Kacey Beauty Dish vs. Ebay Dish – thoughts?

Hey guys, I’m thinking what the real world differences would be between these two dishes, aside from the significant cost difference? (i would need sock/grid)

The ebay one is Silver, but I would be painting it satin white like the Kacey dish:
http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0&hash=item​2c5add18c1


Aside from that, the only differences I can see in the dishes is the physical shape of the dish. Now I’m wondering really, in real world shooting, how big a difference this makes?

Any thoughts?

My gut feeling is light placement/subject placement/ambient control/subject material/postprocessin​g/ect… all have a much higher impact on the final results than the minimal difference that MIGHT be seen between these two dishes effects.

But I do want your input, what do you think?

Kacey's quality is exceptional.

build quality differences mainly. Kacey dish is quite nice in that way. I have seen ebay ones and that deflector with three wire pins looks quite flimsy to me.

Here's a horrible photo but this setup with no RF sock I can get a good 350ft range. With a sock I can get similar results with my 580exii. I love this double bracket he offers.

Kacey's dish is great. I sandwich the metal disk can acrylic mirror together. Depending on what I shoot I can swap them around no problems.

That flash tube in these shots looks recessed, is that the case?

looks recessed to me, though not by much. doesn't affect light behavior too much except perhaps at the side.

Um, light behavior is what you buy a beauty dish for, I guess unless you're pointing it straight ahead without using the edges.

The position of the flash tube absolutely affects light behavior. Whether or not it's visible or noticeable is another issue but there is certainly a good argument for wanting the flash tube to be in the optimal position.

No doubt Kacey´s BD will do a better job however you can still get great results with the typical BD, I have one from Walimex and it´s ok

TMR Design wrote in post #12140183
The position of the flash tube absolutely affects light behavior. Whether or not it's visible or noticeable is another issue but there is certainly a good argument for wanting the flash tube to be in the optimal position.

Just curious... does anyone know what the optimal position of the flash tube should be?

Would that particular strobes flash tube (used in the picture above) be in better position if it was used with the Kacey over the Ebay BD?

The placement of the flash tube is a function of the insert used, not the beauty dish. The insert with the shortest neck gets the flash tube further inside and the very deep inserts place the tube inside too far back, shielded by the insert.

I don't know the optimal placement but I'm fairly sure that you want as much of the flash tube to be in front of the insert as possible. If you look at an Elinchrom lightbox mounted you can gauge and/or measure to see where Elinchrom has placed the flash tube. That's a good place to start.

TMR Design wrote in post #12143800
The placement of the flash tube is a function of the insert used, not the beauty dish. The insert with the shortest neck gets the flash tube further inside and the very deep inserts place the tube inside too far back, shielded by the insert.

I don't know the optimal placement but I'm fairly sure that you want as much of the flash tube to be in front of the insert as possible. If you look at an Elinchrom lightbox mounted you can gauge and/or measure to see where Elinchrom has placed the flash tube. That's a good place to start.

I guess that would make the Twin X4 (and smiliar flash heads) ideal for use with the Eli softboxes, eh?

The U-shaped flash tubes on the Twin X4 project forward from the body so that the tubes are completely within the BD or softbox it is used with.