Beauty dish

=ReBeL=

=ReBeL=

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Adrian
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I have been looking around for a ~55cm/22" white beauty dish with Bowens S-fit for a couple of days and I must say I am struggling. There are many silver ones available, on Ebay, Amazon and pretty much everywhere else, but it seems like white ones are pretty rare. And when the white ones are available they usually cost an arm and a leg.

Why 55cm? Well it will be mostly used in a small studio and I fear that 70cm will be just too big and is quite expensive too. On the other hand, the other popular size, 40cm/16" I think is just too small and does not really give that true beauty dish effect. I understand that the distance from the subject is the main factor when using BD and it seems like they work best when used in double the diameter distance from a subject (so 55cm x 2 = 110cm from a subject).

Any idea where can I find it for less than £100 ideally with honeycomb grid and a sock? I don't mind used/second hand.
 
these won't be under £100, but do fit the bill & and have the added benefit of interchangeable fittings, so will be either easy to sell on or keep even if you go for a change of brand :)

Just to add that I've never used this company and know nothing about them.

Paul
 
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Just buy a silver one and spray it white. My white Lencarta beauty dish doesn't exactly have the best finish on the paint :lol: but still does a good job :)
 
Why 55cm? Well it will be mostly used in a small studio and I fear that 70cm will be just too big and is quite expensive too. On the other hand, the other popular size, 40cm/16" I think is just too small and does not really give that true beauty dish effect. I understand that the distance from the subject is the main factor when using BD and it seems like they work best when used in double the diameter distance from a subject (so 55cm x 2 = 110cm from a subject).
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Hmm... No.
55cm is very much a compromise of cost + physical size/weight -v- versatility. It's a useful size but there is nothing "best" about it. And in my experience there isn't a magical optimum operating distance. Different, but equally valid and effective results can be produced at a variety of different distance ratios, all that I can really say is that the bigger the beauty dish, the more versatile it is. I've used 1.5m beauty dishes, made by hand for a studio I worked in abroad, we found it pretty spectacular for cosmetic etc beauty headshots as well as for full length fashion and similar.

Personally, I have both 40 & 70cm in both white and silver, the 70cm silver one gets used much more heavily for my work, with the right type of model.

Michael Sewell has both 40cm and 70cm, I think that he probably makes more or less equal use of both. We did a shoot in his studio last week using the 70cm, on that shoot the 40cm wouldn't have done the job, neither would the 55cm one that he also has, we didn't even bother trying them.
 
I'm sorry for late reply, but I had a really busy day and only just catching up (and it really is time to go to bed too, 6 am start tomorrow :)).


paul williams said:
these won't be under £100, but do fit the bill & and have the added benefit of interchangeable fittings, so will be either easy to sell on or keep even if you go for a change of brand :)

Just to add that I've never used this company and know nothing about them.

Paul
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Thanks Paul, I was looking at this one before. Seems OK. Above the budget, but if I get the assignment I'm hoping to get, I may increase the budget :naughty:

Chr1stof said:
A home made one by a contact of mine on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scrawnsenior/8586223828/in/photostream/
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It will be used for years to come (hopefully) and need to be sturdy and reliable ;) Thanks

Mank said:
Just buy a silver one and spray it white. My white Lencarta beauty dish doesn't exactly have the best finish on the paint :lol: but still does a good job :)
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That's one of the options too :) Thanks

Garry Edwards said:
Hmm... No.
55cm is very much a compromise of cost + physical size/weight -v- versatility. It's a useful size but there is nothing "best" about it. And in my experience there isn't a magical optimum operating distance. Different, but equally valid and effective results can be produced at a variety of different distance ratios, all that I can really say is that the bigger the beauty dish, the more versatile it is. I've used 1.5m beauty dishes, made by hand for a studio I worked in abroad, we found it pretty spectacular for cosmetic etc beauty headshots as well as for full length fashion and similar.

Personally, I have both 40 & 70cm in both white and silver, the 70cm silver one gets used much more heavily for my work, with the right type of model.

