DIY Lighting

[asianhombre]

I thought this was amusing. For those of us who spent all our $ on our cameras and lenses, with nothing left for accessories!

DIY LIGHTING

 

[cmogi10]

thanks for sharing.
I would recommend STROBIST to anyone looking for a similar resource.

 

[charjohncarter]

Here is some of the strobist DIY projects. Thanks for posting, I like the 5-6 strobe ring flash. Some of this stuff actually works. I saw a Tupperware soft box and the photos made with it were very good.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/search?q=diy

 

[Hacker]

This one is really far out:

http://pixsylated.com/2008/12/i-shot-ben-willmore-in-broad-daylight-gang-light-part-1/

 

[charjohncarter]

Hacker that is really something. I saw one on one of the links on RFF where somebody used an aluminium jello mold about 2.5 to 3.0 inches deep and put in one flash unit then covered it with throw away thin opaque plastic cutting board. I also saw a guy that used flash units out of disposable cameras to make a ring flash. My idea is to combine these two ideas. If I get around to it I'll post here.

 

[charjohncarter]

Here is that guy with the disposable camera ring flash. I think I'm going to make one or two. My daughter is a Dermatologist and she can find a commercial one she likes. Maybe I'll please her.

http://www.instructables.com/id/SG4M4KYFC2BTKPH/

 

[nikola]

I've started experimenting with light... cheapest way of bringing some extra quality.

Vivitar 283 (you can have it for peanuts or free ) with diy black straw grid attachement.

As this Viv283 isn't safe for my dslr (triggering at 220V ) I used a little trick, long exposure.

First blast: 45 deg from front right,
second blast: 90 deg from camera (direct).

 

[charjohncarter]

Pretty clever, I bought those Ebay Cactus V2s triggers for $29.95, and as I don't trigger from 150 meters they have been working fine. I can use them on DSLRs and even with non-hotshoe cameras.

http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,514.html

 

[nikola]

I'm thinking of buying them... but firstly I need to find time and buy parts to make my two Vivitars safe for low voltage equipment.

 

[charjohncarter]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./

This is if you are handy, I can't believe they don't manufacture these and give them away with DSLRs.

 

[Muggins]

Here in the UK, Amateur Photographer ran a Christmas article with some DIY projects in it including a ring flash made from a plate cover. Copyright no doubt prevents me from posting the article itself, but when I start mine I'll document it and post here. Ideally I think you need an autofocus camera, whatever one of those is, but I'm making mine for my Nikon F3 as I can use the Speedlite to hold it up (I think - this may change when I see how much it weighs!) and allow me to get to the lens still to focus. Failing that, there's always focus-by-foot...

Oh, and I also made a flash diffuser from a milk bottle and a box that a mini Christmas pudding came in. Works - but the bokeh keeps coming out holly-shaped!

Adrian

 

[charjohncarter]

Muggins, your diffuser sounds better than this. Let us see it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cigarette-Packet-Flash-Diffuser/

 

[oftheherd]

Clever stuff. Thanks for the links.

 

[charjohncarter]

I said I'd post a DIY ring Flash when I had completed it(as if anyone cares). But here it is, I gave up on the disposable camera flash units, they were just too unreliable. This one is made of Walmart cake pans, a Ebay remote (radio trigger) and a $5 dollar flash unit. Well, here it is, probably someone in 5 years will look at this and try it but it works, I included a couple of photos that were number 4 and 5 with this unit;