Hi trichomefarmer
The nikkor 60mm 2.8 macro is a good lens I ve worked with it and got some very nice sharp images.
I would suggest you shoot in raw if you photograph scenes with high contrast harsh shadows bright highlights etc..Jpgs are great as they are smaller files and are fine for most shots..but if you shoot in a grow room for example without flash or out of the reach of the flash I 'd suggest you try the raw files..its really 2-3 easy clicks then to correct/enhance a shot.I usually shoot Jpg when I just want to keep record pics and quality is of no concern to me but when I show my work or quality is of importance I like to edit the photos and work with raw.The best thing with raw is that even if you don't usually edit or correct pics in Post , it can save the day if you need to recover detail/color in certain over & under exposed shots.One more really good thing with raw is that White balance correction is not embedded in the files so its really easy to correct shots that were shot with wrong white balance setting in the cam and look for example very orange or blue tinted. With jpgs thats a real pain to correct (if possible at all is many cases) in the ass to correct but with raw needs just one click.
Great photographers always say its better to get the look you are after in the cam but technology evolves and its easier than ever nowadays to get great looking pics and recover detail even if a photo was problematic when shot and now with digital photography and photo editing computer software its very easy to do things unimagined before with minimum effort and time.
Is your soft box homemade DIY or did you buy one?
I was also wondering if your ring flash allows for only one side lighting (only half right/left side to light).
L33t