Bowens has announced a new accessory that they seem to be pretty pumped about. The Ringlite Converter attaches to standard strobe flashes. If you’re not familiar with ringlights, consider Strobist’s Ring Flash Week for a primer (and then some) on the subject.

Press Release:

Bowens have launched a unique, affordable ringflash photography solution that is set to take the market by storm.

The pioneering, lightweight Ringlite Converter, developed over the past nine months, is a ‘world-first’ product for the UK-based lighting group.

Robert Cook, Bowens marketing manager said: “We’ve been looking at developing a wider range of reflectors and this cost-efficient ringflash alternative is the first new product in this strategic review. The Bowens technical team has fulfilled the brief with a world-class solution.
At a fraction of the cost of a ringflash and generator, this innovative converter offers photographers a robust, portable and cost-effective addition to their capture equipment portfolio.
This product makes ringflash-style photography affordable and opens up the option for the first time ever to a whole new raft of photographers who operate on tight budgets.”

Bowens kept the Ringlite Converter a closely-guarded secret as they developed and patented the product this summer.

Mark Aherne, Bowens technical director explained: “Traditional ringflash generally comprises flash tubes, cable and a powerpack, so the full kit required is quite unwieldy and expensive.”

“We built the converter and followed up with associated bracketry to ensure the unit would be suitable for most cameras on the market. We have created an attachment which allows photographers to convert their standard Bowens strobe lights to produce ringflash-style light. Using this new converter photographers can simply put the camera lens through the centre of the light source. This creates a softer, wholesome surrounding light around the lens which reduces shadows. It can also create shadowing around the outline of the subject so users can work with a specific photographic effect.”

He added: “The additional benefit of the converter is its ‘backwards capability’.
Photographers can take a standard Bowens product going back many years and use it – as long as it has an S-Type adaptor. This will bring additional cost benefits to our customers.”

Bowens say applications for the Ringlite Converter include portraits, product shots and technical photography.

Top fashion photographer Jon Gray trialled the new converter earlier this month.
He said: “This is an excellent product – particularly for a small portrait studio business.
I tested it on a portrait shoot and it’s a seriously impressive piece of kit.
Ringflash has been around for years but this new converter has all the attributes required for a different style of photography. Photographers won’t have to worry about buying other units; they can simply use their existing equipment.”

He added: “One of the problems with ringflash is it produces quite a hard punchy light…and it’s expensive.
This new Bowens converter is the reverse of that. It is easy to use, affordable and provides a soft light even light. I’d say it is set to be a world-beater.”

RingLite Converter dimensions:
Height: 13¾”
Width: 8¾”
Depth: 4½” (Inc S-Type adaptor, not including bracket)
Weight: 3.2lbs (including bracket)

[tags]bowens, ringlite, ringlight, ring flash[/tags]