For anyone doing portrait work, the term “beauty dish” is bound to crop up sometime or another, whether it’s reading Strobist, looking at the technical notes from shoots, or simply surfing for more gear you don’t need.
Over the last year, there’s been a lot of interest in DIY (do it yourself) beauty dishes, made of everything from plastic salad bowls to aluminum turkey roasting pans. With the annual slowdown of concert season this winter, I decided to undertake my own DIY project and set out to see what this beauty dish business was all about.
About $20, one Nikon SB-900 speedlight, and a bit of work later, and here are the results.
The Anatomy of a Beauty Dish
The principle of a beauty dish is relatively simple: flash is fired through the back of a large concave dish into a smaller reflector, which returns the flash into the bowl for an outward projection of indirect light.
With DIY beauty dishes, there are three main components:
The Design Rationale
Rather than go with an eBay beauty dish, all of which seemed pretty weak, I set out to make my own design.
I made my first DIY beauty dish mid-December 2009 – the Mark I. While together with my brother Chris for the holidays, we decided to undertake construction of the Mark II design. The main differences between the first and second designs center around tweaks to the beauty dish’s internal reflector.
After scouring Google, Flickr, and various photography websites, I had a good idea of how I wanted to approach my DIY beauty dish. While a lot of the existing designs feature plastic elements, I figured that I’d go for all-metal construction for my dish. And, what better resource to use for materials than a place that is no stranger to use and abuse: the kitchen.
For the main component – the reflecting dish – Chris and I used a 16-quart stainless steel mixing bowl (this 16 Qt. Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
Enter the Chinatown Special DIY Beauty Dish.
Parts & Tools
Reflector:
($8.50) – 18″ diameter (~45.75cm)
Return:
($1.50)Connectors:
The Bracket:
Lastolite EZBox Softbox bracket ($0.00) *
Or similar speedring/bracket combo
Paint:
Tools/extras used:
Speedlight:
* The Cheat: The Speedlight Speedright/Flash Bracket
Obviously this part isn’t free. I have the 15″ Lastolite EZYBox Softbox, and while I considered going with a 100% DIY solution with a 5″ L-bracket from Home Depot, I figured that the pre-fab bracket would make this project all that much easier while providing a more reliable and adjustable bracket for mounting different kinds of speedlights.
A number of users seem to have had good results from similar speedring/bracket combos available on eBay, which go for about $30 USD.
If you don’t want to go the eBay route, Amazon sells the ePhoto Flash Bracket for Speedlights
for for $34.99. However, at that price, you might also consider the CowboyStudio 16″ Softbox
, which features the same bracket and has the bonus of giving you a 16-inch collapsible softbox for just $0.51 more.
It’s worth nothing that the newer Mark II bracket from Lastolite does not feature the same pre-drilled holes as the Mark I design.
A little “still life” from the dish’s construction.
Assembly Instructions for the DIY Beauty Dish
Detail shots of making the dish are at the end of this article. Be sure to check out the walk-through video of this design’s construction, too.
Step 1:
First, create a stencil based on the flash you want to use. Since I made my dish specifically for the Nikon SB-900, my template was sized for that flash head with very narrow clearances. While a large hole will allow you to use various flashes, custom-fitting the opening will allow less spill out the back of the dish and make for a more efficient light modifer.
Step 2:
Using the stencil for the flash opening, mark out on the dish where you’ll need to cut. Also, determine where you’ll need to drill for the mounting bracket and for the hardware that will secure the internal reflector.
The bracket Lastolite uses – and which can be found elsewhere on similar, cheaper products – features holes around the circumference. Perfect for a DIY beauty dish. I used these holes as guides for the holes I drilled, both for mounting the bracket and for the mounting screws for the internal reflector.
Step 3:
After the mounting holes and flash opening are marked out (I used an ultra-fine point Sharpie), get to work with the power tools.
To cut out the opening for the flash, I recommend using Dremel’s Rotary Cutting Wheel for metal
After everything was drilled and cut, Dremel’s Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
is great for cleaning up the sharp edges and burs that remain.
Step 4
Use a medium to fine-grit sandpaper (I used 150-grit) over the entire surface of the mixing bowl and the piece for the internal reflector. Sanding will give spray paint a nice surface to which to adhere.
After sanding, I wiped down the bowl and plate with denatured alcohol for good measure.
Step 5
Now you’re ready to paint the interior of the mixing bowl, but before you do, tape up the flash opening and the drilled holes on the back of the bowl with masking tape.
Using flat white spray paint, coat the interior of the bowl and both sides of the internal reflector in thin, even applications.
I recommend three coats, with 20-30 minutes minutes drying time in between coats. Save some spray paint if you’re “detail oriented” like me and want to perform touch ups after the black paint.
Step 6
After painting the interior of the bowl, paint back of the dish with flat black. Again, you’ll want to tape up the flash opening and mounting holes, this time on the interior of the dish, with masking tape.
If you’re looking to save money, you can skip painting the back of the dish – your DIY dish will just look a lot more do-it-yourself.
Painting the exterior last means that you’ll have a nice clean edge black-white around the rim of the bowl.
Step 7 (optional)
If you’re like me, and, after completing the above steps you’re starting to develop an attachment to your DIY project, you can pick up a can of Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish
to protect your dish.
I did four coats on the interior of the bowl and and about six on the exterior of the beauty dish, with a light sanding with 320-grit sandpaper in between coats.
Grabbing a can of this protective coat will set you back about $9.00, but it will provide a little more peace of mind not having to baby the dish and worry about paint getting chipped or scraped. Believe me, just setting the dish face down is going to tear up the spray paint on the rim in no time – just ask my Mark I design.
Step 8
After the paint and polycrylic coating are dry, it’s time to assemble the return on the interior of the dish. Due to the way the mounting bracket overlaps the dish, it’s necessary to first screw on the hardware for mounting the internal reflector. This is where the 1/4″-20 3″ machine screws and the appropriate fasteners come in.
Step 9
Once you’ve installed the internal reflector, attach the flash bracket to the dish with the #4 machine screws and fasteners. At this point, things should be looking pretty good, but you’re not finished yet.
Step 10
Remember the adjustable return? The last step is to fine tune this internal reflector to provide the most even and efficient diffusion of light possible. Since the internal reflector is held in place by the jam nuts on internal reflector, just screw on the jam nuts closer or farther away from the flash to adjust. Every combination of bowl and return will be different, so you’ll have to tweak your design.
The Finished Beauty Dish
Quality of Light
Beauty dishes seem to be classified in a middling pergatory of light modifiers, positioned between the harsher light of a reflector and the diffusion of a softbox. A kind of soft-and-hard directional light.
A 16-qt mixing bowl is designed to hold water, flour, eggs, and maybe even a pinch of salt, but the question remains: how well does it hold – and reflect – light?
The following is an example of the beauty dish positioned roughly one foot from the wall.
The dish throws a roughly 120º spread of light. In the above image, the dish is just a few inches from the wall.
Now, in practice?
You can see more samples of the Chinatown Special Mark II here.
