swilton posted a new topic:
This is my first post so go easy on me...
Inspired by this DIY funfoam diffuser: super.nova.org/DPR/DIY01/ and the many different ring lights I've seen here and elsewhere on the web I decided to try to create one myself. I think this is somewhat orginal but I really don't know. I made a few cardboard ones but found them kind of flimsy and the other ones were too complicated or heavy. I wanted something lightweight but durable.
I really didn't know how this would turn out so I didn't document it as I went but I created this artist's rendering of the parts involved:
You will need:
Fun Foam
Plastic craft stitching type mesh (available anywhere you can find fun foam - click on my inspiration link at the top for some pictures of this stuff)
Aluminum Foil
Spray Adhesive
Hot Glue
A tube or stick of some sort
1. Draw a circle (size of your choice, probably dictated by your sheet of foam) on you funfoam and draw a smaller circle in the middle of this one for you lens to fit through. Now draw tabs (dimensions aren't really important) around the outside of your large circle and the inside of your small circle as shown in the top right of the picture.
2. To save time and energy staple another sheet of funfoam under this one and then cut out the circle with tabs.
3. On one of your tabbed circles cut all the tabs off leaving you with a plain old doughnut like that shown in the top left of the picture.
4. Cut your mesh into a smaller doughnut such that it will fit within your doughnut shown in the top left of the picture.
5. Using spary adhesive glue these three pieces together sandwhich style. You know have a light weight yet rigid base.
6. Using a similar sandwhich approach make rectangular strips for the sides of your light. The important part is to leave one level of fun foam hanging lower than the other by about an inch. You will have a sandwhich with a 1" piece of fun foam on the lower part of the sandwich without mesh or a top piece of foam.
7. Those tabs on your circle piece are what holds it to the sides. Starting with one tab slice a hole through that piece of foam on the side hanging down. Make the slice right where the top piece of foam stops. Then slip your tab through and keep going. You don't need to be exact so just wrap it around to see where you need to cut and then move on to the next tab.
8. When you get to the ends you can use a piece of scrap foam and cover the gap and hot glue it in place (hot glue can be hot through fun foam so be carefull)
9. Repeate step 8 for the inner circle
10. Using hot glue glue all of the tabs up to lock everything into place
11. Throw a fit that you forgot to cut a hole in the side piece for your flash to stick into (you may want to move this up somewhere before step 7)
12. Line the whole thing with foil using spray adhesive
13. You need some way to diffuse the light. I couldn't come up with much and I ended up glueing an old (therefore thin) white T-shirt over the front of the ring.
14. Glue a tube or stick or something to the back in line with your flash hole. Let it hang down (see pictures below). This will give you something to bungie your flash to and improves the stability.
There is a definite hot spot where the flash goes in but it's not too bad. I think the T-shirt sucks a lot of power out of it but I can't think of a better diffuser that I can stretch and glue. I think a wire wrap around the outside and inside circle may also improve their circleness.
I hope this is helpfull and I'd love to see what other people can come up. Unfortunatly I haven't had any subjects around to try this out on yet so I don't have any pictures posted yet.
Oh yeah...
Total cost $5 (I had everything except funfoam and mesh)
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