I just got the new high output beauty dish from Alienbees and ran some tests. I also got the 22in 40deg grid. I made some observations and I want to run them by others in the forum to see if I am off or something else is going on:
1) The dish produces a narrow beam already and the grid, although it reduces it, does not make a lot of difference. Question: is the grid necessary with this dish, or was it meant mostly for the old white beauty dish
2) The shock seems to cool down the temperature , not necessarily a welcome feature for beauty shots. What do you think?
The 22HOBD has a pattern around 40°. This is determined by the engineering standard 1/2 power point, meaning the output is 1f lower at 40° than at the center. But there is a broad feathering from 40° out to about 120°, as is the case with almost any reflector.
The grid cuts off the beam sharply at 40°, eliminating the broad feathering, producing a Hollywood spotlight effect. So the grid is very valuable with either BD if this is the effect you want. The difference between white BD w/grid and silver BC with grid is the light composition is essentially the same, but the silver dish will produce 2+f more output.
If you test white diffusion fabrics from every vendor, as a sock, shoot through umbrella, soft box, circular reflector/diffuser, etc, you will see a warming of about 200°K. This is the nature of white diffusion nylon.
