Made a DYI beauty dish for my speedlite -- Flash and Studio Lighting in photography-on-the.net forums

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Jun 28, 2011 13:55 | #1

Hey guys, so while have a little down time i decided to try to make a slightly better diffuser for my speedlite 430exii while using it on my 5dii. Currently i have the a little softbox diffuser type-deal that goes over the flash from adorama, its only about 4x4 , and while ti diffuses the light pretty good, its not really what im looking for.

So i went to my local dollar genera and picked up an 8" diameter plastic bowl which i cut to the shape of my flash, i then cut a plastic disk form the cover for the cetner piece and attached some reflective aluminum foil on the reverse side. I attached the center disk to the dish with 2 long bolts and 8 nuts to hold everything in place. Its not perfect b/c i was just trying it out to see how it would work and did take the time to make it really neat, but it seems to work fairly well for such a cheap project.

Oh and btw, the inside is painted a flat white and the outside is painted a flat black. I will look for a 4-5inch convex mirror to help me reflect the light better b/c right now i need to compensate for the reduced flash about 1/3 of a stop.

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again, i haven't done much testing and i know it might be kind of worhtless to have such a little beauty dish, but from initial shooting of random stuff on my desk i saw significant reduction in harsh shadows.

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AdamJT

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Jun 28, 2011 14:15 | #2

Nice job. Just curious how you attached it to the flash?

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 14:21 | #3

currently the flash is attached via press-fit inside of cutout that i made in the main bowl. i an working on a more permanent solution for the next dish i make, but since the dish is so light there is no issue with it coming off, and the plastic dish doesn't scratch the surface of the flash, so it works for me for now.

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Serohs

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Jun 28, 2011 14:27 as a reply to @ aemravan's post | #4

Interesting. Can you post a couple more pictures of exactly how you made the hole in the bowl for attaching. Maybe also a view of it attached on the side of the speed light. If you got a spare camera of course.

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nathancarter

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Jun 28, 2011 14:28 | #5

Autozone will have the mirror you're looking for, Pilot brand, $2.99 for a 4x5" convex mirror.

Not to steal your thunder, but my DIY beauty dish is here - hopefully you can use some of my ideas:
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php?t=1017760

I'm making another one for a friend, I think for my second one I'm going to revise it so the flash head is rotated 180 degrees. On my first design, the IR receiver is pointing the wrong way, and obscured by the dish. Instead, I want to point the IR receiver out the back of the dish for better wireless reliability.

I also need a bracket to accommodate a wireless receiver such as the Cactus V5 I just ordered.

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Bheims

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Jun 28, 2011 14:30 | #6

Looks great, do you have any "Before BD" and "After BD" shots?

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 15:08 | #7

nathancarter, ive looked through many many DYI threads for the BD, and yours is much better looking than most ive seen, and is certainly constructed more rigidly than mine. I really like your idea and will be constructing something more permanent like that when i get lucky enough to pick up some strobes, i just wanted this one to have mounted to my flash while it was on camera for occasional indoor shots when the flash doesnt come off the cam.

as far as pictures are concerned, im going to try to take some more indepth pictures right now, they wont have the camera attached b/c the 5dii is my only friend but you'll get the idea, dont mind how cheaply it is made though, like i mentioned earlier, i just wanted to see if the idea would even work before investing a lot of time in building a more solid piece.

Bheims, i will take some test shots for you to see what it looks like

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jobv2

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Jun 28, 2011 15:28 | #8

i have to try yours and nathan's DIY
thanks

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 15:53 | #9

so here is what i got, im actually fairly impressed, and i think you'll see why!

the hole:

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attachment (it just slides it, not too hard, not too easy, and stays on fairly nice, although it wont stay like that forever, so im going to make something more permanent)

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 15:54 | #10

and for the testing:

Canon 5d mark 2 w/ 50mm 1.8 lens at 1.8 with ISO set to 100 (program mode)

1. Canon speedlite 430exii set on auto shot bare from the camera

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2. same settings with BD attached

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3. BD with camera flash exposure set to +1

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4. BD with camera flash exposure set to +2

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5. testing the difference between BD and no BD, camera flash exposure set to +2 still, no BD

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6. No bd, camera exposure set to +1

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as you can see, with the BD the shadows are MUCH softer, although you can also tell that with my current design (b/c there is only foil and no mirror) i have to compensate for the flash exposure anywehre from +1 to +2 to get it looking proper, however, look at the difference in these two images:

left is camera flash exposure at 0 with NO bd, right is camera flash exposure +2 WITH bd

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 16:05 | #11

here is also a comparison using the bare flash at 0 comp. the adorama 3x3 diffuser +1 1/3, and the bd +1 1/3

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after shooting this last series of test shots I am VERY pleased with the results of the very cheap build. I paid less money in parts for the BD than i did on the cheap adorama diffuser box (seen below) and you can see that there is approximately double the improvement from the box. Although the box does do it job at diffusing the light somewhat, it is very little and the sharp defined edges on the small frontal area still cause fairly significantly-defined shadows, but as you can see the BD takes this a step (or two) further, i love it!

and a quick pic of the diffuser box from adorama:

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Canon 5Diii - Canon 24-70 2.8L - Canon 100 2.8L Macro - Sigma 50 1.4

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Luxury

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Jun 28, 2011 16:08 | #12

How far away is the flash from the subject for these test shots?

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 16:29 | #13

approximately 2.5 feet

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bobbyz

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Jun 28, 2011 16:34 | #14

Can you shoot some bigger subject and show the shadow detail? You not going to be shooting those little figurines in real world.

Nice looking gizmo BTW.

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aemravan
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Jun 28, 2011 16:42 | #15

Y wouldn't I be shooting them in the real world?

im just very limited with space right now b/c its raining outside and i couldn't find anything interesting to shoot inside my little room.

I'll see what i can do as far as biggger subjects though

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