Fine-Tuning the Beauty Dish Output
One thing I wanted in the design of the Chinatown Special is the feature of an adjustable internal reflector, which the threaded screws easily provide.
Of course, the irony of the adjustable return is that you really only need to adjust it once to get the sweet spot for difussion. However, since every dish, internal reflector, and combination therein are going to be a little different, this is a nice feature for the best output.
In fine-tuning the beauty dish, I found that the closer in I adjusted the interal reflector, the more soft/even the spread of light. Logically, this effect was at the expense of efficiency. And so, the real question is at what length the spread remains as even as possible but with the highest relative efficiency.
In my build of the Chinatown Special Mark II, I found that a 3″ machine screw provided the perfect distance between the 8″ pizza dish with the 16-quart bowl, thus rending a very nice spread of light. Your mileage may vary.
Positioning of the internal reflector affects the quality of light from the beauty dish – distance, reflectivity, and curve relative to the reflecting bowl are key variables. Upper left shows the final configuration of the return in the convex arrangement; bottom right shows the convex arrangement. For these samples, the dish was positioned about a foot from the wall.
Aside from the position of the internal reflector, one additional factor that may be important in the optimization of your beauty dish is the effect of flash zoom position.
In the Mark I design, which featured a smaller return plate with higher sloping sides, I found that I needed a zoom setting of 200mm on the Nikon SB-900 for the smoothest light. With the Mark II, which features a different, slightly larger reflector, anywhere from 17mm to 200mm produces just about the same effect.
What, No 3″ Auto Mirror in the Internal Reflector?
The Mark II design that I present here is the result of a few different trials conducted with the first version of this DIY Beauty dish, most extensively with the internal reflector.
A lot of the DIY designs I saw on different blogs featured a 3″ convex mirror in the internal reflector (most famously David Tejada’s Home Depot-sourced dish). For efficiency, this sounds great, but when I looked at most commercial beauty dishes, they all featured white returns and no specular reflection. I had to investigate.
In my Mark I design of the Chinatown Special, to roughly test, I bought two plates to be used for the internal reflector. I painted one plate flat white and left the control as polished stainless steel. Overall, I found that the painted return offered a smoother light source with no visible loss in efficiency. Smoother and just as powerful? That sounds like win-win, and for me, enough reason to proceed with white reflector sans mirror in the final design for the Mark I and Mark II dishes.
Details
End Notes:
There you have it – one music photographer’s DIY beauty dish, AKA the Chinatown Special. Be sure to check out the samples I posted earlier for an idea of this beauty dish’s output.
My brother Chris and I had a blast making this little homebrew project and I’m excited to put this light modifier to the test for future shoots. Due to the relatively small size, I think this beauty dish will work out great for band portraits and promos, either on a boom or simply on a light stand.
If you end up making a beauty dish with this design as a reference, no matter how small, I’d love to hear from you and your experiences. Feel free to ask questions as well if there’s anything I’ve left out that you want to know. Thanks for reading.
DIY Beauty Dishes Made From This Design:
Gregory Tran’s version of this design, using an L-plate instead of the Lastolate bracket.
Wes Taylor’s version of the Chinatown Special, also using an L-plate.
Another Chinatown Special with a custom bracket/plate that also holds the flash perpendicularly.
An example of the Chinatown Special DIY beauty dish made for two flashes.
Resources & Further Reading:
I scoured Google for DIY beauty dishes, and the best of what I found pointed me to a series these posts:
In addition, the Strobist Flickr Group was a great resource for this topic, with plenty of discussions on making your own beauty dish.
End Notes:
If these instructions have been helpful to you, please drop me a comment, share this link, and go make a DIY beauty dish. Or, if you’re so inclined, buy yourself something nice through my affiliate links through B&H Photo in New York.
Thanks for reading. You can see more examples of the Chinatown Special here.
For the video walk-through, check out this four-minute tutorial.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Photography Tutorials and tagged with beauty dish, diy, instructions, kacey, light modifier, make, mola, reflector, speedlight, strobist, Technique & Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
This really is the best DIY Dish I've ever seen RT @toddowyoung The Best DIY Beauty Dish http://bit.ly/dAFQKQ #togs
[...] is a quick studio portrait (view larger) lit by my new “Chinatown Special” DIY beauty dish and taken with the Nikon D3 and the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII (my [...]
@carlafedje popular project this week http://bit.ly/aa2HKv
much prefer one that fits a speedlight, more portable. RT @theblablab: @carlafedje popular project this week http://bit.ly/aa2HKv
RT @toddowyoung The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com http://bit.ly/dAFQKQ
[...] ISO, Digital Noise & Noise Reduction“, “How to Request a Photo Pass“, DIY projects and more. Seriously… great stuff. That [...]
New #camera concept lets the subject see the #photographers shot 1st: http://is.gd/83NFH via #gizmodo
Cool new #camera with fast f1.8 lens and shoots raw files from Samsung? Read more via #Gizmodo http://is.gd/83NFH #photography
DIY beauty dish? Might have to try this sometime.. wish I was "handier" by nature @toddowyoung http://bit.ly/aa2HKv
[...] full 10-step instructions, more photos of the design, and the complete parts list, check out the full write-up for this DIY beauty dish [...]
[...] 10-step instructions, more photos of the design, and the complete parts list, check out the full write-up for this DIY beauty dish [...]
The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com: http://bit.ly/a280cl #delicious #yahoo
[...] out the full tutorial with parts list and pictures at [...]
[...] my first DIY photo project, I decided to tackle something easy. Here’s the video tutorial for my DIY speedlight grid, [...]
@DanHerbertson check out http://ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty-dish – might save you some cash!
[...] via The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com. [...]
[...] keylight here is a Nikon SB-900 fired through our very own Chinatown Special DIY beauty dish camera left. There’s also a bit of fill from a 45″ umbrella, positioned camera right, [...]
[...] tweet but I am not too keen in digging through that list to find it. I will say, I ended up at ISHOOTSHOWS.COM to whom I give credit for giving me the nudge to do this. And here is my write-up of what went [...]
Getting requests to build Chinatown Specials (http://bit.ly/cy5QDG) – might consider it if there's a large enough volume. Interested?
[...] Engage, metalcore rockers The Devil Wears Prada got a taste of the bright lights. Or at least my Chinatown Special DIY beauty dish, at any rate. Six great guys, a few speedlights, and here are the [...]
Speaking of photographers, check out how this rock'n'roll photog used our equipment: http://ow.ly/1wcAg
How kind people can be, sharing their ideas. Here all about making a beautydish for only $20. http://bit.ly/aa2HKv #DIY #photog #strobist
I wish I had hair like @toddowyoung – in the mean time – check out speedlite beauty dish DIY tute here: http://bit.ly/cZ3ZZ1
Love DIY <3 RT @nathanrodger via | @toddowyoung – check out speedlite beauty dish DIY tute here: http://bit.ly/cZ3ZZ1
RT @nathanrodger: I wish I had hair like @toddowyoung check out speedlite beauty dish DIY tute here: http://bit.ly/cZ3ZZ1
http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp
The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com
The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com http://bit.ly/cTkcJQ
[...] little more research. So, after looking for more information on how to make the beauty dish, I found Todd Owyoung from I Shoot Shows. I really liked the detailed instructions of his DIY beauty dish, called “The Chinatown [...]
