Anyone using foldable beauty dish ?

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Eddie1

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I'm curious do the foldable / collapsible beauty dishes from westcott lencarta etc work the same as traditional hard dishes ?
Anyone used one ?
Thx
 
Eddie1 said:
work the same as traditional hard dishes ?
Click to expand...


Yes and no!

I use a collapsible Profoto soft light. I love it! I know
nothing of other makers btw.

It does what is expected from a softlight plus much
more.

I get the circular hot rim when I need it and a surprising
normal soft box that I can take anywhere, anytime!
 
Thanks Kodiak
Are you using the profoto OCF version ?
White or silver ?
 
Specifically as a BD most are poorly designed. They're not round enough and don't have a quick enough rise. particularly at the exit (i.e. they are not nearly parabolic and have a lot of spill). Many are just octaboxes they stuck a deflector plate in. But none of that means they are/would be "unusable"... just different.

I picked up a Godox version for my AD200 and I would put it into that category... it seems to be more suited to creating that short distance "ring light" wrap effect you get with some BD's (but more gradual falloff at the edges), and less suited for "focused/carving." But, that's just based on a couple quick tests... I still haven't used it in anger or tested it thoroughly enough to know exactly how it behaves or if I could set it up better.
Another thing to note is that the folding BD's come with grids instead of honeycombs (if anything)... similar effect but "looser."

The one that *looks* best to me is the Wescott Rapid, but I haven't used one; nor any of the others on the market. The Profoto looks like my Godox version, and the Lencarta looks like a traditional BD (compared to the depth of the Wescott).
 
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redsnappa said:
The Profot unit will be far superior to Chinese made Wescott, Lencarta versions.
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You've got that very wrong. It's made in China, in a factory far below the standard of the one that makes for Lencarta, and it has only 8 supporting rods, which prevents it from acting like a true beauty dish
 
redsnappa said:
The Profoto unit will be far superior to Chinese made Wescott, Lencarta versions.
Click to expand...

Yes… but not because made in China or elsewhere!

Profoto, like Apple, Nikon and many others, will have
some products assembled in China where materials are
sent to the assembly line but workmanship and tools are
all under the quality control of the product designer.

Products may be assembled in SE Asia but the materials
(lenses, electronics etc) are not produced there.

A student of mine wanted to get a soft box. We looked at
the available options and ordered a Wescott Apollo. When
it arrived, the student wondered if it was poorly built up as
it looked very floppy… it could not support its own weight!
It was returned and another SE Asia assembled product
was chosen and is still in use.

Everything made in SE Asia is not bad. Many companies
like Apple, Profoto and others will supply the materials and
perform controls so that nothing made there will ever end
up on the market not meeting their standards and specifi-
cations.

I know nothing of the products made for Lencarta, former-
ly represented by Mr. Garry Edwards.
 
I've got the Lencarta one, unfortunately I haven't had a subject suitable for use as a BD yet.

So all I can say with certainty:

It's very well made
Comes in a nice fitted case
Easy to put up after the first time
Works great as a softbox,
Gives a nice shape catchlight when used as a softbox.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
Yes… but not because made in China or elsewhere!

Profoto, like Apple, Nikon and many others, will have
some products assembled in China where materials are
sent to the assembly line but workmanship and tools are
all under the quality control of the product designer.

Products may be assembled in SE Asia but the materials
(lenses, electronics etc) are not produced there.

A student of mine wanted to get a soft box. We looked at
the available options and ordered a Wescott Apollo. When
it arrived, the student wondered if it was poorly built up as
it looked very floppy… it could not support its own weight!
It was returned and another SE Asia assembled product
was chosen and is still in use.

Everything made in SE Asia is not bad. Many companies
like Apple, Profoto and others will supply the materials and
perform controls so that nothing made there will ever end
up on the market not meeting their standards and specifi-
cations.

I know nothing of the products made for Lencarta, former-
ly represented by Mr. Garry Edwards.
Click to expand...
Reality check time...
There is a very large factory in a small town that makes the vast majority of all of the softboxes, they have a much smaller rival in the same town, and then there's Godox, who have their own softbox factory, and of course there are hundreds or thousands more small manufacturers, they're the ones that produce the rubbish sold on the internet at really low prices. It's a very low-tech industry, so the entry barrier to manufacturing is extremely low, which means that price competition is very fierce at the bottom end, just as it is in all other low tech industries

The very large factory produces softboxes (and beauty dishes which, from a manufacturing perspective are really the same thing) for nearly everyone (but not for Profoto, which buys from their smaller rival).
So, any trade customer can go to the factory that makes for the top brands and can get their own products made using exactly the same materials, if they're prepared to pay for them.Or they can buy rubbish, it all comes from the same place.

Your statement that some people will supply the materials was true, many years ago, but this is no longer the case. The factory that I have in mind makes its own metal and plastic fittings (they're big, and extremely well tooled) but all of the other materials are bought in from a specialist firm in another country, which means that although individual trade customers need to specifiy those materials, they are universally available and there is nothing unique or exclusive about them, it's all about knowledge and price.

How do I know this? Because I've spent time in the factory and have had long, detailed discussions with the owner. In fact I've done exactly the same thing in a number of different factories all over China.

As for
Kodiak Qc said:
I know nothing of the products made for Lencarta, former-
ly represented by Mr. Garry Edwards.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did represent Lencarta before I retired, and of course all of my visits to China were paid for by Lencarta. But I was never employed by them, I've spent my working life as an advertising and commercial photographer (mainly fashion and other product photography) and what I brought to the table, as far as Lencarta was concerned, was knowledge of lighting. You're relatively new here, if you had been around longer then you would know that I have always tried very hard to be impartial and to provide good information, and I've also tried to be independent. I have always said that Profoto is one of the better brands and the only issues I've ever had with them, as a Company, is what I consider to be deceptive advertising. So, my problem with the "Profoto" beauty dish is with its 8-rib design and its high price, I'm not knocking the materials used in it, which I'm sure are adequate. If you know nothing about Lencarta, then I suggest that you actually try their products for yourself. And if you want to make statements about manufacturing, you may want to do as I have done and learn about manufacturing.
 
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