Speedlight grids

Livin The Dream

Livin The Dream

Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,608
Name
Kris
Edit My Images
No
So are the rogue grids the way to go, or is there a decent cheapy alternatives? Could do with 3 of them.
 
Honestly, I don't see the point of grids w/ speedlights... the light is going through a fresnel/focusing lens and almost all of the light is very directional already.
However, I do see a benefit to snoots. Change the speedlight's distance to change the area of coverage, change the speedlight's zoom to change the outer falloff/transition.
 
I use grids with my hotshoe flashes a lot. Love them.
However my flashes are Vivitar 283s, so no zoom. And I use them mostly for tabletop still-life stuff, rarely for people.

The effect of the grids is one that I could not get with a zoom unit and no grid - I know because I also have a more modern zoom flash and a Vivitar 285, and the zoomed light beam from both is totally different compared to that from the grids. The grids give me a lovely circular soft-edged beam, whereas the beam from a zoomed unit alone is still rectangular, and with much scrappier edges.

I have no idea about either the Rogue or Magmod grids/systems. I made my own from black card and drinking straws ten years ago. They're essentially rectangular-section cardboard snoots that slot over the flash head, filled with lengths of drinking straws glued in. They attach securely to the flash head with velcro.
I have four different lengths of them, giving me a useful assortment of beam angles. They've never fallen apart either - and my DIY-foo is not strong!
Infinitely cheaper than buying the things too. :)
 
Last edited:
Check out Lastolite strobo systems... Mount to a frame magnetically that you Velcro to your flash. Can also mount gels, barn doors, snoot and a gobo.
don't remember pricing on them, sorry.
 
sk66 said:
Honestly, I don't see the point of grids w/ speedlights... the light is going through a fresnel/focusing lens and almost all of the light is very directional already.
However, I do see a benefit to snoots. Change the speedlight's distance to change the area of coverage, change the speedlight's zoom to change the outer falloff/transition.
Click to expand...

This was my initial thought but the circular systems will change the shape slightly.

sunnyside_up said:
Check out Lastolite strobo systems... Mount to a frame magnetically that you Velcro to your flash. Can also mount gels, barn doors, snoot and a gobo.
don't remember pricing on them, sorry.
Click to expand...

Are you using them for any of your product stuff Beth? Look decent, will check them out.
 
Livin The Dream said:
This was my initial thought but the circular systems will change the shape slightly.



Are you using them for any of your product stuff Beth? Look decent, will check them out.
Click to expand...
I've used them for plenty of things, specifically for some of the series I did of the veg on black, where I want to keep the light very directional. Tend to use gridded softboxes for most of the food stuff though... But they have their use. Let me know if you want to 'have a play' and I'll let you borrow some bits if you want.
 
sunnyside_up said:
I've used them for plenty of things, specifically for some of the series I did of the veg on black, where I want to keep the light very directional. Tend to use gridded softboxes for most of the food stuff though... But they have their use. Let me know if you want to 'have a play' and I'll let you borrow some bits if you want.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to have to delve into the world of product photography, it's something that would be good to explore at this time of year, so I may pick your brain :)
 
Livin The Dream said:
This was my initial thought but the circular systems will change the shape slightly.
Click to expand...
My description of use was for a snoot... zoom position w/in the snoot can affect the overall characteristic depending on diameter/length of snoot. And the snoot will, of course, change the shape/pattern to circular. However, a larger diameter snoot may allow the original/rectangular shape to come through if the flash head is zoomed out too far.

I don't find any need to make a speedlight "harder." My preference is to use black paper/cards to shape/restrict the light as needed... barn doors/flags/snoots of any diameter/etc/etc.
 
Last edited:
I use the rouge grids with my 600-ex-rt's (and gels), they work very well imo, I stack them depending on what I need, also you can use the small grids with the snoots to reduce the light even more, modifiers are just that, a means to modify the light to achieve the effect you desire.

