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New DIY Ringflash.Post your DIY projects here,too!
So, I love DIY lighting. I love hacking cameras as well. With the constant stream of new photographers on MM with a shoestring budget, I thought it would be cool if there was a thread showing it's not ALL about how much money you spend..things can be improvised! If you don't like DIY stuff, please don't post here telling DIY enthusiasts how they are stupid for not spending money on the latest gadget..just move on! So, here's my latest completed project. It's a 2nd generation..the first had some bugs that this model addresses. (you can find it by searching homemade light modifiers) Home made DIY Ringflash start with a few metal bowls, some plumber's putty (or JB Weld, epoxy..whatever is strong..) If you follow these instructions, wear goggles and ear protection. This is for informational purposes only and I'll not be responsible if your scrotum gets caught in a belt sander or any other injury you sustain. Use common sense. Be safe.  All below was accomplished with a dremel and cutoff tool. A Rotozip is easier, but it wasn't here, so... cut the first bowl ( about a 19" one..) to just under the width of the medium bowl, like so...  The medium sized bowl should accomodate the body of your camera a bit ( a problem with my last attempt) like this:  cut the second bowl to accomodate a lens.. a bit bigger is better...  invert the third (smallest) bowl and cut a similar sized hole as you did in the medium ( 2nd) bowl: when you're done, it might look like this:  Three bowls, all useless for mixing now. Still here? Cool.. Moving on... affix ( epoxy, plumber's putty, etc) the medium and small bowls with the bottoms of the bowls inverted, like this:  I like plumbers putty for a few reasons: It dries hard enough to sand, it's not messy, it's hand pliable to work with easily..and it fills in gaps/ covers sharp exposed areas nicely. Now, place the sutup into the hole of the Large bowl with the rim of the Medium bowl up. It might look like this, assuming you cut the hole in the larger bowl a bit SMALLER than the rim of the medium bowl..(remember?):  Does it fit? need to trim a bit? Go ahead, I'll wait... Ok. Done? Affix the medium bowl to the larger bowl with your chosen adhesive. put it upside down while it cures to apply pressure...Go inside and play curveball while you wait... Later, Does it look like this?:  Cool! let's keep going... Trace the edge of whatever flashlights you're using onto the outside of the large bowl. Take care if you're using 2 or 3 lights to space them evenly around the bowl... Cut it. try to fit the flash in.. if its snug, thats cool.. a bit loose? Hot glue or soft velcro tabs (add after painting!) should fix that.  Sand anything you want smoothed out if you'd like... once everything is cured. I added a handle (old table leg) with a wingnut and washers.. drilled out and enbedded/epoxied a nut to fit a quckplate for an older tripod head I rarely use..   (yeah, it's off center..sue me) attached to the large bowl. it works well enough. Paint it. I like satin black. Remember to paint the interior of the smallest bowl as well to minimize flare and any vignetting when using a wide lens (problem #2 with my old design,..sigh)   see my little old cruddy flashes peeking out? Hi ;-) The mirror finish of the chrome throws a nice ring..WAyyyyyy better than aluminum foil ( problem ## with the first attempt) attach the flash(es). I used hot glue, after putting soft side velcro around the sharp edges. You could make velcro straps and make it a temporary rig if you like..up to you.  I spliced 2 pc wires together and attached them to a Wein hotshoe safesync. Anywho..that light is bright and direct. Let's soften it a bit.. I used 216 Rosco diffusion. You could use that, or cut up a thin old cutting board, bleached muslin, a vinyl shower curtain.. fixed with 3M spray adhesive that I sprayed into the cap and brushed onto edges. I then cut off the unnecessary bits.  Done. But how does it work? Ben, at about 8 feet. 1/320 sec @ (I think) f 8.0  I like the halo effect, but I think I'll likely find some cheap flashes to add top/bottom to the ringlight to really punch it. the halo at the top is a bit too soft for me. Final cost was about 45 bucks. 20 for the bowls, 17 for the paint, putty, etc... and the flashes came in a box of crap from a yard sale. Total time about 2 hours, not counting curing/ paint drying time. So there it is. Enjoy. Please feel free to post your camera /lighting DIY projects here! Feb 02 08 03:52 pm Link Excellent Post, amazing work, and thought process. Well told and illustrated. A positive and informative post......what do I do..LOL thanks again, for your time and expertise, nice work. Feb 02 08 03:56 pm Link That is really amazing. Thanks for sharing! Feb 02 08 03:56 pm Link You keep thinking there Butch, that's what you're good at.