Well, my ring flash for under $30 project got off to a good start today.
First was the "frame". Two plastic planter trays from Home Depot.
One 24" for $7.97
One 12" for $2.97
pack of velcro $2.49
Joist hangar $2.03
Total: $16.71 with tax
Next a trip to the local fabric store.
One yard 100% sheer Ploy Lining $2.48 with tax.
Sheer poly lining cut 1' greater then the opening for velcro tabs, and laid over the unit.
Nikon SB50dx and Generic flash firing wirelessly and with optical slave. http://home.comcast.net/~jwckmiller/glow1.jpg
Total time to this point was about 2 hours. I still have to mount the hanger so I can stand mount this, affix the velcro and possibly paint it black. I may need a few nuts and bolts as well .
Looking forward to actually trying it out on someone soon. Thanks to denoise for the inspiration!
Jason Ryman wrote:
How do plan to support the flash units?
That is my project for today. Actually it will be supported on both sides with a mounting plate on the bottom. I stll have not decided if I want the camera mounted to it, or separately.
Well the $30 Ring Flash project is complete. Nothing but cosmetics to deal with now. I did end up purchasing $6.13 worth of washers, bolts, nuts, etc to finish it up. So I guess that brings the total to $24 and change. I already had some black paint, so that might add a few bucks to the total.
And from the other day, played with in PhotoShop, one of my bored son.
Here is a closeup of the flash attachment. A simple L bracket with velcro on it. The side of the flash has it on it as well, and then a velcro strap. This works very well, the flash is very secure in the ring. http://home.comcast.net/~jwckmiller/RingFlashBackWeb.jpg
And a detail of the backside of the frame. The mount is a 12' joist hanger, spread out slightly, bolted to a rectangular base plate and a larger L bracket. This gives a solid 3 point attachment to the back of the ring. The base plate is drilled for the tripod bolt to pass through. Again, pretty solid, and it all moves as one. http://home.comcast.net/~jwckmiller/RingFlashBackWeb2.jpg
Something I may modify in the future would be the two flash units. Currently, one is stronger then the other, and I may play with the reflective surface material for better dispersion. For those interested in building one....it was easy, and enjoyable.
Sweet!
I bought the same Plastic Planter trays yesterday.
Can you tell us a little more about your tripod mount for this? I had a different plan in mind, but now that I see your, I may want to do the same thing.
Thanks!!!
Here is a diagram (I never said I could draw) of the mounting assembly. It is three items with the center plate drilled to allow the tripod screw to pass through it. This arrangement allows the camera to hold down the entire assembly with all the weight of the ringflash resting on the tripod.
Hope this helps, though I would like to see other arrangements!
Great results Jeff, and thanks for sharing your project.....
If you don't shoot through the ring, what is the difference in the look of the photos,
These have been a fun couple of threads, starting with the originator, denoise. There's bound to be a lot of fine tuning going on now with all the FM do-it-yourself brainpower out there.
Thanks again, and whats next on the homade agenda? This would be a great new FM category/contest. Best homemade_______? for under $25..........
Oh, and by the way, my ringlight idea will be a folding model that collapses like a Chinese paper lantern. Any suggestions on the springy wire frame?
next on my homemade agenda:
final testing of my sub-30$ remote control
for elinchrom EL500 strobes (easily adapted
for any analog strobe). adding another strobe:
20$.
ll post some details next week,
cheers
wow, this is amazing--lot cheaper than my profoto 7b plus Profoto ring light set up ! (I don't even want to say how much that thing cost--but i love it(
coreypolis wrote:
This is a great idea. Maybe you should sell a kit
Any particular reason for the Nikon flashes with a Canon body?
I don't think I'm up to selling a kit quite yet! The labor cost would raise the cost to over $30 very quickly.
I use the Nikon flash with my D100. It just so happened to be out of the bag and I clipped my hotshoe/sync cord unit on it so I could fire it wirelessly. My Canon 420 was still in my bag, either would work. ( I use both a Canon 10d and a Nikon D100).