For the record I find the small rouge snoots, grids and benders great for tight space speedlight work, I love the very tight light they give, they are overpriced I guess but i'm happy with them 100%.
 
Last edited:
MidnightUK said:
Have seen very good reviews of the Magmod system, though they are not cheap. Supposedly stay in place firmly and are quick to change. Popular with USA wedding photographers for this reason. Designed by one of them who got fed up of limitations of some of the alternatives.

http://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/brands/magmod/
Click to expand...
I think that the Magmod range is horrifically expensive for what it is, but then I don't like wasting money:)

Snoots and honeycombs are useful, although obviously the lack of a modelling lamp makes things more difficult, but this can be overcome by trial and error.

I don't know whether it helps or not, but we have a flashgun snoot, complete with a removable honeycomb https://www.lencarta.com/studio-lighting/strobists?product_id=452&ov=1
 
Garry Edwards said:
I think that the Magmod range is horrifically expensive for what it is, but then I don't like wasting money:)
Click to expand...

Agree with you on price, though quite a lot of photo kit seems overpriced in general for what it looks like it might cost to manufacture and make a fair profit margin. I think quite a bit of it is down to brand snobbery, they know they can charge so they do. If we had to rely on the 'elite' brands, many of us would be priced out of photography, as it is it takes years to afford a fairly basic kit.

(My parcel from Lencarta is due soon and I just made use of Calumets 30% discount offer today for a small lightstand to match the one I got last year).
 
I wish you hadn't mentioned the discount Jay, currently hovering over a few items...
 
Livin The Dream said:
I wish you hadn't mentioned the discount Jay, currently hovering over a few items...
Click to expand...

I make sure I am on Calumets email list as they do the own brand 30% discount a few times a year - sometimes when you would not expect it. I can travel to one near me, so I went in today (last day of this sale). The staff had spent all day packing goods up to sent out and said the company had done well the last few days. The display room had noticably a lot less stock in than several months back. Not sure if they did fantastic in the sale or if they are keeping stock levels lower these days. Anyway, I was happy.

Did you make a Calumet purchase in the end?
 
MidnightUK said:
quite a lot of photo kit seems overpriced in general for what it looks like it might cost to manufacture and make a fair profit margin
Click to expand...
Especially as we all know that pretty much all of the well know brands get their stuff made very very inexpensively in China.
I buy from Chinese sellers simply because I can often get identical item that the British resellers offer but without the added 200% and more extra cost that is added just for having their British company logo added to the Chinese made kit.
I have given up on brand loyalty and I am financially better of for it.
 
MidnightUK said:
Agree with you on price, though quite a lot of photo kit seems overpriced in general for what it looks like it might cost to manufacture and make a fair profit margin. I think quite a bit of it is down to brand snobbery, they know they can charge so they do. If we had to rely on the 'elite' brands, many of us would be priced out of photography, as it is it takes years to afford a fairly basic kit.

(My parcel from Lencarta is due soon and I just made use of Calumets 30% discount offer today for a small lightstand to match the one I got last year).
Click to expand...
That's sort of true, and certainly there seem to be a couple of names out there that capitalise on their logo.
But, as with most things, prices have come way down over the years, and quality/specs have gone up. When I started in photography my first SLR camera, which was basically just a pile of rubbish, cost £2000 in today's prices. And 10 years ago, a basic Bowens lighting kit was around £800 (£1100 in today's prices?) and a better kit now would be much less than half that, so my point is that it takes a much smaller multiple of the average income today to buy decent gear. And going back even further, there was a TV programme a couple of weeks ago where they mentioned that (until it was stopped) soldiers in the 1st world war took photos using the Kodak VP camera, but it was basically only officers who could afford to do so, because the cameras, which were basic to say the least, cost a month's wages.
redsnappa said:
Especially as we all know that pretty much all of the well know brands get their stuff made very very inexpensively in China.
I buy from Chinese sellers simply because I can often get identical item that the British resellers offer but without the added 200% and more extra cost that is added just for having their British company logo added to the Chinese made kit.
I have given up on brand loyalty and I am financially better of for it.
Click to expand...