Michael Sewell has both 40cm and 70cm, I think that he probably makes more or less equal use of both. We did a shoot in his studio last week using the 70cm, on that shoot the 40cm wouldn't have done the job, neither would the 55cm one that he also has, we didn't even bother trying them.
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Garry, that's exactly what the 55cm one is. A compromise. I said "best" as in best for me/my situation :) In ideal world I'd get the 70cm one in a blink (well, there is also the price issue ;)), but the BD will be mostly used in a small studio. At least until I can manage to get my own bigger studio. At this moment, I'm struggling for space and I feel the 70cm one will just be an overkill. I have a 100cm x 100cm softbox and while it is my favourite light modifier at the moment, when it is on the light it takes something like half the space available :lol:

The way I see it (probably wrong anyway) is I'd like to use it mostly up center in front of subject to light the face and the rest to have a nice fall off. I am limited by space and I fear that if I stick 70cm BD couple of feet away from my subject I will basically kill it with light.

I'm sorry, my brain doesn't work any more after 17 hours of work today. I'll try to word my thoughts out better tomorrow afternoon. I need some sleep :help:

whitevanman said:
Try here
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-wexpro-55cm-softlite-reflector-s-type-white/p1529014
Just realised goes over the £100 budget
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This one is also on my list. Thanks.
 
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Would you say that the 70cm beauty dish would work as well in a small studio as in large one?
 
=ReBeL= said:
Would you say that the 70cm beauty dish would work as well in a small studio as in large one?
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Why wouldn't it? I've not heard the double-diameter=distance thing before. There are no rules for this kind of thing.
 
HoppyUK said:
Why wouldn't it? I've not heard the double-diameter=distance thing before. There are no rules for this kind of thing.
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Thanks Richard. I've read about this rule in few places over the net. Though it might be complete tosh, I'm not sure.

One limiting factor of my studio is the ceiling height. With 70cm BD, the center of the light will have to be lower than, for example, with 55cm. What I'm usually forced to do is to have my subjects sitting rather than standing which have their own limitations in posing flexibility. I don't really want to be limited even further by a massive BD, which can introduce even more limitations.

As far as I know, BD works best close to the subject. I'm just not sure whether the 70cm one would not be too big for my setup. I guess I won't really know unless I try.
 
Richard is right, there are no rules. This particular 'rule' reminds me of another 'rule' that softboxes should be used at a distance that is the same as their diagonal measurement. Actually that one started life as a "rule" that softboxes stop acting as softboxes at distances greater than their diagonal measurement, but you know how it is with the internet...

And of course there's that other "rule", again complete *******s, that white backgrounds need to be overexposed by 2 stops.

There is just one "rule" that I think is worth repeating with beauty dishes - that they should be positioned exactly in line with where the subject is facing - but of course that's to get the classic beauty dish look, with clearly defined shadows in perfect symmetry. If that isn't what you want, then that rule doesn't apply either.

Lack of height can be a problem though. It's often necessary to get the beauty dish high, relative to the subject. If you can't do that, a 70cm one may not be the best choice for you. Can you borrow one before you make a final decision?
 
Thanks Garry. I'm not sure any company actually rent light modifiers. I guess I could try to rent a 70cm BD together with a studio to try it out. I need to look around. The only studio in my town is fitted with pretty much only medium size softboxes and the guy doesn't rent it out for other photographers.

Maybe I shouldn't use word "rule" when I mentioned the double the diameter vs distance thingy. It wasn't really mentioned as a rule, just as a sort of guide. IIRC it was mentioned more along the lines of 'you can achieve good results (with BD) when you start with double the BD diameter distance'. Of course sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. Depends what you want to achieve.

The ceiling height and lack of room is really limiting and annoying. I guess sooner or later I will have to get a dedicated place for my photography, but at this very moment, I'm stuck where I am.
 
Can't a member on here lend you one? Where are you?
 
I'm in West Lothian, Scotland. I'm not sure any member would be happy to lend their own equipment to an unknown person from the internet.

I will have a look around and (as it usually happens with my purchases) I will probably end up with the most expensive option available (so in this case 70cm BD + grid) :lol:
 
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