Beauty dish for speedlights - what are the options?...

specialman

specialman

Suspended / Banned
Messages
8,193
Name
Pat MacInnes
Edit My Images
Yes
Although I love softboxes for the quality of light they produce, I'm really taken by what users of beauty dishes are achieving.

Just wondering what options there are for spedlight users other than what I've found?

Here's what I've found so far....

1) Interfit Strobies
2) DIY option (a'la ishootshows)
3) Wierd foldable plastic beauty dish
4) S-type adaptor to use Bowens ones

Any other suggestions? The DIY option looks intriguing but I don't have time to do this at the mo, although that kind of size looks miles better than the Strobies one, which just looks too small and will probably produce too hard a light.
 
Last edited:
You can now get speedlight to Eli adapters on ebay I think remember seeing them the other week, not sure what they're like.

Anything smaller than 40cm or so and I probably wouldn't bother, so forget strobist-esque diy fruit bowl stuff. Yes it's a beauty dish type modifier, aesthetically, but it just doesn't have the same effect in my eyes. I'm pretty sure Mola do a speedlight mount for their beauty dishes, if you're happy to spend the cash then look there. Mola dishes are amazing
 
I have the Bowens S-fit adapter as listed here by Bessel....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_n...5251&rt=nc&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1

It allows me to fit my 55cm BD without difficulty, and brollies, softboxes, barn doors etc.. The problem, which is nothing to do with the adapter, is that Speedlites squirt light forwards rather than out sideways in all directions as a studio strobe might. That means you need to turn your Speedlite into a bare bulb type of source (unlikely to happen) or fit a Stofen type modifier to cast the light out sideways to fill the BD. You pay a penalty in lost light from the Stofen as well as a further penalty from the BD itself.

These are terrible pics - huge crops from a larger shot of the scene rather than the individual gear, but hopefully you will get some idea. There are RF-602 triggers included as well as a 580EX II with the BD. You can see the edge of the Stofen on the flash inside the BD.

20101013_133900_1075_LR.jpg
20101013_133900_1075_LR-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Good points from Tim.

I don't want to cause a rumpus amongst the BD afficionados, but they're just a medium-sized round reflector with a hardish core to the light. Seems like if you call something a beauty dish, even if it's the size of an ash-tray or shaped like a washing-up bowl, folks think it's got magical qualities.

Whereas a small silver brolly (note: they are reverse firing) is a medium-sized octagonal reflector with a hardish core to the light. You can't use them so close though - shaft gets in the way. Otherwise, nothing in it.

A proper BD is a damn heavy awkward thing, too.
 
Thanks for the input so far guy - knew I'd get some good info :)

Mahoney - great info there. The Mola dishes look a tad expensive for my tastes (and my wallet) but I get what you mean about dish size.

Carl - again, expensive but noted :thumbs: The Elinchrom modifiers are more reasonably-priced than I thought.....

Tim - I think this is the route I was most interested in because I have a load of spare Bowens stuff at work waiting to be used (although a beauty dish isn't part of it!!), which makes sense at the moment. It's an interesting point about light spill - how much do you reckon you're losing through spill and through the design of a BD? One of the reasons I'm thinking about a BD is the fact you're not diffusing the light too much (like with a softbox) so you can get a bit more from a speedlight AND have a relatively large apparent light source so I can have a bit of softness in there for good measure.... or am talking rot?.....