I take your point, and there are certainly savings to be made by buying from ebay sellers based in Hong Kong.
But it's no longer true to say that goods are made in China "very very inexpensively", you're well out of date on that one.
However, there are various factors that you may (or may not) care about.
1. A lot of the "identical" items are in reality counterfeit.
2. Many of them are well under the required electrical safety standards. Forget what may be printed on them, e.g. CE (the joke is that this stands for Chinese Export) or ROHS, which is nothing more than a statement about the materials that they are made from that may or may not be true, these so-called safety labels get printed on everything and do not indicate that they actually comply with the regulations.
3. One of the reasons why our country is massively in debt and also has very high taxation is that these sellers evade both VAT and import duty, and although those of us who buy from them may think it's a good idea to be complicit in illegal activity, it's adding to our problems.
4. Those items that include batteries are also imported illegally, ignoring the safety regulations and endangering the passenger aircraft that they transported on, by mis-declaring them to be something harmless.
5. There is no warranty. Chinese companies don't understand the concept of either warranty or customer support. I remember one items on ebay where the seller stated that their goods were warranted but that faulty items must be received by them in Hong Kong within 14 days of them being despatched from Hong Kong, which of course is totally impossible to comply with as it takes much longer than that. Having spent a lot of time in a lot of different Chinese factories, all that I can say on the subject is that I personally would never buy any product that didn't come with a genuine warranty from a genuine British Company.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I take your point, and there are certainly savings to be made by buying from ebay sellers based in Hong Kong.
But it's no longer true to say that goods are made in China "very very inexpensively", you're well out of date on that one.
However, there are various factors that you may (or may not) care about.
1. A lot of the "identical" items are in reality counterfeit.
2. Many of them are well under the required electrical safety standards. Forget what may be printed on them, e.g. CE (the joke is that this stands for Chinese Export) or ROHS, which is nothing more than a statement about the materials that they are made from that may or may not be true, these so-called safety labels get printed on everything and do not indicate that they actually comply with the regulations.
3. One of the reasons why our country is massively in debt and also has very high taxation is that these sellers evade both VAT and import duty, and although those of us who buy from them may think it's a good idea to be complicit in illegal activity, it's adding to our problems.
4. Those items that include batteries are also imported illegally, ignoring the safety regulations and endangering the passenger aircraft that they transported on, by mis-declaring them to be something harmless.
5. There is no warranty. Chinese companies don't understand the concept of either warranty or customer support. I remember one items on ebay where the seller stated that their goods were warranted but that faulty items must be received by them in Hong Kong within 14 days of them being despatched from Hong Kong, which of course is totally impossible to comply with as it takes much longer than that. Having spent a lot of time in a lot of different Chinese factories, all that I can say on the subject is that I personally would never buy any product that didn't come with a genuine warranty from a genuine British Company.
Click to expand...
  • If all that were true why do so many British companies import goods from china?
  • Why would British companies have their company logos added to counterfeit goods that are made in China.
  • Why would British companies import goods with dodgy safety labels?
  • Planes would be falling from skies with frighten regularity if the batteries were as dangerous as governments would like us to believe.
Regarding the warranty UK companies ad a massive percentage to the price of good to provide warranties for good that rarely go wrong in the period of time that it is covered by a warranty. Many of us have experience of goods and equipment that go wrong very soon after the warranty expires yet we will have directly or indirectly paid for that warranty.
 
