Best adapter ring for Speedotron Beauty Dish?

I just did the speedotron BD mod to fit Elinchrom and absolutely love the light I am getting from that BD. There is one little problem, I can't find an excellent ring to match the BD. Anyone know of a speedring adapter that is as wide as the Norman but fits as tightly as the SP?

I bought both the Norman and SP rings. While I love the SP's fit its diameter isn't wide enough. Another problem is that its too deep which on the RX would leave the flash tube too far behind the BD.

The Norman is wide enough and not too deep to pose a problem (still slimmer would be better), but the fit on that ring is horrible. I plan to mount the BD on the wall using the elinchrom wall mount bracket and I am afraid without the lock mechanism the dish will sooner or later fall off.

Is there a ring that strikes a middle ground?

abdul10000 wrote in post #8605491
I just did the speedotron BD mod to fit Elinchrom and absolutely love the light I am getting from that BD. There is one little problem, I can't find an excellent ring to match the BD. Anyone know of a speedring adapter that is as wide as the Norman but fits as tightly as the SP?

I bought both the Norman and SP rings. While I love the SP's fit its diameter isn't wide enough. Another problem is that its too deep which on the RX would leave the flash tube too far behind the BD.

The Norman is wide enough and not too deep to pose a problem (still slimmer would be better), but the fit on that ring is horrible. I plan to mount the BD on the wall using the elinchrom wall mount bracket and I am afraid without the lock mechanism the dish will sooner or later fall off.

Is there a ring that strikes a middle ground?

I believe the supposed "best" insert that you want, is that which comes in the chimera speedrings. Sadly, chimera doesn't sell the inserts separately, so you have to buy the whole speedring...but you can swap in a norman/SP ring back in to make it useful.

I haven't taken measurements or critically looked at the light but the insert I'm using is from the Photoflex speed ring. I purchased the Norman insert and then swapped it with the Photoflex in a Photoflex speed ring. The Norman insert fits perfectly in the Photoflex speed ring and the Photoflex insert is a better fit for the mod.

Do you think I used the word Photoflex enough in that paragraph?

abdul10000 wrote in post #8605491
I just did the speedotron BD mod to fit Elinchrom and absolutely love the light I am getting from that BD. There is one little problem, I can't find an excellent ring to match the BD. Anyone know of a speedring adapter that is as wide as the Norman but fits as tightly as the SP?

I bought both the Norman and SP rings. While I love the SP's fit its diameter isn't wide enough. Another problem is that its too deep which on the RX would leave the flash tube too far behind the BD.

The Norman is wide enough and not too deep to pose a problem (still slimmer would be better), but the fit on that ring is horrible. I plan to mount the BD on the wall using the elinchrom wall mount bracket and I am afraid without the lock mechanism the dish will sooner or later fall off.

Is there a ring that strikes a middle ground?

Curious that you should find the fit of the Norman ring "horrible". In what way? The Norman is the ring I settled on (and I did issue a warning about the SP ring way back when) and I have found it to work perfectly and mount easily and securely on my 600RX lights.

Really, how much better could the fit be (Norman ring, Genesis light):

In terms of the fit.... I've seen a lot of posts from people that are bothered by the 'wiggle room' with some Elinchrom-mount accessories.

It would be great if every one was super snug but the design of the Elinchrom mount is such that once the lock is in place, the modifier isn't going anywhere. Forgetting about third party products for a moment, I can tell you that each of the Elinchrom modifiers fits a little different and there are differences in tolerances.

My 7" grid reflectors are very snug, the 9 1/2" wide angle reflector has some play, the 6 1/3" reflectors vary in tolerance, the high performance reflector is very tight.

The third party products are no different. Some are snug, some not so snug. If that is what's troubling you then with all due respect, "get over it", and I don't mean that in a nasty way. Don't worry about the slight amount of play. You can back on the fact that once you turn the collar and lock the accessory in place, it's not going anywhere.

