Can't decide: Beauty Dish or Elinchrom Maxi Lite

Looking for something new to spice up my portraiture, which is the majority of my personal work.

My studio lights are an entry-level Elinchrom D-Lite 2 it kit. This kit comes with two 26" square softboxes, which have a removable front diffuser panel and silver pebbled interior. I also use Speedlights a lot, with shoot-through umbrellas, or octabox-style reflective umbrellas.

I've been wanting a beauty dish for a while, but now I'm starting to be on the fence about it. The beauty dish seems to be the much more common modifier. However, I'm concerned that the relatively wide and soft light won't be different enough from the softboxes (except the shape of the catchlight).

The Maxi-Lite caught my eye this morning, and is probably more suited to my lighting style. I generally lean toward a more hard, contrasty light, even going so far as to use bare lights for some types of portraits. The Maxi-Lite is also forty bucks cheaper than even a small beauty dish...so, there's that.

Thoughts?

Check out the Fotodiox 28"BD with grid. Cheap and a nice size. I've got the Maxilite, 22" Kacey and the 28" Fotodiox along with a plethora of reflectors.

The BD has a wider spread then the maxilite, but you can add everything to the maxilite as you can on BD.

The maxilite is direct and produce a stop more power.

windpig wrote in post #16472333
Check out the Fotodiox 28"BD with grid.

That's pretty tempting, especially with the grid.

I have the Kacey 22 BD and the kacey 45 inch BD. Actually pretty handy to have. You can use soft socks and grids to really change the light. Use one for main the other for fill... Sturdy and handy.

The Maxilite taught me more about lighting than anything else I have. I'd love to check out a 45" BD sometime.

windpig wrote in post #16472333
Check out the Fotodiox 28"BD with grid.

+1 to this; you might be able to use it in place of a jackstand for changing your oil. This Thing is study!

lens pirate wrote in post #16472459
I have the Kacey 22 BD and the kacey 45 inch BD. Actually pretty handy to have. You can use soft socks and grids to really change the light. Use one for main the other for fill... Sturdy and handy.

The grids, I'm sure would change the light.

If I put a sock on a BD, is the light really much different from the similarly-sized softboxes I already have?

The Maxilite should be MUCH different from the softboxes; I'm just concerned that the BD (especially with sock!) will only be a small difference from the softboxes.

Softbox with outer diffuser only,no inner diffuser or deflector has a center hot spot that you can direct (feathering). A beauty dish will have a dead spot in the center. With a BD you have to be careful when you feather, else you will hit the subject with direct light that shows between the dish and the inner deflector, a grid changes that equation because that direct light source is blocked by the grid with you direct it away from the subject. These are all different animals.

How about a grid for a Maxilite? Elinca does not keep one.

I went with a Honeygrid for the Maxilite

http://www.honeycombgr​ids.com/elinchrom-grids

windpig wrote in post #16475952
I went with a Honeygrid for the Maxilite

http://www.honeycombgr​ids.com/elinchrom-grids

This is probably what I'll do.

On reviewing some of the work I've done with just the softboxes, I don't think I'll be able to make a significantly different image with a wide beauty dish - at least, not at my current skill level. Maybe when I'm a little more experienced, I'll be able to use those subtle differences to their fullest. For now, since my style often depends on directional and hard light, the Maxi-Lite will probably suit me better, and a black grid will help control and shape it even more.

And, since I'm only working with the D-Lite 2, the power boost from the Maxi-Lite will give me some additional options for daytime shooting.

Thanks for all the discussion.

lens pirate wrote in post #16472459
I have the Kacey 22 BD and the kacey 45 inch BD. Actually pretty handy to have. You can use soft socks and grids to really change the light. Use one for main the other for fill... Sturdy and handy.

Kacey makes a 45" BD?!

Aressem wrote in post #16476887
Kacey makes a 45" BD?!

yeap

nathancarter wrote in post #16472522
If I put a sock on a BD, is the light really much different from the similarly-sized softboxes I already have?

Here is my socked BD Selfie from yesterday as a test.....this sis shot with an Elinchrom BX500Ri on lowest power setting....