Elinchrom Beauty Dish...get the 17", 27", or go for the Mola? Help me decide...

Love my lighting setup that I have right now, but I'd really like to do some work with a beauty dish. I'm working with Elichrom BxRi 500's, just fyi.

I'm looking to either get the Elinchrom 17" or 27". I've heard great things about the Mola dishes, but they're definitely more expensive.

I'm usually in tighter spaces, considering I usually shot in my living room for the most part.

I wish the Elinchrom dishes were compatible with a grid or something, but I'm not sure how often I would need/use one.

Anybody have any opinions or advice?

Here are the 3 I'm looking at right now.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Beauty_Dish.htm​l/mode/edu

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …t_Reflector.htm​l/mode/edu

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …t_Reflector.htm​l/mode/edu

Had the silver 17" and the white 27" and sold both in favour of the Mola Demi.
But if grids are essential for you (they are not for me):
Elinchrom has announced grids for their beauty dishes. #E26021 for the 17", #E26023 for the 27". Both should be available soon.

zwicko wrote in post #14430053
Had the silver 17" and the white 27" and sold both in favour of the Mola Demi.
But if grids are essential for you (they are not for me):
Elinchrom has announced grids for their beauty dishes. #E26021 for the 17", #E26023 for the 27". Both should be available soon.

Really? The difference was that noticable?

I have had the eli and mola demi. All had a grid. You can get the speedtron grid for the Demi.

The Mola has more contrast, nice fall-off and penumbra. The Eli dishes are OK at best, the look they create is quite flat by comparison. IF you feather them carefully you can get a nice effect but it's more work to get there and more limited.

Another option would be the Kacey beauty dishes, most of which have grids available..and you can get an Elinchrom speedring attached.

Thank you all for the advice and recommendations. I ended up splurging a little and getting the Mola Demi and the white grid. After doing research and looking at the soft edges the white grid gave, I kinda fell in love. Should hopefully be in by Thursday!

Congrats! Wise decision...

exodusfman800 wrote in post #14435168
Thank you all for the advice and recommendations. I ended up splurging a little and getting the Mola Demi and the white grid. After doing research and looking at the soft edges the white grid gave, I kinda fell in love. Should hopefully be in by Thursday!

Which grid did you get....or who is it made by?

Only a guess but it could be the Mola one:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …te_20_deg_White​_Grid.html

Going Baroque wrote in post #14435898
Which grid did you get....or who is it made by?

zwicko wrote in post #14435930
Only a guess but it could be the Mola one:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …te_20_deg_White​_Grid.html

^
That would be the one. Figured I shouldn't have any issues if i got the mola grid

Nice. Looking forward to your review.

I think you've made the right decision and you'll enjoy using it.

The white grids are made by http://www.honeycombgr​ids.com/ Mola just markets them with their name of the box.

I have the white for my Mola Euro and it's a very nice effect.

Make sure to shoot a lot without the grid when you first get the Mola. You'll learn what it can do that way and you'll recognize all the effects of the grid when you start adding that into the formula.

K.C. wrote in post #14438267
I think you've made the right decision and you'll enjoy using it.

The white grids are made by http://www.honeycombgr​ids.com/ Mola just markets them with their name of the box.

I have the white for my Mola Euro and it's a very nice effect.

Had a feeling they were made by honeycombgrids....

Any comments on the quality of their grids?

Going Baroque wrote in post #14438365
Had a feeling they were made by honeycombgrids....

Any comments on the quality of their grids?

They're well made, reasonably priced and have a 30 day 'no questions asked' return policy.

The grid for my Mola Euro has one minor issue. It will start to change shape as you tilt the light downward. But remember it's 34" is diameter. That's a big grid. The same thing happens with the fabric grids on my large softboxes. It's not really a problem.