Which beauty dish

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tonyphoto

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tony
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I'm going to purchase a 70cm beauty dish for fashion shots. I've seen an interfit (s-type fitting) for sale new for £90.

Has anyone used either one of these, or indeed any other brand, and is there really much difference as they all look pretty similar (barring the mola setti which is too expensive at £650.00)?

Cheers.
 
I use Lencarta beauty dishes + grids - these are s-fit and I'm very happy with mine. I have a 70cm silver & a 40cm white.

Phil
 
I use the silver 70cm Lencarta dish with the grid - very good product
 
I've used a Lencarta for a while. So much that it's all dented.

I used a "less expensive" brand for one shoot and it didn't survive. Yes some of the cheap ones really seems to be made out of tinfoil. Lencarta one still going strong.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've used a Lencarta for a while. So much that it's all dented.

I used a "less expensive" brand for one shoot and it didn't survive. Yes some of the cheap ones really seems to be made out of tinfoil. Lencarta one still going strong.
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Great images, can i ask do you tend to use the white or silver beauty dish in your work?
 
Short answer - it depends:)

Long answer - Silver produces a cleaner, more dramatic look, and the light is crisper. The results can be stunning BUT silver is very unforgiving, so if the model is old (say over 19:)) or doesn't have perfect skin, or if you haven't got first class makeup, it can leave you with retouching problems.

White is more forgiving. The model still needs good skin and of course good bone structure, but white only shows the faults that are visible - it doesn't burrow into the skin to find ones that you didn't know about:) Please see the example shots of my favourite plastic model in the Lencarta learning Centre
 
Is there a honeycomb available for the Lencarta 40cm beauty dish, I can't see one listed (but that doesn't mean it's not there).
 
I prefer smaller, and silver...

44cm Elinchrom Minisoft - silver

6686250913_44553abbcd_z.jpg
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
I prefer smaller, and silver...

44cm Elinchrom Minisoft - silver

6686250913_44553abbcd_z.jpg
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anything for an argument :P nice shot sir.

yeah, silver's definitely got its place, especially for kickass contrasty shots, love mine outside. I find that for the things I'd use a beauty dish for, white tends to have the edge though :/. Currently in love with the profoto 70cm white... but it's not mine *cries a little*.... yet :naughty:
 
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Lol cheers!

And no argument from me there fella, for 90% of shots I'm sure white is easier/better to work with, but I'm glad to say my current photographic load is pretty much solely models with good skin, so a silver suits me perfectly. Having said that I sold mine and bought a fresnel modifier instead, can you tell I like hard light? Lol
 
Any shots with the fresnel spot yet?
 
Garry Edwards said:
Any shots with the fresnel spot yet?
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Not that I can post on here I'm afraid. I'm doing a portfolio shoot in a couple of weeks that I may be able to post some shots from for you
 
If you're shooting fashion, consider getting a white one or spraying a silver one. Silver is too contrasty indoors and makes shots a little too dramatic.

Edit: Ooops, I should read threads before I post!
 
London Headshots said:
If you're shooting fashion, consider getting a white one or spraying a silver one. Silver is too contrasty indoors and makes shots a little too dramatic.

Edit: Ooops, I should read threads before I post!
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Yeah. Mahoney always has way too much contrast in his shots. Can't stand contrast in fashion pics...... :nuts:
 
dpurslow said:
big and white is the only way to fly IMPO
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I think this is all getting a bit partisan, and for no good reason...
I'm guessing that most of us have our favourite tools, a beauty dish is certainly one of my favourites, but it's far from perfect for every subject and every shooting situation. As I've said before, it's hard on skin blemishes, and in fact using a silver one is a bit like using a magnifying glass on the skin...

So, if you're a fashion photographer who knows just how far he can push the contrast, if the model slept in her own bed last night and if you have a good MUA then the silver one is a pretty obvious choice. If not, then the white one is more forgiving but less dramatic.

What I personally like about beauty dishes is that they're a bit of a combination tool - very crisp light that's also fairly soft, or can be depending on position, a very sharp cut off of the light itself, and variable shadow transition, depending on distance. Stick a honeycomb grid on it and it becomes a different tool again. Stick a diffuser on (without the honeycomb) and it becomes a softbox. Use both a honeycomb and a diffuser and it becomes a very crisp tool, which adds highlights to the hair (as well as where you don't want them) but with softer edges.

Up to a point, you can get broadly similar results with other tools, but they just ain't the same - a softbox for example is a pretty versatile tool but it can't produce really crisp light with the front diffuser on, and can't produce even light without it. A fresnel spot is another favourite of mine, but they are all pretty small and because of this the shadow transition edges have to be pretty abrupt (the best one I've personally used is the Bron, But it was enormous, overpriced and lost a lot of power with the iris closed up, but it was the best simply because it was about 14" diameter). The Lencarta one is 9" diameter and I like it a lot. Pretty well everything else I've tried is too small for people use.

There's a lot of truth in the saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. You actually have to have a lot of experience of a wide range of tools to form a useful opinion on what works and what doesn't.
 
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