* :-) Honestly, good job. I am not sure I will try it, but you put a lot of effort into it. *it's a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Feb 02 08 03:58 pm Link IBX Pete wrote: Not that much effort..I do stuff like this at work, so it was more fun than effort.. Feb 02 08 04:13 pm Link The wise man sees the world as it is, and is wise enough not to alter it. The un wise man sees the world and attemps to make it conform to his needs. Therefore all human advancements are due to the unwise man. Kudos Feb 02 08 04:17 pm Link I made a waterproof housing for an SB-600 and Pocket Wizard for some wakeboarding shots. It was featured here - http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/07/aw … using.html Feb 02 08 04:25 pm Link LeWhite wrote: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. " Feb 02 08 04:26 pm Link slave to the lens wrote: I'm also fond of "WHO ARE THOSE GUYS???" Feb 02 08 04:40 pm Link Don't overlook the DIY section of the Lighting, Flash, Ring, & Battery Strobe Reference thread for a list of lighting-specific DIY projects. Feb 02 08 05:39 pm Link You did a great job explaining each of the steps! I'm not very handy with tools but I think I'm gonna give it a try. I've got some old Vivitar 285's laying around and this looks like a good use for them! Feb 02 08 05:54 pm Link Tim Little Photography wrote: Dremels are about 50 for the cheapest one and I've used an ancient one for a dozen years. Feb 02 08 06:21 pm Link bump Feb 02 08 09:51 pm Link bump Feb 02 08 09:51 pm Link My favorite and the prettiest DIY ringflash I've seen so far. Feb 02 08 10:36 pm Link nice. Feb 02 08 10:41 pm Link I'm not really a DIY guy when it comes to my lighting, other than rigging gear to make an effect.. BUT. I'm really going to have to try this one.... I wonder if it's possible to rig something to use a Profoto tube in it, rather than the speedlites. KMR Feb 03 08 01:35 am Link KevinMichaelReed wrote: Yes... step 1. Purchase a profoto ringflash and disassemble it...... Feb 03 08 02:22 am Link nice work Feb 03 08 02:28 am Link slave to the lens wrote: Its very easy to pry off the zoom head on the 285's, so that won't be a problem Feb 03 08 02:42 am Link mw image wrote: Now that would defeat the purpose, huh? :-) Feb 03 08 03:43 am Link cough Feb 03 08 04:17 pm Link Awesome idea, I made one from Polystyrene a few years ago but it fell apart after about 6 months. Must make one of these, and soon. Feb 03 08 04:18 pm Link Not done by me but really something to share in the DIY land, kudos to zenmasterfrommars on flickr for this proyect: Attaching a chinese made beauty dish -bowens compatible- to a speedlight with gary fong stuff http://www.flickr.com/photos/7910075@N03/2196330635/ -I would add an L bracket that connects the beautydish to the lightstand to relief the weight from the head of the strobe. Feb 03 08 04:26 pm Link Eduardo Frances wrote: That's cool! Feb 03 08 05:17 pm Link scoop/ background lights cut from acrylic ceiling light globes:  PERFECT fit for ABs..no ring required.. As are these Trader Joe's Coffe can snoots:  Feb 03 08 05:20 pm Link ingenious! Feb 03 08 06:45 pm Link bump Feb 04 08 12:52 pm Link Sh pow Feb 04 08 11:03 pm Link  First test shot from my little DIY ringflash constructed from a disposable bowl, an old pill bottle (big enough to fit around my lens), duct tape, and tin foil. not perfect BUT, For less than 5 bucks a neat little light modifier to have around... Feb 04 08 11:09 pm Link cool...keep em coming! Feel free to post links to other clever threads of DIY projects Feb 04 08 11:23 pm Link https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … id=5466322 here is one from my home made ring light i will post images of the process of making it later Feb 04 08 11:24 pm Link From an email I recieved : feel free to share this info if desired. (credit: "idea c/o Bigler") I would not use it as a strobe based ringlight, but rather as a constant light. (low light hand held slow shutter studio). I would set in place 6 or so of the small 60 watt minibased bulbs found  at Home Depot, and cover the facia with tuffspun. The lens opening would need to be enlarged as desired with a dremel. -Bigler Source... SMART&FINAL Thanks Steve! My 2 cents: I had looked and looked for a large bundt pan, as I figured it would be smoothly transitioned and minimize cutting. The one in the picture Steve provided was the largest I saw... My thoughts on that project.. again just my opinion: 360 watts of power cooking in a pan is going to get plenty warm. If you follow the project above make certain you've insulated the elements well, or the pan becomes the ground, and by proxy so do you. Perhaps screwing them to a wooden ring and inserting the whole thing in. the long tube would be rocking if you're shooting long lenses.. My first Ringflash attempt used a 6" pot as my flare/vignetting killer.. seen here:  yet even when using an 85mm on a dslr (so essentilly around a 105mm focal length) I was getting vignetting and seeing the edges:  finally stepping back and changing a lens led to :  and a slightly tighter crop:  Steve: Thank you for the project!... the Bundt pan with smaller (fan) lights would make an interesting tool! the only reason for my caveat was the afore experienced vignetting with my first ringflash which was the main reason I built V2, as seen above. If anyone finds a REALLY big buntpan let me know! I looked at numerous restaurant supply stores... Feb 05 08 02:40 pm Link Nudge Feb 07 08 12:03 pm Link I'm wondering...do you think it would have an even greater ringflash effefct if the heads were aimed to bounce into the smaller inner ring first? Maybe they already do...kinda hard to tell from the pics. Really nice tutorial! I love DIY stuff too. Feb 07 08 12:38 pm Link Here's my DIY: I had some ideas about how to attach it to my camera, but I bought an ABR800 with a moon unit instead. http://jeremyreitman.blogspot.com/2007/ … st-so.html  Feb 07 08 01:35 pm Link MichaelDean wrote: They are set at a slight angle because of the curve of the bowl and hit near the curve of the inverted medium bowl..hopefully bouncing the light back right in the middle of the larger bowl, without spilling out directly. The hourglass shape directs the light around the bowl before it travels outward. That was at least my attempt..:-) Feb 07 08 02:02 pm Link cough Feb 10 08 02:39 pm Link Nobody has asked this? How much to make one for me? I am no do it myselfer but it's always great to spend less. Feb 10 08 02:46 pm Link Studio 115 wrote: *crickets* Feb 10 08 02:59 pm Link |
