The RF- 550D Macro LED Ring Flash from Travor

The RF- 550D is a well-made and inexpensive Macro LED Ring Flash from Travor. The flash unit consists of the main power control unit and the wired macro ring head which has 48 LEDs arranged in two rows around the ring. The macro flash ships with the control unit, flash head, stand, 8 adapter rings for mounting the flash head to your lens, and four different diffuser rings. Two of the diffuser rings are for color corrections (one is amber and one is blue) the other two offer two different levels of straight diffusion.

The Power control unit has a very simple layout that is straight to the point and easy to navigate. There are seven buttons on the back of the unit. The top four buttons are labeled:

Pilot – activates the ring flash just like any other test button.

Mode – toggles you between the main flash function and splitting the light between the left and right side firing only.

Light – when pressed it activates the continuous light function of the macro flash.

On/Off – this is exactly what it says.

The lower three buttons are for setting the power levels. There is a down, set, and up button. Like I said before it is pretty straight forward. You use the up and down buttons to adjust the power levels and then hit the set button.

The Travor RF- 550D Macro LED Ring Flash is powered by four AA batteries and rations out the power pretty well. The main exception to this is when you are using the continuous light function, and then it eats the batteries.

All of the adjustments are easily visible on the slightly blue illuminated display that is above the buttons.

On the bottom of the flash head is a universal plastic foot with a single trigger pin and a sturdy locking ring to keep the flash head securely fastened to the camera.

On the flash head there are two release tabs located on either side of the body for releasing the lens mounted adapter ring. Toward the top of the flash head at about the 11 o’clock position there are “on and off” markings that you line up with a small red dot on the diffusion ring. To change out the diffusers all you need to do is to rotate the ring according to the direction indicated.

To mount the flash head onto your lens you simply screw on an adapter ring that is the same size as your filter ring to your lens and then place the flash head on the adapter ring.

The RF-550D is easy to use for your macro photography. You have the option to use it as a regular manual flash or as a continuous light source. This is a well-constructed macro flash and sells for around $60 on eBay. If you are in the market for an inexpensive macro flash then I would totally suggest taking a look at the RF-550D from Travor.