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(More customer reviews)Is this ridiculously inexpensive beauty dish + my crappy old shoe-mount flash as good as a top of the line strobe/dish combo?
I just field tested a 22" Mola Demi beauty dish (white enamel finish, $470 with hardware and bonnet) + Hensel 1200 Porty head vs. this ePhoto alternative. I tried two different portable strobes--the Canon Speedlite 580EXII and a "classic" Sunpak 120J bare bulb portable strobe.
My results:
* The reflector surface is a pure uncoated brushed aluminum (plain silver, not dark gray as depicted on the product page) with a very toothy brushed texture that softens the light significantly vs. a smooth matte silver reflector. For comparison, I covered the entire reflector surface with adhesive white paper and found the specularity & light fall-offf to be almost the same. Now that's sofffft.
* Light quality: Fall-off, feathering, shadow cast, eye catchlights, specularity, color neutrality, and light wrap are excellent. It has that distinctive "beauty dish shadow cast," quite visible at 3-8 feet. Subjects with good skin look like they've been "glamour glowed" in photoshop and "craggier" faces look quite dramatic without the "point and shoot" car headlight look.
* What you DON'T get from this dish are the subtle Mola "stepped" shadow gradients created by the Mola's signature "tiered" ribs.
* Light loss with both the Canon 580EXII and Sunpak 120J (both set at wide angle setting) was similar: between 1/2 and 3/4 stop. Similar to the Mola.
* The deflector "button" on this dish is adjustable from about 1 inch to 2 inches from the flash head. The longer position creates a slightly softer effect with no change in light loss. It is easily removed if you're going for a more specular hard flash look.
* The mounting hardware appears solid, with lots of adjustment latitude, and worked well with both flash units. I was able to get both the Canon's rectangular head and the Sunpak bare bulb completely inside the dish. It also worked fine with an old Sunpak 383. You screw the mounting hardware onto the dish with a thumscrew , slip your flash onto the "cold shoe," move the adjustment sliders to fit, then tighten it all up. The dish and your flash are attached in a "Y" stem fashion to a standard light stand mount. I like this design because both the dish and the flash are are supported separately, reducing the chance of busting something.
* White gaffer's tape around the flash hole recommended to prevent stray light and maximize light transmission.
* The adjustable ball head eliminates the need for a shoe-mount tilt clamp adapter, though it could be sturdier. I'll report any hardware failures should they occur.
* The diffusion bonnet tested color neutral and creates a beautiful softbox/beauty dish hybrid look, also very similar to the Mola Demi with bonnet on. The bonnet absorbs an additional 1/2 to 1 stops of light vs. direct flash. For comparison: my old two-panel 24x36" Photoflex softbox soaks up about 2 stops. No, it is NOT as diffuse as a softbox, bounce, or shoot-through umbrella--which is exactly why I bought this dish!
* The unit is cast from solid aluminum, lightweight but quite stiff and sturdy. I accidentally banged it against a wooden table and a metal light stand and it did not dent, though the backside black enamel got slightly scuffed.
Caveats:
* Watch out for the shadows at the far edges of the light circle. This is true of most beauty dishes I've used with a beveled lip.
* Check the grommets, studs, and all hardware carefully. I found one small grommet seated poorly--which ePhoto replaced promptly and with no haggling at NO charge.
* I wish ePhoto made a hardware kit to mount 3rd party speed rings to this dish (the Photoflex Norman LH4 and Quantum/Sunpak rings specifcally).
* I cannot find a spare set of mounting hardware ("A121") for this dish on Amazon or elsewhere. I ALWAYS take two of everything breakable on shoots.
* It's a monster--not sure how I'm going to pack it for airline travel.Verdict:
I recommend it.
The light quality of this beauty dish is pretty darned similar to the $470 Mola Demi, at 1/5th the cost. The ephoto folks answer email quickly and responded to my requests without complaint. I'll keep you apprised on it's durability and will post samples in the near future.
Note: I'm an independent working photographer in Portland, Oregon, do not work for ePhoto or know any of them, and tested this product on my own dime.
Happy shooting!
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ePhoto Large off Camera flash Beauty Dish Reflector Beauty Dish Mount & Mounting for Canon Nikon EX430, EX580, SB800, SB600 A121Bracket by EphotoThis is the perfect accessory for the portrait photographer. The beauty dish has an internal light shield that allows bounce-only lighting. This provides high output making it a perfect soft light source for portraits. It will also provide moderate round catch lights in the eyes where a softbox will yield larger rectangular catch lights. It also comes with a front cover diffuser for softer looks. This Beauty dish is made of 100% aluminum with superior design. Ideal for all flashes with hotshoe mounts.
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