Received my 16-QT Stainless Steel bowl today to make @toddowyoung 's DIY Chinatown Special Beauty Dish. Can't wait! http://bit.ly/cZ3ZZ1 #fb
[...] of warm light in the sky. Supplementing the ambient light, I used a Nikon SB-900 shot through my Chinatown Special DIY beauty dish as a keylight on the band gelled with a TN-A1 filter to give a warm look to the images. With the [...]
[...] Read more about Todd Owyoung’s DIY Beauty Dish [...]
attempting @toddowyoung 's Chinatown special http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp
Just tested out my new DIY beauty dish, thanks to @toddowyoung for his tutorial seen here: http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp
[...] New camera bag – messenger bag style, with little bulk. 3. Beauty dish – after reading Todd Owyoung’s blog post about his homemade beauty dish (dubbed the “Chinatown Special”) I’ve been wanting [...]
[...] little more research. So, after looking for more information on how to make the beauty dish, I found Todd Owyoung from I Shoot Shows. I really liked the detailed instructions of his DIY beauty dish, called “The Chinatown [...]
[...] shots were shot with my DIY Beauty Dish with an SB-800 in it, and another SB-800 behind her for back lighting. The beauty dish worked [...]
Music Photographer's DIY Beauty Dish – http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp
Great looking DIY Beauty Dish!!!
@jakedegolish How's your build of the "Chinatown Special" DIY beauty dish going (http://bit.ly/9Fam7h)?
[...] Here is the full write-up [...]
[...] in the big guns, aka my pops; I am defiantly not the handy man he is. We got out inspiration from China Town Beauty Dish. We modified this method just a bit in order to better suit our needs. Here are a few pictures of [...]
[...] with wonderful information on how to do this project. Out of the dozen, I chose 2 to stick with. Todd Owyoung has the best looking DIY dish thus far. He went all out and spent a little more money, so mine [...]
Best DIY beauty dish? http://ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty-dish/
[...] I rocked Nikon speedlights for this set. The keylight was the Nikon SB-900, which I used in your favorite DIY beauty Dish, triggered via [...]
??? ??????? ?????????? ??????? ??? ?????????? ??????? – http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp #minsk #fotoby
??? ??????? ?????????? ??????? ??? ?????????? ??????? – http://tinyurl.com/yhjmklp #minsk #fotoby #twiby
[...] was a five-light setup. I shot with three Nikon SB-900 speedlights, with the keylight shot though my DIY beauty dish. For accent lighting, I had two Nikon SB-900s on either side shot into two 46″ Photek [...]
[...] before the background goes black. Last time I used a 60″ umbrella. This time it’s my DIY Beauty Dish. This time I made things a little easier on myself, I skipped the reflector and also started at [...]
The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com http://bit.ly/br7RpI
[...] Then I would defintely like to say thanks to Todd from ishootshows.com for a few ideas, namely using the machine screws and to seal the spary paint using a clear laquer [...]
http://wp.me/p9HJ1-M2 – might build something similar to this this soon.
[...] few months ago, I found a tutorial at ishootshows.com about making your own beauty dish. I finally found the pieces that I needed and got to work on [...]
The Best DIY Beauty Dish | ishootshows.com: Shared by rmrf
Beauty Dish ?????? ??????. ?? ????????????? ????? ??… http://bit.ly/dsiaMW
[...] The DIY ethic in small flash circles is not a new thing at this point with sites such as Strobist and DIY Photography, and rather than re-invent the wheel check out Chris and Todd’s video on making a beauty dish and the accompanying blog post. [...]
Welcome to ishootshows.com, the premier site for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
Every time I see Dir en grey perform, it feels like a spectacle. Even though they’re touring r
Hanging out in the hot, hot sun on Warped Tour 2010, Chris and I met up with electro-pop wiz kid Gra
Both the new Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S and Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR have long been rumored, and they’ve
It’s hot, the summer solstice has come and gone, and, more importantly for many young music fa
Just a quick link to say that your truly was featured on Photoshop guru Scott Kelby’s Kelby TV
My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
Todd -
As always with you – I really have one short comment – this is AWESOME. The result looks professional, flexible, with repeatable results for any speedlight shooter.
Awesome work mate!!
Regards, Nathan.
Hey Nathan,
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. This beauty dish was fun to design and I hope it proves useful for strobist shooters everywhere. Cheers.
yes, yes, yes! i love it. if i had only seen this before i purchased mine… i may still try to construct it because hey, you can never have too much gear available to you, right?
thanks for the amazing and thorough post.
melissa
No, one can never have too much photo gear, especially of the DIY variety. Please let me know how this design works out for you if you build it. Thanks for the comment, Melissa.
My wife doesn’t agree with this message – sadly… :(
I figure making DIY photo gear is like cooking instead of eating out. It’s usually cheaper, messier, and often more fun.
What a fantastic post! Considering I live a few blocks over from Chinatown in NYC, I’m chomping at the bit to make my Chinatown Special Beauty Dish this weekend!
Many thanks for the detailed and informative post! You rock!
-Brad
Hey Brad,
Thanks for the comment. If you do make a DIY beauty dish from this design, I’d love to hear how it goes. Hopefully you can find everything you need between Chinatown and a hardware store.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
This looks awesome. Thanks so much for the detailed, easy to understand instructions. They’re much appreciated! Can’t wait to try and make one.
Hey Kimberly,
Thanks for the kind words, glad to share this design. Please let me know if you do end up making one, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Looks fantastic. Just might have to DIY one up this weekend. How hard was it to cut through the bowl?
tiff
Hi Tiff,
Thanks for the comment. The bowl used here is stainless steel, which is much harder than normal steel. With the reinforced fiber cutting wheels for the Dremel, it cuts pretty easily – you just need a steady hand. You can also use the stock cutting wheels that come with the Dremel, but they will get worn down very quickly.
Super! It looks really great. And thanks for all those explanations, they will be really useful when I try to make mine.
Hey Richard,
Hope the instructions and design go well for you, let me know how it works out. Cheers.
The Lastolite bracket really sets your design head and shoulders above what I’ve seen before. The dish looks beautiful. Thanks for giving good examples of optimizing the light, that helps a lot. A few questions, what kind of paint did you use? How did you prepare the surface? and do you anticipate the paint chipping easily from the stainless steel?
Thanks, Good write up!
Tom
Hey Tom,
Thanks for the kind words. I used Rust-oleum “Painter’s Touch” flat white and flat black paint. Flat white will help produce the smoothest output without hot spots. For the back of the dish, you can use whatever kind of paint you want, as it doesn’t have any effect on output – I just chose black.
As noted in Step 4, I sanded the components – no primer. With a hard impact, the paint can chip off, but the polycrylic coating does a lot to minimize this. But with normal use, the paint is on there for good if you prep the surface correctly.