Hoppy - so it's pretty much a direct comparison between, say, a 60cm BD and a 60cm reflective brolly in terms of light being pumped out? The shaft issue isn't something that would trouble me, as this would be for lighting larger area of the scene so would be out of shot. My main concern with brollies is with how they stand up to a breeze outdoors. Probably wrong, but I'm thinking a well pinned-down BD might be less of a worry outdoors than a brolly, whihc might just blow indie-out. Then again, the BD might just snap the stand..... :eek:

Just a thought, a BD like the one Mahoney has pictured, on an acute tilt downwards, it looks like it will hit the shaft of the stand, whereas a brolly on a major tilt would be fine. The BD might be better indoors (I sometimes do some stuff like that) for spacesaving in a room, although a brolly is easier to transport... err, I'm going in circles here!!! :lol:
 
Last edited:
specialman said:
Thanks for the input so far guy - knew I'd get some good info :)
<snip>

Hoppy - so it's pretty much a direct comparison between, say, a 60cm BD and a 60cm reflective brolly in terms of light being pumped out? The shaft issue isn't something that would trouble me, as this would be for lighting larger area of the scene so would be out of shot. My main concern with brollies is with how they stand up to a breeze outdoors. Probably wrong, but I'm thinking a well pinned-down BD might be less of a worry outdoors than a brolly, whihc might just blow indie-out. Then again, the BD might just snap the stand..... :eek:

<snip>
Click to expand...

I'm not making a big play of it. Just saying that a big curved metal dish with a deflector in front is not dissimilar to a silver brolly of the same size with a hot-shoe gun being fired directly into the back. Not in terms of the light coming out of the front, though there are obvious physical differences.

Elinchrom markets their softboxes as convertable into beauty dishes, with the deflector fitted and the diffuser panels removed...

I'm not sure a BD will be any better than a brolly outdoors. It's the shape, and I think the main difference would be that when the BD decides to blow over, it hits the ground a heck of a lot harder. Guy ropes ;)
 
I agree that large beauty dishes can be a problem outdoors, both because of uneven surfaces and wind. They definately do need to be secured well and if anything they are probably even worse than umbrellas.

But my experience of both reflective umbrellas and beauty dishes is that they do 2 very different jobs very differently. What's unique about beauty dishes is that the light from them can be used to sculpt the face very precisely, creating perfect shadow symmetry. Umbrellas can't do that, their shape is irregular and the light doesn't reflect from the panels very evenly anyway.

Obviously, if a beauty dish is just used for general illumination then the result will be very similar, but that isn't how I use them.

Various different people have claimed that a product that they're selling does the job of a beauty dish. Well, I have a hammer that can do a fair job of getting screws into wood, but that doesn't make it a screwdriver.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I agree that large beauty dishes can be a problem outdoors, both because of uneven surfaces and wind. They definately do need to be secured well and if anything they are probably even worse than umbrellas.

But my experience of both reflective umbrellas and beauty dishes is that they do 2 very different jobs very differently. What's unique about beauty dishes is that the light from them can be used to sculpt the face very precisely, creating perfect shadow symmetry. Umbrellas can't do that, their shape is irregular and the light doesn't reflect from the panels very evenly anyway.

Obviously, if a beauty dish is just used for general illumination then the result will be very similar, but that isn't how I use them.

Various different people have claimed that a product that they're selling does the job of a beauty dish. Well, I have a hammer that can do a fair job of getting screws into wood, but that doesn't make it a screwdriver.
Click to expand...

+1

A beauty dish and an umbrella are totally different modifiers, and give entirely different results when used as intended. Not to mention the option of using a grid on a beauty dish...that's when they get really special :thumbs:
 
Have you gotten a job photographing April Vokey? Most anglers I&#8217;ve met shouldn&#8217;t be allowed within 100 miles of a BEAUTY dish!!!!!

Sorry, nothing constructive to add though.
 
Good comments from Garry and Danny :thumbs:
 
irelanst said:
Have you gotten a job photographing April Vokey? Most anglers I’ve met shouldn’t be allowed within 100 miles of a BEAUTY dish!!!!!

Sorry, nothing constructive to add though.
Click to expand...

There are a few mingers out there - I'm working in the vain hope that beauty dish will live up to it's name.....


....although I should really invest in a "light-modifier-to-make-the-ugliest-people-on-earth-look-less-like-wierdos" attachment, if there is one :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top