So if this is what's troubling you then I would stop worrying. I've never heard of an instance where the mount failed as long as it was locked.

The best SR for the elinchrom is the chimera. I had the norman and the chimera sits the ring ALOT closer (at least 1cm further) into the dish. I had to do some custom drilling in the chimera to fit on my MOLA BD.

comparison of the norman SR vs Chimera SR:

tetrode wrote in post #8606719
Curious that you should find the fit of the Norman ring "horrible". In what way?

the insert tolerance, it wiggles like mad and the BD heavy weight doesn't make it better.

tetrode wrote in post #8606719
What I would like to direct your attention to is the differing design of the "L" slots in the two rings. Notice the little hook at the end of the Norman's slot. That little hook snaps very nicely over the two mounting lugs found in Elinchrom accessory mounts meaning the accessory will actually remain in place even without the locking collar turned to the lock position. Not so with the SP ring which can slip off the lugs easily.

Dave F.

That's very interesting, I was thinking the other way was true. I reasoned that since the SP was so firm it would be safer to mount on an elinchrom wall mounting bracket. Any tip on the best orientation to mount the wall bracket?

TMR Design wrote in post #8606860
The third party products are no different. Some are snug, some not so snug. If that is what's troubling you then with all due respect, "get over it", and I don't mean that in a nasty way. Don't worry about the slight amount of play. You can back on the fact that once you turn the collar and lock the accessory in place, it's not going anywhere.

So if this is what's troubling you then I would stop worrying. I've never heard of an instance where the mount failed as long as it was locked.

You don't seem to understand the question. I am worried about mounting the BD equiped with a Norman adapter to an elinchrom wall mount. Those plastic mounts do not have a locking pin.

jdear wrote in post #8607376
The best SR for the elinchrom is the chimera. I had the norman and the chimera sits the ring ALOT closer (at least 1cm further) into the dish. I had to do some custom drilling in the chimera to fit on my MOLA BD.

comparison of the norman SR vs Chimera SR:

and actually mounted in the dish...

Wow this looks awesome, perfect depth! How is the hook fit on the Chimera ring, does it fit firmly or does it wiggle?

very little wiggle at all - certainly less than the norman.

abdul10000 wrote in post #8608915
You don't seem to understand the question. I am worried about mounting the BD equiped with a Norman adapter to an elinchrom wall mount. Those plastic mounts do not have a locking pin.

Sorry, I did misunderstand. but I thought we were talking about wiggle room.

jdear wrote in post #8607376
The best SR for the elinchrom is the chimera. I had the norman and the chimera sits the ring ALOT closer (at least 1cm further) into the dish. I had to do some custom drilling in the chimera to fit on my MOLA BD.

comparison of the norman SR vs Chimera SR:

and actually mounted in the dish...

Since you have both speedring inserts, perhaps you can conduct some simple tests to see whether the placement of the flash tube is making a difference in output, coverage or quality of light. This subject came up on one of the Jerry Kacey threads when discussing how far the flash tube reaches into the throat of the modifier.

TMR Design wrote in post #8611444
Since you have both speedring inserts, perhaps you can conduct some simple tests to see whether the placement of the flash tube is making a difference in output, coverage or quality of light. This subject came up on one of the Jerry Kacey threads when discussing how far the flash tube reaches into the throat of the modifier.

why that's a great idea


jdear,

Do you have a Speedtron BD or any similar modifier on hand? If you can do the test above that would be very helpful.

abdul10000 wrote in post #8615375
why that's a great idea


jdear,

Do you have a Speedtron BD or any similar modifier on hand? If you can do the test above that would be very helpful.

It would be nice if it was the Speedotron dish but since jdear has a dish and the Norman and Chimera inserts I think the test would still be valid.

I have a 28" silver mola, so not the speedo. Ill be purchasing the 22" Demi shortly so I can test that down the track.

Yes it would be interesting to see the difference, I dont have time at the moment (snowed under with post) but Ill try and see if I can test it soon.