Last edited:
You're entitled to believe whatever you like, however I think you will accept that I know a lot about this market and that I have had a lot of dealings with Chinese manufacturers, so I do know what I'm talking about.
redsnappa said:
  • If all that were true why do so many British companies import goods from china?
Click to expand...
China used to be cheap but wages (and everything else, especially house prices) have soared during the last few years and they are now far from cheap. The Philippines and India are the new China, but there are massive problems with lack of infrastructure, poor education and badly trained workforces, so China, which sorted out all of these problems years ago, is still king - but probably not for much longer, it's just too expensive.
redsnappa said:
  • Why would British companies have their company logos added to counterfeit goods that are made in China.
Click to expand...

They don't, why would they? That isn't what I said. What I actually said was "1. A lot of the "identical" items are in reality counterfeit." For the avoidance of doubt, what I meant by that is that many of the products sold on Ebay, Amazon etc are counterfeit. What you need to understand is that there is very little regulation in China, and very little respect for intellectual property rights, therefore counterfeiting is the norm, not the exception - I've even seen little old ladies with fake designer bags carrying their vegetables in them, in every Chinese city that I've been to - in this country, if anyone has a fake designer bag they will at least pretend that it's real... There are people on nearly every city street corner selling "Rolex" watches openly, and there are probably more "Levi" Jeans sold in Shanghai than Levi actually sell worldwide. In China, few people care and nobody does anything about it. This leaves things wide open for back street factories to (badly) copy known products and stick a false logo, and false compliance stickers, on them.
redsnappa said:
  • Why would British companies import goods with dodgy safety labels?
Click to expand...
I doubt whether many do, at least not knowingly. Again, if you read what I said I think it will be clear that I was again talking about the counterfeit rubbish that's sold online. That's obvious because that statement directly followed my statement that "1. A lot of the "identical" items are in reality counterfeit." The fact of the matter is that with no enforcement, the CE and ROHS printing on products isn't necessarily genuine and there is no way of knowing whether those products are safe or not if you buy them online from an overseas seller.
redsnappa said:
  • Planes would be falling from skies with frighten regularity if the batteries were as dangerous as governments would like us to believe.
Click to expand...
Sadly, this is bound to happen, and there have already been very serious plane fires caused by batteries, just type "plane fire caused by batteries" into Google. China was ignoring its own safety regulations until there was a series of massive explosions and a fireball at a docks warehouse in Tianjin on 12 August 2015. The official death toll is 170 but it's believed to be actually much higher. Now, the carriage of lithium batteries (and other dangerous goods) is very tightly controlled when they are exported by reputable couriers and sent by reputable factories but the stuff sold on Ebay/Amazon by these dodgy HK based sellers doesn't go through the proper channels and is usually mis-declared on the customs form, both to evade import duty and VAT, and to get round the regulations. Our own Customs and Excise knows this very well but they don't have the resources to stop most of them, and when they do seize illegally imported goods, nothing happens because the sellers are untraceable. Tell me, when you get these cheap goods from ebay, have you ever seen
儿童服装 written on the customs form? It translates as Children's clothing.

I see that you didn't comment on my statement that "3. One of the reasons why our country is massively in debt and also has very high taxation is that these sellers evade both VAT and import duty, and although those of us who buy from them may think it's a good idea to be complicit in illegal activity, it's adding to our problems." so I have to assume that you're happy about that.
redsnappa said:
Regarding the warranty UK companies ad a massive percentage to the price of good to provide warranties for good that rarely go wrong in the period of time that it is covered by a warranty. Many of us have experience of goods and equipment that go wrong very soon after the warranty expires yet we will have directly or indirectly paid for that warranty.
Click to expand...
If it's a genuine warranty (and by no means all of them are) then the cost for some simple products is virtually nil, but the cost of warranty for something like a flash head can be far higher than you would every imagine. And although some of these warranties aren't worth anything at all, long establised, reputable businesses like Bron, Elinchrom, Lencarta and Profoto not only provide genuine warranties, they also continue to repair products that are many years out of warranty, and some of these firms do it at or below cost[/quote][/QUOTE]
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top