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Beauty Dish Comparison
Forgive me if this has already been covered ad nauseum, but I can't seem to find anything on google or with the search. I decided to spend the night finally making myself a beauty dish (I'm a big fan of home made equipment) but I'm not sure what specs and accessories I want to give it. Does anyone have/know a place I can find an in depth visual comparison of various beauty dishes and modifiers? As in the subject doesn't change, the fill light doesn't change, the light position doesn't change--everything in the images is the same except the dish. I'm specifically looking for white vs. silver, and no modifier vs. various grids vs. diffusion sock Thanks! Note: I'm not looking for examples of beauty dish lighting. I know what a beauty dish does. I'm looking to compare the subtle differences between dishes. Mar 24 07 04:09 pm Link I haven't seen any, and would be equally interested in seeing this. Be aware that different designs and sizes of beauty dishes may require different distances in order to operate optimally; I know the different Mola designs (and sizes, since they're different sizes, not just shapes) each have a 'favorite' distance when aimed directly at the subject. Mar 24 07 07:43 pm Link I would definitely create something similiar to the Mola reflectors. I have the Setti model and the light is amazing, especially if you keep it within about 6' or closer to the subject. My white lightning beauty dish doesn't do much for me unless I use a grid on it. Mar 24 07 09:39 pm Link StarlaMeris wrote: How do you intend to make it? Mar 24 07 09:44 pm Link It's out drying on my porch now. I ended up doing an imperfect one to start because I couldn't find an ideal bowl on such short notice. (And I couldn't find the reference I wanted for comparison.) I ultimately just decided to start with a basic white with no grid. I think my main production secret was having an industrial designer for a best friend who came over and helped me last night.  We just used a dremel to cut a circle for the bowl to sit over the flash unit and then sanded it down, drilled a few holes around the circle and I made 3 wire holders to fit through and secure the baffle in front of the bulb. I'll post pictures when I get a chance to test it. It might be interesting because I still have a rather rough interior finish--the spray paint I used isn't drying as smooth as I'd like. Mar 25 07 10:37 am Link Oh, and the whole project cost about $8, not including spray paint because I already had some. Mar 25 07 10:48 am Link White surfaces reflect diffused light in many different ray angles. Silver surfaces reflect light mainly at the mirror angle to the angle of incidence. You may think, 'Yes, I know that, already!' But here's the thing: Beauty dishes - especially the Mola - are carefully shaped to use light properly when they are WHITE. They are not shaped or engineered to be SILVER. They make them silver as a marketing hook. So if you insist on using a silver one, then do (as you are doing) investigate their actual performance when silver and see if you like what they do. I'm sure the light they produce when silver is perfectly usable, but they are engineered to be white. Mar 25 07 10:59 am Link Digital Artform wrote: Thanks. And yes I did know that already, but I still want to look into it for reference's sake. I've always shot with white and want to consider all variants. Mar 25 07 01:34 pm Link |
