I'm a big fan of the rapid deployment of the Phottix Luna Octas and Beauty Dishes. I bought a few to use in my portable light setups as well as my studio.
My first Octa was ordered through Amazon and immediately had issues. Upon opening the package, I discovered it was missing the inner diffuser. I ordered a second Octa and received it with all contents included.
Upon inspection, the quality is really quite good. The speedring feels hefty, the inner rods are strong and the inside joints are robust. However, there is one area that I've discovered to be the weak link of the product. The mounting collars that connect the inner joints to the rods are only glued in place to prevent them from moving. These points take a majority of the force when opening the octa, especially when straightening the final joint. The second time I took the octa out on location, one of the joints broke free from the glue and was able to slide forward, compromising the integrity of the entire octa. I was still able to use the box by draping the outer diffuser over the front, but the octa was immediately returned for a replacement.
I began to devise my own solution for if (and when) this should happen again. I came up with the idea to create "stoppers" on the outside of the collars should the glue break. I used white electrical tape wrapped 4-5 times around the rod on the outside of the collar. This should stop the collar from moving forward if it breaks.
This can be done on both the Octas and the Beauty Dishes without removing the rods from the fabric. It's really a simple solution that could easily be remedied by the manufacturer by adding a rubber piece or actually molding a tab into the rod.
