Neewer RF550 ringflash/light review

 Today I'm reviewing the Neewer RF550 ringflash.
 The device is an LED light/flash and uses 48 LED's.  It's simple and easy to attach to your camera (getting it off is a bit harder) It comes with adapter rings for all the common filter sizes between 49mm and 72mm.  And also three other diffusers, white, orange and blue. It's got a very high CRI index and is very good for daylight balance colour wise.
 To use you simple screw on the suitable adapter ring for the lens your using, slip the power pack part of the device on the camera hot shoe, then with a press of a button you clip the ringlight part onto the front of the lens via the adapter ring.
 It has essentially four modes.  Flash/flash left side only/flash right side only/continuous light  The right or left sides give some modeling to the subject, by simply revolving the ringlight part you can obviously light top or bottom as well.
 In use it uses four double A batteries and should give a good run time, it's fairly bright, keeping in mind it's designed for macro/close up. I got pretty reasonable exposures and it made a big difference to items in shadow.
 Is it worth the money??  Well I got mine free, but at £25 they are good value if you do a lot of close up or macro work.

Couple of marco ring light/flash test shots

Took these to test the freebee ring-light thingie out. Got a half decent esposure, but it's a bit bulky, I'm going to have find a space to fit it in the bag.... God knows where though. 
The pics are shot on my 50mm with one extension tube and the ring light. The flower is about one inch long so I'm fairly close up and thats the full frame.

Camera bags... reaching the limit

 Well I've mentioned my camera bag before in the blog (think I have) my problem now is I'm running out of space.  Well to be honest I ran out of space a while back.
 A couple of years back I got my "new" bag a Lowepro flipside 500 ( going up from the 400)
 That helped for a while, then as I bought more gear the spare space got filled up.  Now I'm struggling to squeeze in a polo mint. Ok it's getting silly.
 The thing is I've got a ringlight for macro in the post (a freebee I'll review when it arrives) thats not a small item, then theres another new lens for Christmas (and lens hood), plus some more  filters (if my brother buys them) I've got my eye on a flash lead thats 10 foot long, ok thats not massive put it still needs a corner to go in.  But where the hell to I puts them... No I'm not shoving them there it'll hurt...
 But being serious, I'm out of space, my off camera flash triggers are in the front pocket as theres no room in the main part of the bag. Theres just isn't space for a ringflash and another lens. Then theres the weight factor, my bloody bag now weighs more than a collapsed dwarf star, and thats without the new kit, my normall ND filters and half a dozen packs of batteries and yet another lens I have my eye on (sigma 105mm macro).
 I did try adding two 10 liter side pockets off my old army bergan, yeah that worked, I could get a load of extra kit in, trouble was I couldn't pick the bastard thing up. Sadly my days of carrying a 100+ pound over the mountains are gone.  I'm an old fart now and carrying a 60+ pound camera bag is just getting silly.
 I'm out of ideas, really I need a trusty assistant to do the heavy lifting.  That or I'm going to have to take a serious look at what kit I NEED. But bugger... I need it all.....

Running wild with Bear Gryllis?

 Running wild with Bear Gryllis?  The programs tag line is "The famed survivalist takes A-list celebrities on journeys into the wildest locations around the world, forcing the stars to push their bodies and minds to the limit"  This week it's Rob Riggle...  
 A list?  I had to look him up on IMDb, I'd never heard of him. He has made a few films but I hadn't heard of those either, in fact the only things he's done I had heard of were the simpsons and family guy and he's done bit part voices for one off characters.
 Come on Bear, thats not bloody A list, thats Z list at best.

BBC war of the worlds vs the book

 I've been watching the BBC's version of the HG Wells classic war of the worlds. So far I'm not exactly blown away with it. More curiously theres a number of changes in the series from the book. Some seem odd.
 In the series the lead male is named George. In the book he's never named. This isn't a big issue as it's changed from a first person narrative for the production.
 The lead couple are adulterers in the series, yet in the book they are a married couple. This seems an odd change as it makes no difference to the story and complicates it with "georges" real wife. It seems more a dig at the old family values to me.
 The martians. In the book the martians are seen in the beginning of the story when they emerge from their craft but cant cope with our gravity and retreat to their machines. In the series we dont see them untill the last part. Now I can see the idea of keeping the suspense, but your making a series based on a book. At what point does it stop being war of the worlds by HG Wells?
 The brother. In the series "georges" brother is the sectary for war (or something similar) in the book he's a doctor and it's the leads younger brother, in the series he looks older. Again theres no need to have changed this other than to have a dig at the establishment.
 Frankly with the series jumping back and fro in time I found it confusing, and again not really part of Wells story. I also found it odd that the male lead seems so weak.

Fungi... flowers, birds and other stuff (part five)

 Yes you guessed it part five....  This one has some skeleton leaves which is a new one to me.

Fungi... flowers, birds and other stuff (part four)

The fourth selection.

Fungi... flowers, birds and other stuff (part three)

 The third selection.