Having just spent some serious $$ on a Profoto B1 Kit plus a couple of other items, I really cannot afford dumping yet another $600-$700 on a Profoto or Mola Demi Beauty Dish kit at this point. And yet I do like to get a BD. So I have been searching for some "budget" BD kits, and here are what I have across so far:
1) Fotodiox: http://amzn.com/B0048WIZA8, $134 (including shipping). The two main issues I saw in a couple of reviews I found on this one were: a) the mount does not fit well on Profoto heads and is loose, and b) the locking metal clamp on the mount can break very easily.
Thanks James. The only gear I have from Fotodiox is their Wonderpana 66 filter holder kit plus a couple of their 145mm filters for Nikon 14-24. And I am actually pretty happy with it. It is expensive but very well built, IMO.
As for beauty dish, the price is obviously very good but my only concern is on the two negative points I mentioned on the fit and fragility of their Profoto mount. Would love to hear if anyone has used their BD on Profotos...
I have a kasey dish in profoto mount. Close enough to a mola demi for them to sue and plastic so it travels well with no worries with it getting knocked around.
Check grid availability too (also third party like honeygrids). The Kasey grid is very poor, the profoto grid is brilliant.
I got the Demi used here with the grid, case and cap and if I were you I would try to find a used one, really great dish. The Fotodiox looks like a great value and it's not a no-name brand so maybe go with that until you can afford a better dish (or be satisfied with it)?
So you can swap mounts on beauty dishes at least between the Impact ones and Fotodiox ones. If you find a good profoto adapter than a cheap BD might be an option.
The huge 28" Fotodiox dish is only $170 (grid and nylon diffuser included). And the only complaints I have read seem to be on its Profoto mount. So I am thinking if I can fit an original Profoto speedring, I will get a perfect mount and will still be saving a lot of money over buying a Profoto or Demi BD kit.
it won't fit. fotodiox makes the mount slightly wider than normal. so you need their proprietary mounts. I'd give it a shot. they're constantly updating their product. so maybe you read an old review. I've read the ones about the balcar mounts, and it's bs. check out my thread on the wedding page. most of those photos were taken with the fotodiox 28 bd, particulars the last shot.
B1 or D1 Profoto heads don't work very well with beauty dishes... I know - I have them...
However, invest in a frosted dome AND the opaque centre disk for the dish (I use the Profoto dish), and then you are very close to how it should work. Indeed, it has a very useful sweet spot at just the right distance.
Alas, just a BD (of any type) is not likely to work with these type of heads because of the internal reflections the D1 / B1 doesn't offer and because of the width of the main beam which can miss the edges of the centre disc , so it's may cost you more than you'd hoped anyway.
I'm very happy with my "modified" D1 / dish combo. It's not quite as smooth as a pro head with standard dish, but the slight doughnut lighting effect actually helps in some respect to modeling on the face.
Thanks. Yes, I had read a bit about that. Haven't tried it myself yet, though I think Profoto maintains that the improvement gained by using a dome with hard reflectors should not be significant. This is a response by the Profoto blog author to one of the comments:
"We´ve designed the flat front with our light shaping tools in mind so with most Light shaping tools it makes very little difference if the dome or the flat glass plate is used. In theory the dome provides a slight edge in light control with the hard reflectors but the practical difference is slight and it is more of a personal preference.
There's a company that ripped off the Mola design, don't remember the name, but the guy should still be selling the dish, it did a really good job, and was reasonably priced. Sure you can find it with a google search, it was also talked about on here before, a lot a few years back..
I have a Mola (several) a friend has the "knockoff" and honestly, it's a nice modifier.
Do you need to own it right now? In the Orange County area, you can definitely rent nearby at reasonable rates. Renting would also give you the opportunity to try a couple models and see what you prefer and ultimately would like to buy.
You've spend the money to buy the best lighting and the modifiers are just as important. Get the Mola Demi It a $150 more than the Chinese pieces of tin. It will last you a lifetime and produces wonderful light.
