Where to buy affordable large beauty dish?

Hey guys,

I currently have a 22" kacey beauty dish, love it. I use it outdoors a lot since my area is often windy. My softboxes and umbrellas can't handle the wind. I was wondering about where to purchase large (preferably >40inch) beauty dishes?

I've had my eye on beauty dishes by Mola, such as the Mola Mantti (43.5") but it's expensive at $800. The Kacey 45" beauty dish is $500.

Any other suggestions?

DIY

5dmk3 for $3000
70-200mm f2.8 IS II for $2200

And problem buying $500 dish. Sorry being sarcastic.

bobbyz wrote in post #16992029
5dmk3 for $3000
70-200mm f2.8 IS II for $2200

And problem buying $500 dish. Sorry being sarcastic.

So true, hahaha. I blame the costs of the 5D and 70-200. Now I have no money

Eat noodles for a month. Or sell that iPhone or whatever smart phone you have.

Credit buy now pay later lol

koolcreation wrote in post #16992228
Credit buy now pay later lol

paypal "bill me later" is going to be the death of me.

I've done well paying it off so far, otherwise i'm sure i would have been kicked out of the house and died of exposure while curled up next to a bunch of cold silicon, glass, plastic and metal.

Large, quality modifiers are VERY expensive.


500 bucks for a 40 inch modifier that achieves the look you want (what ever that is), is a pretty darn good deal!

We've got to be getting close to the point that we can just 3D print stuff like this. Maybe a bunch of pie-slice segments 6" long, that are all identical, then glue together, sand seams, and paint? What sucks is that it will hurt the developers of the modifiers, because the obvious way to generate a model to print is to take a profile of a radial slice of the modifier and digitize it. Like how you copy molding with a profile tool.

waterrockets wrote in post #16994134
We've got to be getting close to the point that we can just 3D print stuff like this. Maybe a bunch of pie-slice segments 6" long, that are all identical, then glue together, sand seams, and paint?

With my lack of knowledge and skill with anything like this, I'd probably take forever to build it and it'll be built completely wrong haha.

Ive 3d printed extension tubes, lens hoods, bokeh filters, a snoot for a 580exII. But never thought about making big strobe modifiers!

mrniceguy715 wrote in post #16994141
Ive 3d printed extension tubes, lens hoods, bokeh filters, a snoot for a 580exII. But never thought about making big strobe modifiers!

I need to get a printer at some point. For the big modifier, it seems that you could print the parts stacked with a strong tree keeping them separated and correctly positioned, so you wouldn't have so many prints, then just cut the parts off the tree.

I think a Harbor Freight plastic welder would be a good approach to fusing too...

Heck, you could even print a couple snap-on fixtures to keep pieces perfectly aligned while you assemble/weld.

fashionrider wrote in post #16994140
With my lack of knowledge and skill with anything like this, I'd probably take forever to build it and it'll be built completely wrong haha.

Sounds like a great time to start

Why would you want a beauty dish THAT large?

Would an Octo not be a better option?