Polaroid Macro LED Ring Flash & Light For The Canon Digital EOS Rebel SL1 (100D), T5i (700D), T5 (1200D), T4i (650D), T3 (1100D), T3i (600D), T1i (500D), T2i (550D), XSI (450D), XS (1000D), XTI (400D), XT (350D), 1D C, 70D, 60D, 60Da, 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, 10D, 5D, 1D X, 1D, 5D Mark 2, 5D Mark 3, 7D, 7D Mark 2, 6D Digital SLR Cameras (Will Fit 52,55,58,62,67,72,77mm Lenses)

this is great for recording videos..i dont take pics much but i do a lot of videos and this is great when used correctly. the white light might appear on around the view on a video but after but you move it around, its great....the light can get intense at first, especially if your not used to it tho

The demise of Polaroid instant film was traumatic for a lot of us, and as a result their name will forever be weighted with loss for me. So, I hadn't really noticed what their brand has been up to in recent years. But it seems that name can be found on a variety of electronic photo gadgets these days, and when I was looking for an inexpensive ring flash, I picked this one, and I'm sure the name had something to do with that choice. And it seems that Polaroid is still in the business of building you up and letting you down. The ring flash was fine out of the box. All the pieces were in place to make it easy to hook up to my Canon 6D, and I played around with it for a while to get a feel for it. Its features worked as described in the instructions, all the LEDs lit up, and it was about as bright as you would expect for the price. Content enough, I packed it up in my camera bag, ready for quick setup when called for. When I did need it, a month or so later, it was dead -- no indicator lights, nothin'. New batteries made no difference. It's dead. This is an ex-ring-flash. This gadget has ceased to be. Since I discarded the packaging after trying it out the first time, the dead flash is mine now. Now it will go to that box in the attic where all my other dead Polaroid products sit, because I can't accept that this is all they were good for. (This may be a problem I should seek help for, now that I think about it.)

The LED flash/light works great for lighting subjects in pictures or creating shadow effects. Attaches to the lens with ease and comes with an assortment of rings for various mm lenses. Only drawback that irks me is the length of the cable. It is just a little too long for my taste but does the job for which it is intended. I am quite happy with this product and have used it several times. Very easy to use.

product already shorts out. very easy to use but think I can find one a little more that will last longer

Works well for my macro shots, a little powerful when used as a flash, I found it has worked best using the light setting, and just leaving it constantly turned on as that allows me to adjust settings for the brightness.

First off for under $50 I did not expect much. It's bright has no TTL, but it works as intended.I tested this on a 5Dc with a Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 L USM and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM. First thing I noticed is at 50mm you will see some of the flash unit in the lens, not a big deal but kind of annoying. The second thing is when you get too close to the subject or go under 50mm it becomes increasingly hard to focus, At 28mm I could see so much of the flash and it was so bright that the auto focus was useless. And the last thing is the lack of a TTL you are going to have to use manual setting. You can work around this by leaving the light on.The cons-No TTL be prepared to use manual settings and manual focus in some instances-Kind of makes a low humming when you leave it on-The lowest light setting is way to bright with almost no difference between low and high-Some flash sync issues, easily fixable with a restart to the unit-Too bight to really use as a macro lightThe Pros-Under $50-Gets really brightAll in all if your not scared of venturing into the manual settings it can be a useful light.

