp
Auto standby
Recycle time: 4 to 6 sec with Alkaline Batteries
Power Source: 4 AA Batteries, not included
Zoom range: 28-85mm (manual not automatic) - For 35mm/FX format
Auto distance range: 3.3ft to 33ft
Angle of coverage: Horizontal - 60 degrees, Vertical 45 degrees
Dimensions: 76mm(W) x 60mm(H) x 185mm(L) / 3.(W) x 2.5 inch(H) x 7.3inch(L)
Weight (without battery): 280 grams (13,6 oz)
UPDATE
~~~~~~
I decided to take a gamble and buy this flash. Based on playing with it a little and using it on a location family portrait shoot, it is definitely no where near comparable to a Nikon in quality of manufacturing, but it is a good value given it's low price. This iTTL flash does work well as advertised on-camera, and has a really good guide number (better than a Nikon SB600 costing a lot more). If you only want a single consumer-grade iTTL flash for on-camera work to replace Nikon's weak built-in flash, this is a very cost effective choice.
However, some of the missing features (such as no optical slave) are more annoying to me than I thought they would be. I do portrait and wedding photography, and was looking to buy a few cheap units as backups for location work. I would like to be able to have either flash triggered by another flash, but even a radio-controller won't work with the SFD35N as it has no sync plug socket for one (wassup wit dat??). So due to lack of sync socket I'll sell this flash and replace it with a Bower SFD926N (which has an optical slave - but still no sync socket).
My buddy with a D-40 wants an economical flash with better reach than the built in flash, and I am very comfortable selling this flash plus 3rd-party diffuser to a close friend. He's an avid amateur with limited hobby budget, has no need for the off-camera slave function and has already seen the quality of bounced light this flash produced at a indoor party with fairly dark wood interior and bright window light, so he'll be as pleased as I was with this flash when used in that configuration. I purchased two Bower SFD926N units for backups and as cheap lightweight off-camera optical slaves - so I can have multiple lights and not have to lug around my Photogenics system. I use my Nikon SB900 with SD9 battery pack for my workhorse. Either of these Bowen flashes (SFD35N or SFD926N) have guide numbers better than some monolights I've researched and are way more portable for location/wedding work, with no "car batteries" to lug or power cords to have to string across a church.
Also read the comments and responses to this post by clicking on the COMMENTS link below...
;-{>


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The Bower SFD35N Digital Auto-Focus Flash is a fully dedicated i-TTL program flash designed to work with the Nikon line of digital and film SLR cameras. Designed with professional and amateur photographers in mind, the SFD35N flash is equipped with a guide number of 112' with full i-TTL metering, automatic shutter speed control and aperture control of digital and analog SLR cameras.

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