Thanks Todd, I’m making one!
Hi Todd,
Love this tutorial and i’m definately gonna have a go at building one. Firstly can you buy the Lastolite bracket separately and also what sort of diameter is the mixing bowl? I’m in the UK, so i may have to saerch a bit further afield for the parts, but i’m sure i can come up with something…
Hey Danny,
You might be able to buy the Lastolite bracket separately, but I would recommend going another route, as the bracket itself is rather expensive. There are knock-off brackets that can be had for about $30-$35 shipped on eBay.
Regarding the bowl, the diameter of the bowl is 18 inches, or about 45cm. The 16-quart bowl I’m using was the best balance of weight and cost by my estimation. Buying a larger 18 or 20-quart bowl had a marginal increase in diameter, but those bowls were also heavier and cost 2x.
Any kitchen supply store will be able to sort you out, I think, and should have something that’s usable for the internal reflector, too.
Great work, as usual, Todd. The details about finishing and tuning the reflector make this even better, since that part is more important than the construction.
I have to say that I’m always impressed by your writing. A lot of photographers can make great photos, but few have your knack for describing and detailing their work. It makes your site infinitely more interesting.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate your support.
After tweaking the design of this reflector, I’m actually surprised that very few DIY designs mention adjusting the dish for the best output. One of the most fun parts about this project, aside from building four of these bad boys with my brother, was really fine tuning the output and trying different internal reflectors. Between the Mark I and Mark II designs, I tried about four internal reflectors and different configurations before settling on the final design.
Ah the long awaited Chinatown Special MK II!! This is by far the most sophisticated and well-explained DIY beauty dish tutorial I’ve come across. Can’t wait to try it out myself. Thanks for sharin the wealth Todd!
Hey Matt,
Thanks very much, very glad to hear that this beauty dish tutorial is easy to follow. I think of the Chinatown Special as just one in a long lineage of DIY beauty dishes, so I can only hope that this design is of interest to people.
Please let me know how it goes for you when you make a dish of your own.
I’ve been waiting with baited breath for this one, and damn if it doesn’t deliver. I’ll be building this today for sure. In fact I might make two, one with silver inside, for added contrast when needed. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Hey Joey,
Glad to hear this DIY beauty dish tutorial delivers. Phew! If you make a silver BD, I think a silver spray paint would work well. Even sanded, the stainless steel is going to be a bit too uneven, I think. I’ve been thinking the same thing, though my reason would be for more power (efficiency) in the modifier.
Oh, one question. Any plans to make a grid or sock for this one?
No plans to make a grid, but I may make a sock for it.
Thanks Todd! I’m going to try this on my 580ex II :D
Hey Melly,
You’re welcome! Let me know how it works out for you, good luck.
This is by far, the best DIY beauty dish for a speedlight that I’ve seen, both in light quality and construction.
If you were to cut the hole for the strobe big enough to accommodate other strobes, I would suggest adding a piece of black craft foam over the strobe opening.
With a couple of slits cut into the foam, you could put any strobe into the dish, and the foam would cover any excess space – preventing light spill.
This way, you could use any battery operated flash or speedlight.
Thanks for the great write up!
Destry Jaimes
http://www.dfjphoto.com
http://blog.dfjphoto.com
http://twitter.com/dfjphoto
Hey Destry,
Thanks for the kind work. Checked out your portfolio – good stuff.
I’ve seen some other designs that feature the black foam – I think you’re right, that would be a nice addition to make the design universal. Cheers.
another bracket option.. If someone posted already please forgive!
Great Article!
http://www.kaceyenterprises.com/
Hey Dan,
Kacey Enterprises is doing some very cool stuff. Their double-speedlight bracket looks pretty amazing. I almost feel like using the Kacey bracket on a DIY dish would be akin to washing down a cheeseburger with a nice Brunello di Montalcino, though. ;)
Thanks for the comment.
Dude…you cease to amaze me! Simple genius, love it. =-_)
Project Chinatown Special due to commence soon for my SB600.
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for the kind words – glad to hear people dig the design. We had a lot of fun making it. Let me know how the Chinatown Special works out for your SB-600!
Will do! Hey would you mind giving me a quick critique on my band shots on my Flikr page? I have a bunch more but haven’t gotten around to uploading them yet.
Hey Ryan,
I think you’re doing pretty well considering the lighting and using a fixed lens. I think the images capture well the light and mood.
For me, the trick to using a fixed lens like the 50mm is to make the lens invisible; the limitations of composition imposed by the single focal length are a challenge to the photographer, not an experience for the viewer.
Thanks. I haven’t had a chance to shoot any bands with my D300s and my Tammy 17-50 2.8 VC yet, can’t wait to see what I can get outta that dynamic duo and Lightroom 3. =-_)
Been going trough a creative dryspell since Thanksgiving; our house was broken into, bag and laptop snagged, insurance replaced with new equipment. While loading up the car on Xmas eve, borrowed-camera-bag rolled out of the back of the SUV, Tammy was mounted on the D300s and separated at the Zoom ring; been awaiting a $200 repair since Dec. 28th. =-_(
Why is this called a “Chinatown” Special ?
Racial, Politcal, or because the wifey will not recognize it.
Hi Neil,
Did you read this article and the design rationale? The dish nicknamed the “Chinatown Special” because the parts were sourced at a Chinese restaurant supply store, on the cheap. The latter part of the name also references how my brother and I feel about the performance of this design.
Thanks for the question.
I was so geared up to make one of these tonight but then I saw that the bracket is $80! Are there any less expensive alternatives?
Hey Paul,
Great question. I would check out eBay – search for “speedlight bracket” and you should come back with some options. There are some produced by the company “ishoot” (no relation) that seem to ship direct from China for about $30-35. So, you should be able to build the beauty dish for roughly $20 in hardware and kitchen supplies and $35 for the bracket. If you go with the polycrylic, tack on another $10, for a total of around $65.
AWESOME! I seriously got to try this eventually, need to learn other Nikon CLS things first though.
Hey Bryan,
Thanks for the comment, good luck with the dish. Nikon’s “creative lighting system” is great – not always ideal for all circumstances, but one would be surprised what’s possible without radio triggers, and the TTL control is fantastic for changing manual settings on the fly.
Todd- this is absolutely awesome! Operation China Town will be commencing soon for my SB800′s. One thought that I had was, can the set up be flexible enough to accommodate different flash heads? Obviously you made this specifically for your SB900 but I can’t help to think about having a template or combination of head brackets where you can adjust it to fit, in my case, the SB28′s or SB800′s,
Anyway, this is by far the best write up for a DYI beauty dish. I can’t wait to dive into it.
Hey Andy,
Accomodating multiple flash heads is no problem. Just cut the flash opening for the lowest common denominator – in this case, the biggest flash head. The opening my brother and I cut for the Nikon SB-900 for this design is ~7.7cm x 5.3cm.
The cost of this flexibility is that you’ll have some spill out the back when using smaller flashes.