I wasn't quite ready to drop the $500 needed for the Canon ring flash, so I decided to give this a shot, mainly since it was the only "name brand" (Polaroid) ring flash (not just a ring light) that was under $100 or so. It takes 4 AA batteries. There is no battery life indicator, so I assume it'll just be a nice surprise when the batteries die, though you should probably always have some extras regardless.Build Quality: Sturdier than you would expect. I can only compare this to my Canon Speedlite 430EX II as it's the only other external flash I own, and while the Polaroid isn't even close to that level of quality, it doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart if you accidentally bump it on something. There's a hot shoe mounting wheel that tightens against the unit to keep it from falling off the camera. The entire unit is plastic, including the adapter rings (no surprise there) and the cable connecting the power controller to the ring flash is fixed on each side, though that isn't an issue because you first screw the adapter ring to the lens, then using a quick release (just like a lens cap) you attach the light unit to the adapter.Features: This is not a TTL flash unit, so be prepared to learn how to use this manually and get to know the light meter in your camera. My T2i, much like the other reviewer's 7D, does not recognize this unit as an external flash when attached to the hot shoe, HOWEVER, the unit does indeed function as a flash triggered off the shutter, but NOT in Live View mode (see UPDATE below). Strange, but I'm sure there's some technical reason for that. It will fire as a flash (your mileage may vary) when you're using the viewfinder. This may have something to do with that fact that it only has a single pin contact to the hot shoe, unlike my Speedlite which has 5 contacts (though that could be for TTL purposes). It has 7 brightness levels ranging from -1.5 to +1.5 for either flash or light modes. The paperwork claims an effective range from 2-60 inches. It appears as though you can only select left or right side LEDs in flash mode (meaning left, right, or all). In light mode, all 32 LEDs are on and you cannot change that. There is a pilot button that fires the flash to check how the lighting will look. This way you can see how using left, right or all of the LEDs will change the lighting before you take the shot.Operation: The unit is fairly straightforward besides the quirks previously mentioned. Anyone who's used an external flash before shouldn't have much trouble. I was up and running in just a couple minutes. Since I bought this to dabble in macro photography, my specific issues might be different than someone who's using this just as a ring flash. However, I'm not sure this really has much appeal for anyone outside of macro work.Complaints: Since the unit won't work in Live View mode (see UPDATE below), it's a bit annoying to have to compose, focus and meter the scene, then switch out of Live View to take the shot, but it's not the end of the world. I've specifically tested this on a T2i with a 50mm f/1.8 II and a full set of Kenko extension tubes (12mm, 20mm, and 36mm). That being said, my minimum (and maximum) focusing distances are pretty small with that setup, so the light tends to be right up on my subject, creating some harsh glare from time to time. I might have to figure out a way to diffuse the ring and soften the light a bit (you can use the lowest power setting and decrease your shutter speed to somewhat mitigate this issue, but I don't prefer it). Also, since I'm working with small apertures (f/11 up to f/22 on that lens), unless it's really, really bright from natural light, I'm not finding tons of use using the unit in flash mode. Since I need to use such slow shutter speeds, I'm having to use the unit in light mode to keep the images from being very underexposed. I assume that would be an issue common to pretty much any ring flash used in this manner, so I'm not sure I'd consider that a negative specific to this Polaroid.Overall, considering the low price of this product, I think you're actually getting a bit more than what you paid for. I'm always wary of buying low-priced items, especially for camera equipment, so (so far) this has been a nice surprise.UPDATE 5/1/12: It appears as though there is somewhat of a battery life indicator. The "light" LED seems to flash when the battery starts to get low. The battery life is OK at best, but that was with prolonged use of the unit in light mode. I'm sure I'd get better life if used only as a flash. I was using Sanyo Eneloop rechargable batteries; the same I use in my Speedlite and combined with the battery grip on my cameras. Also, I want to redact what I said earlier about not getting tons of use from the flash function. I should preface that by saying that I don't get much use from it *indoors*. With decent natural light, the manual flash is more than effective. I just picked up the Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS USM 1:1 Macro lens, so if I find anything more useful to report regarding the ring flash, I'll update again. So far, this operates nicely.UPDATE 5/5/12: I tested this unit with my Canon 60D body and it also works fine on it as a flash with the same restrictions I had on my T2i. It's not recognized through the camera menu, but still fires as a flash when the shutter is pressed. It also worked fine through a Yongnuo RF603 C3 Wireless Transceiver which I was using on the 60D to remotely trigger a Speedlite along with the ring flash so I could shoot with a faster shutter speed and still use the unit in flash mode as opposed to light mode to try and conserve a bit of battery. It's bright, but I wanted a little fill flash in some cases.UPDATE 5/30/12: On higher end Canon bodies (not Rebels), there's a setting called "Silent Mode". In order for this unit to fire as a flash when using Live View on my 60D, this setting needs to be set to disable. Unfortunately, it's not an option (the setting does not exist) on my T2i (Rebel 550D). Hope that helps anyone else who may be having an issue with this firing as a flash in Live View. I'd be curious if the other 7D reviewer has that setting set the same way.

Bought for my canon 20D and rebel. This light is really great!! Love the easy to use features and multiple attachments for all different camera.Highly recommend for any beginner or expert. Really helps with portraits.