A Better Bounce Card....

[Mhappy]

I'm going to check out the Michaels near me and see if they carry the Foam Sticky Sheet!!
Thanks!!!

[Limitless]

I would make sense and not to rain on anyone on the forums parade if they have a product out. But to have a tuturial on creating one to begin with.

[Shooting]

Does anyone know where I can get the kind of elastic band he uses? Someone said to get a bicycle tube but I can't find one that will stretch open enough to go over the 580exII flash head. He charges $15 each for his and he said he cannot tell me where I can get one. Right now I'm using just a black rubber band but it is not very wide.

[digirebelva]

I too have looked for one, one suggestion was (if you can find them) is the friendship bands that some c-stores sell..they are elastic and have a (supposedly) decent width..
all of mine (have 4) have velcro..

[Shooting]

Originally Posted by digirebelva

I too have looked for one, one suggestion was (if you can find them) is the friendship bands that some c-stores sell..they are elastic and have a (supposedly) decent width..
all of mine (have 4) have velcro..

yeah but they are not wide enough and I want to try to stay away from velcro, just doesn't get tight enough as a wide rubber band..it stretches and grips, velcro overlaps and at the overlapping point there is not enough grip to keep the card steady enough.

I can't believe office supply stores doesn't sell wide rubber bands.

[Peacefield]

I might be misunderstanding the velcro strap, but I've simply attached velcro directly to the flash head (both the top and one side) as well as my bounce card, which in my case is a large (maybe 5x7?) sheet of heavy white styrene plastic. The card is always held securely in place and I can quickly change its orientation from portrait to landscape. I used to use regular index cards and rubberbands and this set up has been so much better and faster for me.

[snakeman55]

Just to add my .02

I have the regular sized one and the super big one for outside/high ceilings and I love them. I made one first, and used it so much I just bought them.

I highly recommend it.

[PicBug]

I just made two of my own Better Bounce Cards, the small and medium. I'm still new to flash, but on my experiments, I liked the results with the smaller one the best. I will be doing a wedding soon.

I made mine with the white sticky-backed craft foam from Michaels too. White on one side and black on the other. After you stick the pieces together you have to let the "glue" set for a bit or they might peel away while you work with it. I threaded a piece of double -sided velcro strapping through the bottom narrow part to secure it to my flash. Looks pro, is cheap, and does the job!

I really don't think I'll be using the stoffen omni-bounce thing much.

[Peter Gregg]

Nice to see you all doing well with the ABBC stuff

I have gone out of my way to teach how to make the A Better Bounce Card so anyone can make better flash pictures. All, and I mean ALL the flash diffusers operate the same and give the same or at least similar results. It just comes down to what you personally want to put on the top of your flash units.

As for the pricing, whether you put a piece of chip-board on a velcro band like the Flip-it, or use a little chunk of plastic to press out a Lightsphere, the biggest expense of any products are the labor, the start up costs and just of running a business.

The Lightsphere costs all of $2.00 to make. I am talking with the same injection mold company that made them with my own new flash diffuser that will be coming to market soon. The trouble is the injection mold itself is over $10,000. That really effects the sales price - plus just the cost of running a web site and business.

The ABBC is super simple to make. i used to use a simple 3x5 index card and a rubber band way back in the day Today, I have them die cut and assembled by a manufacturing company and they actually cost me more that it cost wholesale for the Lightspheres that Gary Fong sells.

So part of doing any kind of sales is the behind the scenes costs. Anyone can run down to Walmart or Michaels and buy a sheet of foam paper. In fact, I love it when you do that because I KNOW you are going to be making better flash pictures - and that is something I like

As for the Attachment Bands, I apologize for the cost on that. They are a custom order and I need to order a minimum or hundreds of dollars of product before they will even talk to me. I no longer use them as I have switched over to a velcro belt and am not reordering them again. Whatever is left is what I can sell until they are all gone. The velcro straps are really better because if you put them on just right, the ABBC can be secure AND also pull off and be put back on without ever opening the belt after putting it on the first time. Plus there is nothing that gets glued to your flash so it stays clean like brand new.

If I can sell enough of the Big-Light Flash Diffusers i can get the manufacturer to lower the price enough so I can sell them for $19.99. That is what the price should really be. But I don't have enough sales volume to do that so I pay more until I can get them into stores. I am kind of scared to lower the price and then wind up in the hole at the end of the month if the volume doesn't come in

The main thing with the ABBC (and all the diffusers) is don't be high ISO phobic. All the newer cameras easily operate at ISO 1600 for prints up to 16x20 or 16x24. Opening up the ISO allows the natural light to mix with the flash so your pictures look more alive. If you are scared of high ISO I make this simple recommendation everywhere I go. Take one of you ISO 1600 images and PRINT that at Costco at 12x18 or even at 16x20. Then you will not need me to tell you or convince you otherwise, you will be holding the "evidence" in your own hands

What makes the ABBC different is simple. The weight is almost nothing (about an ounce), the light matches or exceeds what all the other flash diffusers do, there is no "rear" firing light to blind the folks standing around you, and the unit looks professional and "built-in - not attracting a lot of attention to itself. Other than that, you can use ANY method to soften your flash output to get those delicious looking pictures

Peter

[DStanic]

Have any of you tried making your own B.B.C. like off the youtube video? Using photopaper, it's basically free and I've had good results.

[petedam]

Originally Posted by DStanic

Have any of you tried making your own B.B.C. like off the youtube video? Using photopaper, it's basically free and I've had good results.

Link?

[DStanic]

Originally Posted by petedam

Link?

All sorts in youtube, quick search: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...unce+card&aq=f

The guy in the videos with the red shirt...

[petedam]

Originally Posted by DStanic

All sorts in youtube, quick search: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...unce+card&aq=f

The guy in the videos with the red shirt...

thanks...the part that confuses me was when you said photopaper. I think he uses the sticky foam paper. That's the kind that i use and I got it from Michaels.

[digirebelva]

I prefer the foam over paper..I put a stiffner (plastic cross-stitch material) in between the 2 foams for added support...plus I can customize them...I have 1 that allows me to go from flat to a bowl shape with velcro tabs...I tried the paper in the beginning, just not a fan of attaching velcro to my equipment..

[Shooting]

I went to a local hobby shop and bought the foam paper for .39 cents a sheet then a $1.00 can of black spray paint and painted one side for the black back.