Thanks for the kind words, please let me know how building this design goes for you.
Hi Todd,
First off, congratulations on the best BD DIY tutorial I’ve seen on the web so far! The details are perfect and I can’t wait to get on with the build.
Unfortunately, living in the UK it has proved somewhat more tricky to get hold of similar bowls etc- I spent most of yesterday hunting catering suppliers and even went around the London Chinatown in the hope that I could replicate a UK Chinatown model!
In the end, ebay to the rescue- now I just have to curb my impatience whilst I wait for the Chinese New Year celebrations to finish and take delivery of the essential elements for the project!
One question for you though if you don’t mind…..
I’m interested in the design of the internal reflector- I initially sourced an 8″ circular alu disk but it has no lip to it (unlike your pizza pan). I will try to get hold of an identical pizza pan but wondered if you had any thoughts on the importance of the concave shape in this part. Do you envisage a loss of reflected light around the bowl if I was to use a flat disk? I may well experiment with both but would value your thoughts before I start.
I will be using a pretty identical set-up (SB900/Lastolite EZYBox bracket etc etc). I’ll let you know how it works out and once again many thanks for this brilliant post Todd,
Best regards,
Iain
Hey Lain,
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. Hope you found suitable dish/bowl for the project without paying too much.
Regarding the internal reflector, I don’t think that a lack of a lip or sloping edge will matter too much.
As I mentioned in the post, I tried a variety of different kinds of reflectors. Ultimately, each reflector is a little different, so you’ll have to tweak the design and adjust the distance at which the dish is smoothest and/or most efficient – and more likely, a balance of the two. In addition to the 8″ pizza pan, one reflector that I tried and which worked well was a 6″ (15cm) aluminum plate.
With all the reflectors I tried, I tried them in both convex and concave positions relative to the flash. While I originally thought that a convex relation would be best and help push light into the sides of the dish, I found that the concave setup actually worked best for the smoothest light with no real change in the efficiency. Anyway, something to consider.
I thin you should be fine with a flat disk for the reflector, anyway – most commercial beauty dishes have a flat return, for what it’s worth. Good luck, please drop me a note when you get a chance to assemble and try out the dish!
I suppose putting small rubber feet on the front rim of the bowl might be a good idea if you’re worried about dinging up the paint.
Hey Mike,
Great point. Some little rubber dots would be perfect for keeping pressure off the painted rim, and cheaper than the polycrylic.
Very nice Todd!
I have a BD for my Alien Bees that I love love love, but needless to say it’s rather unwieldy and not-so-location-shoot-ready. Something that can stick on a lightstand for my Speedlights would be really cool.
Since my studio is blocks away from Chicago’s Chinatown, I’m considering the possibility of assembling my own… Ready for this? Chi(na)Town Special!
;)
Hey Mike,
Ha – the ChiTown Special. I like it. Let me know how it works out for you if you make this design.
Overall, the 18″ dish is pretty portable, though I’m not sure how much portable it is compared to the 22″ AB beauty dish.
Todd!
It’s finally here! The beauty dish looks very professional and durable. Thank you so much, it looks like another amazing post. (=
Hey Joshua,
You’re welcome, thank you for the kind words.
Ha! My discovery this weekend was you cannot just walk into Wal-Mart or Bed, Bath and Beyond and pick up a 16 qt. mixing bowl. Guess my wife the cook coulda told me that. Anyway, I’ll be looking up local restaurant supply shops this week to get the supplies together and get to work.
Hey Rich,
Yeah, I think that 16-quart falls into the more restaurant-scale sort of kitchen duty, just out of range of what most kitchen stores carry. Let me know how this DIY design works out for you.
Hi Todd,
I’m just about to start the early stages of your most recent DIY Beauty Dish as I was highly impressed with your results.
I do have one question though, you describe the bowl as 16 Quart. Here in England, we don’t use Quarts as a description when selling items such as bowls and tend to go by the Diameter of the bowl itself.
What is the diameter of the bowl you used? The largest I can seem to find is 16″, any larger than that and they become rather deep and wouldn’t be suitable.
Hey Joshua,
Thanks for the question. The diameter of the bowl is about 45.75cm – I’m going to amend the parts list to reflect this, as I’ve been getting a few questions about this.
Really, any bowl about this size should work, though it generally seems as though larger bowls are much more expensive for a marginal increase in diameter.
Well, I’m thinking I have to invest in a dremel finally. Though, it’s hard finding a decent price for that 16qt bowl.. no one locally has anything that large from what I can tell =(
Definitely will have to see what I can find as a bracket. That’s probably the key thing of this design, and I don’t feel I could make a good L bracket, heh.
Hey Linh,
A Dremel really comes in handy for this project – cutting the stainless steel bowl or drilling out the shape would have been really trying.
Where are you located? Prices for the mixing bowl should be about $10 or less. If it can’t be found locally, prices for shipping are going to make doing this DIY project on the cheap hard. I’d check kitchen/restaurant supply stores in your area.
It’s possible someone might be able to order it if they don’t carry it. There was one small shop – basically just a consumer kitchenwares shop – that offered to order it for me, even though they only stocked smaller mixing bowls in the store.
I’m in Maryland. The asian stores around here I have not checked yet, but hopefully I’ll find something there. I know I’ll probably find a plastic bowl.
Thanks for the ebay tip on L brackets, hope they aren’t complete crap for this, heh.
Any restaurant supply store should be able to help you out – Asian or not – as long as they are open to the public (many are not).
I am tempted to order one of those eBay brackets myself – I’d love to have a reliable source I could point people towards who want to make this design.
todd – awesome awesome post..
i’ve been meaning to make one of these for a while and your post finally drove me to do it…
picked up most of the parts today and am in the process of constructing everything – prob take me a week or so but i will link a photo when i am done… i picked up a bracket from Ace hardware for $5 that i think will work well (i don’t have the lastolite bracket) but i won’t know for sure until i put it all together… will keep you guys updated…
btw do you think there is any difference between spray polycrylic and spray polyurethane? the home depot in manhattan only has the brush on polycrylic… as far as i can tell from reading online the only difference is the water vs oil based and the shorter drying time for the polycrylic…
Hey Gregory,
Thanks for the comment – glad to hear you like this design enough to build it!
Are you using an L-bracket? I think that should work well and be plenty sturdy – when in doubt, there’s always epoxy.
The polycrylic was recommended to me by someone at Home Depot. I was inquiring about a clear coat and one of the employees said that polycrylic was really want I wanted. The stuff isn’t cheap, but it does seem to work quite well.
I’ve got everything for this project except for the EZBox bracket. I was thinking the same thing that you were regarding the adjustment aspect, so I looked around for the bracket. Here’s the hitch, the only brackets I’m finding don’t have the pre-drilled holes in them. This leaves me with the decision to drill the holes in the brackets, or find someplace that has possibly the older design for the bracket that does have the holes… Any thoughts on drilling the holes rendering the bracket useless for future usage?
Hey Rob,
Have you checked out the iShoot eBay speedring/bracket? It looks like it already has predrilled holes, just like the original EZYBox bracket.
