Phoenix Smart Flash RF46N Macro Ring Flash Nikon Digital SLR Cameras: Customer Reviews & Product Details

SO I was in need of a cheap ETTL ringflash to use with my NIkon D5000. I already have a lester dine ringflash for another one of my lenses and was tired of switching the ring flash. This flash comes ready to go out of the box. It had a seamless control thru my camera settings eliminating the need to work thru seperate numbers on the flash itself. saved me time energy and effort. So all in all its twho thumbs up! Highly recommended for thoswe users who are new to DSLRs and require a ring flash.

The ring will vignette any lens winder than 50mm and may still do so if your lens is larger than 62mm. I saw no indication of this on the product page and this limitation makes it less than useful for macro portraiture. Additionally, the top and bottom portion of the ring flash did not go off at the same time so there were many cases where the picture was 1/2 illuminated. There may be cases where this flash is useful, I simply didn't encounter any of them.

I tried this flash on my Nikon D70. It completely over exposed every picture (total white out). Mine may have been defective as others have reported good results but I could not get a single close-up picture. Everything was totally white. At a few feet away, it appeared to work ok but what's the point of a macro flash if it doesn't work close-up?

I recently ordered a Phoenix RF-46N Smart Flash F/ Nikon. I was really excited when I got the package. So, I took the Flash out of the box, put new batteries in the flash, put it on my camera, flip the little switch to "ON" and nothing. The little "Ready" or "OK" lights didn't come on, also my camera didn't recognize it either. I even tried a different set of batteries. So, I returned this since it didn't work.

This item costs approximately 1/3 what competitors charge. It works as advertised and does synch in auto and manual modes with Nikon D-90.
The fabrication is flimsy and the hot shoe mount plastic, although the adaptor rings are machined aluminum and fit to Nikkor lenses sampled. I coupled it to 60mm macro.
It took me several minutes to figure out the correct orientation of AA batteries, which is poorly labeled and obscured within the battery housing.
I wouldn't expect this system to hold up in the field (my intent was to use it to photograph small game in the wild). Please note that the advertised (as written on the box) life-span of this unit is 100 to 200 flashes. That's not long, especially after blowing off 50 flashes synching it and adjust results to camera. Buyers beware as the flash limit should've been posted UP FRONT.Phoenix Smart Flash RF46N Macro Ring Flash Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
You get what you pay for.