Just curious to know everyone's thoughts here.....
What makes a Beauty Dish a "Beauty Dish"?

Is it size.....

or

Is it the center cap.....



My opinion is.....  It is the size.
To me, anything whether it's actually fabricated and manufactured or whether it's DIY, if it's smaller than 16", it's simply a reflector.  I don't necessarily feel that putting a center cap on a 7" or 11" reflector makes or defines it as a Beauty Dish.  The point and origin of the concept clarifies it.  There's a lighting contrast, shape and depth that you get with a Beauty Dish that's hard to create with other modifiers.

I've come to find that there is also sort of a "sweet spot" when utilizing a Beauty Dish.  Your typical 22"-24" (Yes I know that Elinchrom and Mola makes some larger sizes) seems to work best at about twice the distance of the size of the Dish.....  in this case since the Dish is approximately 2' in diameter, then that "sweet spot" seems to occur when the Dish is about 4' from the subject (and of course, I'm refering to Head Shots and/or waist ups)

I guess I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks because there seems to be a large number of modifiers being made (manufactured and DIY) that are 7" and up to 12" and they are being called, a Beauty Dish.  To me, these are simply standard size and/or medium sized "reflectors".  So, is it the center cap that categorizes it as a Beauty Dish.

Again, just interested in everyone's opinion.....

He's discussing using a Grid and Sock.....

It might be that the beauty dish is quite a bit less parabolic than most other reflector bowls. They are of course less efficient by doing so.

Even the big Molas are less than parabolic and have multiple shapes for the light to bounce around.

In Broncolor they call it a P ( P for Pulso bayonnet) soft. It is 120º coverage.