If you do end up using a bracket that doesn’t have holes, I don’t think you’re really going to hurt anything except for the prettiness of the equipment – you should still be able to use it just fine for other applications in the future. I can switch between the Chinatown Special and the Lastolite softbox in under a minute, so you still have all the flexibility.
Todd –
here’s a post about the beauty dish i made following your tutorial
only differences are that i used a L bracket and a different clear coat (and spent more money :)
http://gregorytran.blogspot.com/2010/02/diy-beauty-dish-redux.html
Hey Gregory,
Thanks so much for posting a link here – your dish looks great. The L-bracket you used looks perfect – low-profile and sturdy. I like the clean look of back of the dish, too.
Do you have any photos of the front of the dish?
You’re the first person to post their results using this design – I’ll add a link to your dish in the main post. Awesome results, thanks again.
ok i added a front view to my post towards the end – at first i left it out bc it’s just a duplicate of yours :p
Got it, thanks for the update.
For anyone looking, here’s a similar mounting bracket for around $30:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DIY-Canon-Nikon-Flash-Bracket-for-Softbox-Beauty-Dish_W0QQitemZ360229966166QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Flash_Accessories?hash=item53df611156
Thanks for the link, looks like a nice knock-off bracket that would work great for this design.
Just finished one using yours as a template, works a treat! It’s a bit more expensive here in the UK, but well worth the outlay.
Phone snaps:
http://bestc.am/bFC9q
http://bestc.am/tuF
Hi DJ,
Thanks for posting these, would love to see some samples once you get a chance to use it. Looks good!
Great looking project Todd, thanks for posting such detailed instructions.
Hi DJ,
Your beauty dish looks really good. I’m living in the UK too and tried to source the parts without much luck (maybe I’m being too pedantic) – would you mind letting me know where you purchased the bowl and pizza dish?
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the comment – good luck with the project, hope you can source the parts!
Finished one last night! Looked all over for DIY dishes and I’m glad I chose your design! My good wife let me use our bowl we have had since we got married… She will be getting a different bowl. She actually did not like this one for her cooking needs. I thought it worked great! But what do I know! I’ll post images later. Looking forward to using this one. But work will get in the way in the next week or so… :( The sweet spot looks to around 2 inches on this bowl.
Looks great! Thanks for the credit and linking to my site.
You got it, Isaac. Thanks.
Has anyone picked up one of these ebay knock offs? $30 isn’t bad, but if the threading and knobs are junk, it’d be a waste
Hey Todd here’s a link to photos of my version of the Beauty Dish
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=beauty%20dish&w=47398453%40N05
Ill get some photos of the light spread and etc later
Hey Chuck, thanks for posting these. That homemade stand is something else.
Hi Todd
Great post. Plus great excuse to buy a Dremel!
I was in Home Depot today picking up all the parts for this and had trouble finding the Polycrylic? The guys in there had no idea what i was asking for. Is it the brand name? The nearest thing they had said it was only for wood.
Can’t wait to start assembling it on the weekend!
Thanks again
Matt
It is by minwax, and yes, it’s where the wood stains are. You should be able to use it fine: http://www.minwax.com/products/interior_clear_protective_finishes/polycrylic_protective_finish.html
What did you use for an L-bracket? I could not find anything at home depot that was suitable.
Linh – if you have an ace hardware in your town try there for L-bracket if you can’t find at HD… check my post that todd linked at end of his post for pictures of it… simple black L-bracket…
Polycrylic is the product made by MinWax – it comes in a blue container and will be in the aisle w/ the wood floor clearcoats where the polyurethane is…
seems different HD’s stock stuff differently also.. the HD’s here in nyc only had it in paint on form and not in spray…
i ended up using the rustoleum spray clearcoat which seems to work fine but it was toxic as hell (in terms of fumes) when applied…
Hi Guys
Thanks for the replies they were really helpful for my return trip to Home Depot today.
I ended up having to go for the Behr equivalent as they didn’t have the polycrylic in stock in North Bergen but I think it will be fine.
I actually already own a couple of the $30 brackets that other people have linked to from ebay. I can confirm that they work with soft boxes and hopefully with this project too. I think its fair to say that they are cheap and you get what you pay for. They won’t last for ever but in single studio setup they will work just great. If you were dismantling and reassembling them every day they would not survive well.
I should have this put together by the end of the weekend and will post result.
Thanks
Matt
Hey Matt,
The Minwax Polycryclic I used was near the spraypaint and wood stains in the painting section of the Home Depots I visited, but looks like you got sorted.
hi todd,
im from germany and i cant find such a bowl you had used.
i find two bowls for plants in a home departement store. 42cm or 52cm (example: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370337682871).
the only reflector i can find is this one
http://www.yatego.com/outdoorfieber/p,416455090d469,415943bd1449e2_3,relags–edelstahlteller-flach?sid=12Y1268170069Y1e49b0a8197825dcb4
with 23,5 cm. wich bowl would you prefer? is there a huge difference
thank you for this great diy-beautydish.
thx
niels
Hey Niels,
I think that either bowl will work – I couldn’t open that link, but the dish I used was ~45cm. If it’s not too heavy, the 52cm should work just fine, otherwise the 42mm is pretty similar to mine and should be more efficient.
I think that 23.5cm would be too large for the 42cm bowl, but it might work alright for the 52cm diameter bowl. For the smaller 42cm dish, something closer to 15-20cm would probably work better.
Hi there,
The fit and finish of your dish is fantastic.
Just one question, is a true parabolic shape not important to a beauty dish and to the internal reflector?
Hey Ruben,
The shape of the dish is important to a degree, since the dish shape is going to dictate scattering properties.
That said, there is a bit of a range in the shape of “beauty dishes” when it comes to commercial products.
Hey Guys! Thanks for the design! I made one and it works beautifully!
Hi Chris,
Glad to hear this designed worked out for you – Any photos of/with the DIY beauty dish?
Great design! I built one and cut the hole in back large enough to put two flashes through. I would also suggest using carriage bolts on the viewable side of the reflector (they are a bit less noticeable when painted white) and locking nylon nuts. You could probably retrofit one for less than $1. No idea how to “use” it, but it was fun to build.
Here’s a picture with carriage bolts.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35711039@N02/4443831398/in/photostream/
and I bent a piece of metal to hold the two flashes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35711039@N02/4443813082/in/photostream/
Thanks again.
Hey Barry,
Thanks for linking to your images of the finished dish – looks good. With a two-flash design, you should be getting a nice amount of power.
For a static dish, I think carriage bolts sound like a good option, thanks for the suggestion.
hey todd,
i have another question–
i was about to buy a 16qt bowl and a 8in pizza pan as you suggested in your tutorial, but when i went shopping today for the materials i saw that the 20qt bowl was only a couple dollars more,and they also had 10in pizza pans too that i could use.
do you think this would be too big? or do you think it would work just as good (or even better?) (i’m using a decent sigma EF-500 DG btw)
thanks.
