>>4173371I respectfully disagree
Most of my macro stuff is from hiking tours. These are random encounters and I have to make the best of them. I can plan a location all I want but that's pointless if the hawkmoth or the stag beetle are not going to turn up. And I can't micromanage the arrangement of grass blades in the first place. Or clouds, for that matter.
My flash batteries last for about a day's trip. I don't think a LED would hold up that long. Not that I insist on shooting everything with flash, but especially for getting nice backgrounds without the bug drowning in shadow, it's really nice to have. It's light and portable but of course there are drawbacks. In 19 out of 20 cases, I prefer my pincer flash over an off-camera solution
