Nikon Technical Information for the
Ray Flash Ring Flash Adapter

The unique RAY FLASH Adapter has been developed by a professional photographer from the Czech Republic. Designed to be as light and as portable as possible, there are no electronics, no flashtubes and no cumbersome cables! It uses a clever system of acrylic light channels and reflectors to distribute the light emitted from the flash unit evenly around the large diameter of the ringflash adapter. This creates the same lighting effect normally only available from expensive and heavy ringflash units made by studio flash equipment manufacturers.

The Ringflash Adapter is made to fit the Canon 580 and Nikon SB800 flash units and due to it's large inner diameter the ringflash adapter will accept almost all lenses from Nikon & Canon leaving the TTL function and colour temperature un-affected.

Exposure control: when using Canon or Nikon cameras (or their derivatives) all TTL functions are operational as usual, as well as manual mode. In MANUAL control of the exposure is by use of a light meter or through test-shots on a digital camera.

Light output: The Ringflash Adapter is very efficient and the loss of light is surprisingly low! There is a difference in light efficiency between the SIRC and the RAN/RAC models, the latter being more efficient.

POWER OUTPUT GUIDE for RAC & RAN models

ISO	Flash Power	Distance	f/stop Canon 580EX II	f/stop Nikon SB800
100	1/1	0.6m/2ft	22.6	16.5
100	1/1	1.2m/4ft	11.1	11.2
100	1/1	1.8m/6ft	8.0	7.5
100	1/1	2.4m/8ft	7.2	4.9
100	1/1	3.1m/10ft	4.5	4.2

 

How to fit the Ringflash Adapter:

The Ringflash Adapter is mounted to the front of a portable flash unit, for example Canon 580 or Nikon SB800, and it is small and light weight enough to allow complete mobility!

Line up the flash unit with the rear receptacle of The Ringflash Adapter		Push the flash unit in as far as it will go		Turn the pressure plate at the top of The Ringflash Adapter clockwise to lock

This model (RAN & RAC) is a later development to fit the Nikon SB800, Canon 580EX & 580 EX MKII. It is slightly different in size and weight (see spec below) and one stop more powerful than the original SIRC.

Model Range:
Code	Ringflash Adapter to fit	Our Price £
RAN160	NIKON SB800, 300, 200, 90, 70, 80, 60, 50, 40	151
RAN170	NIKON SB800 & D1, D2, D3, D700	151
RAN179	NIKON SB900 & D300, D200, D70, D80, D60, D50, 40, 40X etc & D1	151
RAN189	NIKON SB900 & D1, D2, D3, D700	151
Retail prices are in GBP Sterling

Technical specification:
Code	Outer Diameter	Inner Diameter	Centre ringflash to centre flash unit	Weight
RAN160	175	103	160	462
RAN170	175	103	170	478
RAN179	175	103	170	480
RAN189	175	103	180	485
All measurements are in millimetres & grams

Using flash units other than Nikon SB800 & Canon 580

Ffeedback from existing customers shows that it is possible to use the RA with various other types of flash units.
>> Click here for further details in this PDF.

 Guide to the model range and suitability of different camera models:

Canon & Nikon each make a large range of camera models and they have different body heights, which affects the difference between the centre of the bayonet mount (optical axis for the lens) and the hot-shoe. We list the camera models with the RA that gives the best position for the lens, i.e. lens is in the centre of the RA or as near as possible to the centre.  But actually you can use almost all camera/lens combination with most of the model range! In fact people often buy a different RA model to that recommended,  because the model they want is not available yet and they don't want to wait OR a photographer might have several different bodies or he/she may be planning to buy a different body soon.  For instance the D1/D2 can be used with the RAN160 and the 170 (the lens would be more central with the 170). The fact that the lens is not central is only a cosmetical issue, but technically makes no difference to the light output or quality. The new D3 is the highest body that Nikon have made so far and that can realistically only be used with the RAN170 to accommodate almost all lenses. BUT we have used the D3 with a few lenses that are relatively small in diameter and that works fine, however the "fatter" zoom lenses would not fit physically into the RAN160.  

To illustrate this we have checked a few Nikon bodies with a RAN160:
D300 and D300S  lens is central,  good for all lenses
D80   lens is slightly upwards of centre, good for all lenses
D60   lens is slightly upwards of centre, good for all lenses
D3     lens is below centre, but all prime lenses will be ok, and some zoom lenses, but the "fatter" zoom lenses will not fit into the ringflash adapter. The D3 should ideally be used with the RAN170!

At the moment there are no plans to introduce a RAY FLASH Adapter for other types & makes of flash units.

 

Radiation diagram

 

Measurements