Hey Phillip,
If the 20qt bowl isn’t too much more expensive (locally for me, they were almost twice as much), then go for it. However, you might not necessarily need a larger internal reflector. Since the pizza plates should be relatively cheap, you might want to get both the 8″ and 10″ versions, along with different length machine screws, to see what works best.
As for whether the bowl would be too big, it depends on the use. You’re going to lose efficiency with a bigger bowl on the one hand, but you’re gaining a larger effective light source.
Finally got mine done: http://linh.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/diy-beauty-dish/
Need to test more on the reflector positioning, and of course, my lighting skills.
Hey Todd,
Could you perhaps link me or send me the right way as to what other kind of L bracket I could use ? I found one on Adorama, but it seems to be a newer version. Thanks.
-Jairo Bonilla
Forget it, I found one.
Would this one be suitable? I think it’s the same one as yours
http://cgi.ebay.com/DIY-Canon-Nikon-Flash-Bracket-for-Softbox-Beauty-Dish_W0QQitemZ360229966166QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Flash_Accessories?hash=item53df611156
Hey Jairo,
That bracket should work just fine. Good luck.
Hey Todd,
I’ve been following you’re blog for a few months now and love your stuff. The fact that you’re a Nikon shooter makes it even better!
I just wanted to say that I actually work in the internet department at Mission Restaurant Supply and just wanted to say thanks for linking up the Browne-Halco Bowl to your website.
If you actually do get enough requests for you to build some more of these, shoot me a line back and I’ll see if we can help you out with the supplies you need.
Thanks,
Colin
Hey Colin,
This comment is amazing. Just the other day, I was looking at my outbound traffic stats and wondering what you guys thought of the random spike in traffic to that mixing bowl – it’s been the most-clicked outbound link since that tutorial went up!
If I do end up making a big batch of these DIY beauty dishes, I will definitely get in touch with you. I appreciate the gesture.
Todd,
The Chinatown Special makes me look like a better photographer than I am. Awesome job! I have only had it for 5 days, and am loving learning how to use it.
Jed
Bravo, Todd! Exceptionally well-conceived and executed. Finally, a DIY beauty dish that not only works but that doesn’t look like a painted flower pot.
I’m in the process of completing a variant based on your design (mine has a Bowens mount bolted on the back). One question, though: Did you experiment with different sizes of internal deflector disk? I’ve always thought the 8″ deflector in my 22″ Speedotron dish was too large. FWIW, my unpainted (i.e. still polished steel) dish with a Sunpak 120J as the light source gives a reading of f/45.5 at 3 feet using a 6″ deflector and f/32.2 with the 8″ deflector at the same distance.
Last comment: God bless whomever it was that invented the Dremel.
RE: Step 4. After doing a bit of reading I came across epoxy primers, it is a little on the expensive side, but I think its the best way to go.
More info on epoxy primer: http://cld.ly/ae1ury
Product info: http://cld.ly/eb1urz — I believe that you might also be able to find this at local (i.e. Napa) auto stores.
Todd,
Finally got some pics up and linked back to this site…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photorob/tags/diybeautydish/
Thanks for the follow up!
Sorry Todd, now that I used the RTFM (read the manual) philosophy, the question is redundant! Ignore my last post. Anyway, I am blown away by the quality of your photography and your generous donation of time. Have just sourced an 18″ bowl and am about to hack away at it.
Hey Roy,
No worries, good luck with your DIY beauty dish. As always, I’d really love to hear how it turned out and see some photos of the project when you’re finished. Good luck.
Amazing tutorial. I like how you guys go out and make the things you need. Bravo! Have you guys ever thought about selling these things? I would totally buy one for my Canon 580EX II!
I’d love to make this at home but I don’t have half the tools involved.
Keep up the good work.
- minh
Hey Minh,
I haven’t seriously considered selling these dishes – but what might work out is drilling and cutting the bowls, and then selling those unpainted/unfinished pieces. I think the whole thing with powertools is what is a barrier to entry for most folks.
Would something like this appeal to you?
Has anyone tried fitting a grid into one of these DIY beauty dishes? I’m wondering if it will fit snugly and stay in place.
I’m having a hard time coming up with a 16 qt. stainless steel mixing bowl. I did find a 13 qt. Do you think that this would work?
Thanks!
Jesse
Hi Jesse, I also could only find a 13qt bowl and it seems to work fine. It is about 14″ diameter. I still want to build a larger one but we don’t seem to eat as much Chinese food here as they do in the States, hence the lack of larger size bowls!
Hey Roy,
I think the smaller 14″ diameter bowl should be still nice for individual portraits.
Any restaurant store catering more to commercial clients should be able to order a larger bowl – no relation between Chinese food and big bowls.
Hi Todd, of course was only kidding about the Chinese food! The 14″ bowl works well, but I have now found a damaged industrial warehouse “hi-bay” sodium vapour shade. It is made of 1mm aluminium and is 22″ diameter. One concern was that it was too deep, like a deep parabolic reflector, but it seems to work well with a studio flash head. It is too unwieldy for a speedlight, but it is a very cheap option for anyone who wants to build a studio model. I could post a few pics if you tell me how.
I think a 13-qt. bowl should be fine – you’ll most likely gain some efficiency at the expense of having a smaller (and harsher) light. But if you get the dish closer to the subject, you’ll be able t minimize some of these differences.
Started working on my DIY dish last night. Hardest part (I think) took forever cutting open the flash opening. That’s all I had time to get done last night. Tomorrow night I plan on finishing the thing (have a shoot tonight).
As previously asked, has anyone had any luck fitting a grid on here? I’d love to be able to focus the lighting closer for certain setups.
Hey Jason,
Let me know how the dish comes together for you. You’re right, just measuring out and cutting the flash opening takes a lot of time up front. A lot of the rest is just waiting for paint to try.
Well the dish itself is done – Good News! Happy with the look of it.
Bad news is the bracket I was using (part of my 24″ square softbox) does not work properly. My 580exii can’t extend into the bracket and lines up right at the edge so I have a ton of light spill at the back. Have to find a fix for it, and may need a different bracket.
Hi Todd,
Question: what was the depth of the stainless steel mixing bowl you’ve used?
I am carefully placing the reflector shape and depth of bowl into consideration to better the quality of light. This would be my second attempt. I’ve got this 20″ wok lid and am not sure if 5 inches deep would lessen the light spill at the edges. I also have this 19″ reflector deflect from Ikea at about 12″ deep, almost shaped like a parabola. I guess I’ll have to destroy both to see results. ;)
If the reflector is more flat though, the inner reflector disc would have to be larger to close off any direct light leak?
Thanks for your informative instructions.
My Vivitar 283 can’t extend past the bracket and it lines up right at the edge, so there’s a ton of spill light. Does anyone else have this problem and have you found out how to fix it or found a way around it ? Thanks !
maybe try putting the sleeve of a koozie around the head and jammed up against the back of the dish?
I love your idea….one question: The new Lastolite Ezybox Hot Shoe Bracket is plastic and no longer has the holes for the screws. Any good ideas on mounting the new bracket to the dish?
