Ring in a flash? I should Co-Co!

Look. It is the first day back to work after four days off. It was the most imaginative title I could come up with.

Imaginative definately describes this ring flash adapter. Designed originally by Ray Flash, the moulds to create it were done in China. The story goes that Co-co nabbed the moulds and created their own knock off. Well, if that is true, (and it looks likely that it IS true) then this is one of those knock offs.

Yes, I took a chance.

So do I feel guilty? Well, in a world where he who is without sin should cast the first stone, I can only say two, unrelated words. "McKinnon," and, "Boeing." That is all I'm saying on that subject.

Anyway, here I am, sixty quid (plus postage) lighter and one knock-off heavier.


It has literally just landed in the office and already things are not looking too good. On the one hand, the build quality seems reasonable. For something as awkward and cumnbersome as this, I have some faith in it. Faith is the order of the day here, as with having to face return postage to the USA, if something is screwed up, it will be expensive to replace.

Not only that, but the time factor in having to return it and then wait for another one to get shipped out is a real pisser. When someone can't ship me good product on the first attempt, that really gets me so angry I could turn green and jump accross the atlantic. I won't say where I got this, however, as I'm giving the supplier a chance to review the situation and come back to me on it.

Two things, however, have me concerned. The first is the dial that puts pressure on the flash head to hold the device on. That looks and feels oh, so seventies cheap knock off toy-ish. The second is of more concern to me ... which is that there is glue inside the top section of the mount, where the flash pulse initially fires and is collected. That, for sure, is going to have a negative effect on the power. Also, it is going to colour the light ... and that isn't very clever.