Bending Light 3: DIY photography Ringflash in action

Good evening all. Those who've read my previous entries are familiar with the ringflash adapter I recently bought off of DIY lighting kits. I've been able to test it out on a select few of my friends. One would imagine, due to its bulky-yet-flimsy build, and the fact that the DSLR that I currently use as my workhorse isn't quite as capable in the dark, that use of the ringflash might be relegated to home-studio use, or the rare fun with friends portrait shoot. However, the fun-loving risk-taker in me just couldn't be stopped I guess. I decided to test it out on some club-goers. I had to change my set-up a bit though.

Instead of using the Olympus E410, I opted to use a Canon G10, which solves my focus-hunting-in-the-dark problem, and whose hotshoe would still allow me to trigger the flash with the use of my PT-04.
   I swapped the FL36R with the YN-560, giving me a faster recycle time and more power. However, the bigger 560 wouldn't fit in the hole as it was, so I did what some users suggested in the Strobist article comment thread and cut some slits in the corners.
   Instead of tiny and bulky tripod, I opted to go with a Gorrillapod knock-off from CDR King. This helped make the set-up more rigid, supporting the flash and giving me a better grip on the set-up, not to mention more mobility than the tripod would otherwise allow.

Set-up Comparisons

It's still, by no means, compact. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Sample photos from the club (Bliss Ultraclub, along Tomas Morato):

The rest are available here.

Some things I've come to learn from this experiment:

• The ringflash isn't advisable for group photos. Usable, for sure, but not advisable. You tend to burn the people on the sides of the photos.
• Big and Bulky have their bonuses. Everyone was curious to see just what this new fangled camera-whatchamacallit does and how they would look in the light. Easier to get people to agree to getting shot.