Would anyone foresee any problems using a 22" beauty dish with a speedlight? I've been looking at the 22 over the 16" and it might also eventually be used with a monolight. I have a Bowens mount speedlight bracket from Adorama that I'll be using it with.
I use a 20" RPS Studio BeautiDish with a 580EX all the time; it works great. (BDs are usually used close to the subject, so power isn't an issue.)
The BeautiDish, though, is designed to work with Speedlites, and has both opaque silver and translucent white deflectors that are curved to reflect the direct flash from a Speedlite back and out into the dish.
A beauty dish that is designed for bare-bulb strobes will probably have a flat deflector that will reflect most of the Speedlite's beam straight back, so you may want to rig something like a convex mirror to the back of the deflector plate to more-efficiently spread the beam of the Speedlite. (You can get small, adhesive-backed convex mirrors at most auto parts stores for a few bucks.)
Here's a photo of the 20" BeautiDish that shows the curved deflector:
I actually do have a homemade one as well. Just looking for something a little more professional looking and durable. mine is the David tejada version that was on the strobist at some point.
I actually do have a homemade one as well. Just looking for something a little more professional looking and durable. mine is the David tejada version that was on the strobist at some point.
Brad
Ah, ok. That Beautidish looks pretty nice. Another option comes from FTX. It has the benefit of having interchangeable mounts if you ever do want to get a monolight and it is about the only one I would want to buy outside of a stock PCB when I get around to saving for an Einstein. As far as 17" vs. 22", I would always pick the bigger dish just for more versatility.
mine is the David tejada version that was on the strobist at some point. 