Thanks!
Jon Weiner
Atlanta, GA
jonweinerphoto@aol.com
Hey Jon,
To use the new bracket, you’ll need to drill holes in it as well. That, or you could position the mounting screws made on the dish in such a way that they retain bracket by tension.
As an alternative, the eBay brackets still have the pre-drilled holes. Not sure how the built-in ballhead would hold up, but I haven’t heard of any complaints from people using them.
Hi, thanks man for the great tutorial. As a wedding and portrait photographer in Romania (and concert photographer as well) with small strobes, i need a beaty dish and based on your experience i build one. Mine has 40cm diameter, internal disc reflector has 17cm and the bracket was build-up to match the photoflex one for small softboxes. The final work is at my address blog linked at the end. The quality of light is impressive and all of this costs 25$.
http://mariusturcu.blogspot.com/2010/05/best-diy-beauty-dish-for-small-strobes.html
See you,
Marius
Here is a link for the bracket….this is not the Lastolite brand, but looks to be the same design…..I will post about it’s quality after I receive mine….just ordered one on ebay……here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=360229966166&Category=64354&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2#ht_3386wt_1139
:-)
Jon
Hey Jon,
Link doesn’t show up since it’s a completed auction, but I think I know the one you’re referencing. Let me know how it works out!
Well….I finished mine today….I made one addition. I made an adapter ring that is sized to my SB-800. The hole in the actual bowl is large enough for larger flash units. I own a custom framing business and was able to use my computerized mat cutter to cut a circular piece of matboard that goes between the back of the dish and the “lastolite” mount. In the center of the circle is the opening for the SB800. I can make different templates for different flash units. This way the beauty dish is not limited to one size flash. I’ll try to add a few photos soon.
I finished my “Chinatown Special” last night.
Here are some photos:
http://jonweiner.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/beauty-dish-light-modifier/
Here area a couple samples with my “Chinatown Special”
Thanks again Todd for this great idea!
http://jonweiner.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/diy-beauty-dish-photo-samples/
Hey Jon,
Great, thanks for posting up samples! Looking good.
thanks for showing this!
it’s really nice :)
here is my result
note: i made few modification to my version 1.0
since i use SB-28 + RF-602 as my wireless receiver, and I took the hotshoe on the umbrella bracket out, and drill it to hold the flash itself, and the drill the screw for the umbrella bracket to attach to. can you see in there?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/4643944897_908e5c22cd_o.jpg
i have one question tho, the white inside tend to get dirty when grap it the the edge many times, it has like prints haha. is that normal too? or i should just wipe it off with alcohol ? just a thought.
Daniel Quoc Nguyen´s last blog ..Nikon D2H on hand review
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for posting a photo – looks good. Did you use a down-spout connector on yours?
If you used a clear coat on the inside, the edge and inner dish should be pretty easy to wipe off. The coating I used is water-based, but depending on what you used, choose your cleaner appropriately.
This is a great resource to me. Finally finished mine using Ebay bracket instead.
Thanks Todd!
Hey Eugene,
Great – any photos of the finished dish w/ the bracket? I haven’t actually seen any close up shots of the eBay bracket, so I’m very curious as to how it works with this design. Seems very close to the Lastolite, though.
Todd,
Mine is the eBay bracket….worked very well and all metal except for the knobs.
hey todd,
just finished my version of your tutorial-dish! aaaawesome!
was my second diy light thingee (first was a ringlight) and it works great. i did it with a plastic planting bowl because i couldn´t get such a big metal one! and i changed the flash shoe thing into a kind of tunnel where the flash is being pushed into!
thanks for the fantastic howto!
awesome post man. been mulling this over for the past few weeks and i will be seriously considering this for my first major diy project. thanks for the inspiration. That is one gorgeous dish man.
Hi Todd, I made a dish very similar to yours. Pictures, and test shot at the link
final dish!
Hi Todd – Thanks for posting this diy. You can add me to your list of diy followers!!! It turned out great without the pro bracket – but I can see how this would be a huge difference in usability. Anyway – here’s mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/csxphotog/4702578249/
And sample test shot here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/csxphotog/4709168162/
Thanks again and all the best!!
I was wondering if you have any experience with the generic bracket similar to yours sold by ishoot. I was curious about the quality.
Hey Eric,
I haven’t personally used the “Ishoot” bracket, but it seems people are satisfied with it for this design. No problems I’ve heard of.
Thanks for your tutorial, this is my result.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boydidream/4747004237/
Awesome DIY segment! Very well written instructions and humor to boot. I am inspired to build one over the holiday weekend. I think I have a 14″ dish laying around somewhere and a mirror for the inner reflector. I will see how the mirror holds up and probably swap out with a white dish as you did. Thanks for the great write up and the images!!!
Haha, where’s that drill?!?
Thanks for making this. I have been meaning to try this for a while and finally started today. The first coat of white paint is drying right now.
Hi Todd,
Thanks for sharing this great tutorial. Any suggestions/idea as to how i can put a grid on this if i were to build one myself?
Hey Paul,
You’re welcome, thanks for the comment & kind words. For a grid for this design, I think the easiest solution would be to get something readymade grid and attach it via velcro to the dish, similarly to how Kacey Enterprises has handled their grid.
Awesome beauty dish… I made two for more than half the price of one (if you bought a cheap one off Ebay)…
I ended up using a 24 quart bowl (for use with my studio strobes)… I think it was 24 quarts… anyway, it measured 22″ diameter.
Thanks… I have recommended this DIY BD to a lot of people.
Hey JC,
Glad to hear this design worked well for you – do you have any photos of the 25-quart dish you made, or photos? Would love to see the results.
Legend as always!!! Great DIY and thanks for the tips. Finally got my first version of beauty dish finished. Still need to perform a lot of tests, but have a few sample pictures of the dish up on my blog: http://blog.anthonypeyper.com
Can’t wait to do a few sample portraits!!!
Hey Anthony,
Fantastic build! Your dish looks great – I like your tweak of using the retaining bolts as the attachment to the speedring bracket. Nice touch.
Looking forward to your work with the dish!
Thank you for the inspiration…. we just finished our own 20″ beauty wok!!!
it is tested and the output is superb…to check the pics…just click this link…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1214935608
that avery nice thing ive learnt today….thanx …how can i make abeauty dish that can hold a strobe light …. any idea
how can i make one for my self to accomodate a strobe light?
It depends on the mounting system of your strobe – you’ll have to DIY one!
Hey Todd,
Awesome project, thanks! I built one for my Elinchroms using yours as a model, with a slightly larger dish. The results have been stunning, to say the least. : )
Hey Derek,
Thanks – would love to see how your build turned out – Please post a link to photos if you ever get around to shooting the dish!
This beauty dish looks amazing!! This is definitely the most polished, professional looking DIY dish I’ve seen yet. Thanks for the detailed instructions and photos!! I’m going to give this a shot in the next couple weeks.
Thanks very much for the comments – when you do make your own dish, please post a link back here so we can see how it turned out.