Home made ring light

[Phocus73]

Just wanted to share a pic from a ring light I made, have yet to test it with a camera yet, just glad I never died testing it today, lol. :)

http://www.pbase.com/phocus73/image/83875577/large.jpg

[Lotto]

Glad to see you are still alive, lol. Looks like you are hiding the wiring inside the pipe, very nice. What are you going to use to hold the ring up?

[HarleyQuinn]

Nice! I'd love to see some shots with this.

[Curtis N]

I always like to encourage home-built solutions and don't want to rain on your parade here. I hope it works for you.

Just looking at what you have, 16 lights at 100w each will be about all that a 20 amp circuit can handle. Without anything behind the bulbs to reflect light forward, it won't be very efficient. You may want to consider those mini floods that shoot the light forward. That still won't give you much light for portraits at a distance of 5 feet or more. Be prepared to compromise on ISO and shutter speed.

I'm curious why you grouped the sockets in pairs, rather than spacing them out evenly.

I look forward to seeing the results.

[Phocus73]

Glad to see you are still alive, lol. Looks like you are hiding the wiring inside the pipe, very nice. What are you going to use to hold the ring up?

hahahha, got as far as this stage, I am not sure where to go with it next as far as holding it up...I'll prob post that next, need to think about that some more.

If anyone has ideas I'd be happy to read some.

[Phocus73]

I always like to encourage home-built solutions and don't want to rain on your parade here. I hope it works for you.

Just looking at what you have, 16 lights at 100w each will be about all that a 20 amp circuit can handle. Without anything behind the bulbs to reflect light forward, it won't be very efficient. You may want to consider those mini floods that shoot the light forward. That still won't give you much light for portraits at a distance of 5 feet or more. Be prepared to compromise on ISO and shutter speed.

I'm curious why you grouped the sockets in pairs, rather than spacing them out evenly.

I look forward to seeing the results.

Well, you're not raining on my parade, because a friend of mine already made a similar setup, I am going to be shooting with this at about f.18 to f2.8, the reason I spaced them at the edges was to make it easier for wiring, I am not worried, it was relatively an easy project. It was inspired by Ric Diaz and he sure does fine work with his.

[b1gdaddy]

Looks good, you have a fair amount of patience wiring that lot up, you could actually get another 4 lamps on if your limit is 20A.

For anyone in the UK wanting to try this you can use more than 20 lamps due to our higher voltage. In fact you can use 30 - 100w lamps on a 13A circuit. Formula is Watts/volts = Amps.

[JackProton]

What about using Screw-in Spiral Fluorescent Lamps instead of incandescent lamps? More light and less power.

[Phocus73]

What about using Screw-in Spiral Fluorescent Lamps instead of incandescent lamps? More light and less power.

Good idea, I'll try that too.......still working on a method to stand it up....:).

[JackProton]

Good idea, I'll try that too.......still working on a method to stand it up....:).
That was going to be my next question. :D

[b1gdaddy]

Maybe you could make a frame similar to this one from TMR?

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=222402&highlight=Diy

[Lotto]

How about a "H" shape PVC pipe stand, with smaller pipe inside the bigger one, and use metal pins for adjusting height?

[Phocus73]

Good ideas, I just used two backdrop stands I have and some u-clamps from a hardware store...it's not ideal but works, I just need to be careful and voila it seems to stand ok. Now to do some test shots with it, where are models when u need them? :P heheheh
http://www.pbase.com/phocus73/image/83908913/large.jpg

[Phocus73]

http://www.pbase.com/phocus73/image/83918791/large.jpg

Ok, couldn't find a model handy, so had to take this one to test. So far, only able to get good shutter speeds at 200ISO at f.18 and 400ISO at f2.8

[bieber]

The whole contraption looks to me like it's too large and narrow to have the desired ring-light look. And no offense, but I'm really not liking those catchlights.

[Phocus73]

lol....love when people say "no offense", well be glad it's not yours then. I take no offense, I like it personally.....

[Phocus73]

Here is a new shot taken last night using my ghetto ring light. :) I am happy with it!!

http://www.pbase.com/phocus73/image/88114120/large.jpg

[JackProton]

Nice!