Discussion welcomed on making a Vivitar 283 or 285 flash unit honey comb panel.

eli griggs · Nov 15, 2020

I want to use some steel tubing from Harbor Freight litter pick-ups, which are just over 12mm wide.

What I'm thinking is using a gel super glue to bind/tack these together, or use a flux core welder(I need to practice tacks on thin metal), with a small building frame, after sanding the paint off, using a drill and abrasive paper.

My Lighting question is this;

How long must each cut tube be to get the same effective effect of ordinary honeycombs, setting aside this will be a rectangle, no a circle?

I also suppose I might make a small, seven inch lighting dish, similar to a Blackline dish, by adapting a bowl, and make a larger honeycomb to fit that, as well, to use with the wide angle of the Vivitar 285.

Opinions on making a set of snoots, for use with these small flash units, are also welcomed.

And, yes, I could use card stock for the snoots, but I want a hard set, ready to go without fuss.

Be Well, Be Safe, and Godspeed to all.

Eli

AgX · Nov 15, 2020

To make a bowl work in this situation, it must be lighted at its complete rear. A classic on-camera/hammerhead flash with its reflector housing will not do that. But how then would you get light through your tubes?

eli griggs · Nov 15, 2020

The honeycomb for both flash head and bowl will have the lighting behind the tubes, with a cutout in the bowl for mounting the flash and a honeycomb grid as a bowl 'covering', so light will pass through the tubes of both screens.

It is,in the main, the length of the tubes that I need to figure out, so that there is no scattering of flash but no so long that the tubing is wasted, by being excessive to the basic function of the traditional purpose in a stand mounted light.

I hope this helps clear up my original post.

Cheers.

Pieter12 · Nov 15, 2020

This might help: https://www.diyphotography.net/how-to-make-a-diy-honeycomb-strobe-flash-speedlight-grid-with-straws/

ic-racer · Nov 15, 2020

Like this below? What does the honeycomb do? I had not seen that before.

AgX · Nov 15, 2020

eli griggs said:
The honeycomb for both flash head and bowl will have the lighting behind the tubes, with a cutout in the bowl for mounting the flash and a honeycomb grid as a bowl 'covering', so light will pass through the tubes of both screens.

You dit not get my point. To be useful in the intended way, the tubes must be lighted lenghtwise. This is not possible with the oblique rays leaving trough the window of the the flash. Instead they must be lighted by the rear of the bowl. And this again must be lighted by the flash-tube, which again is not possible due to the reflector housing.

AgX · Nov 15, 2020

ic-racer said:
Like this below? What does the honeycomb do? I had not seen that before.

Honeycombs are a long time means to yield rather parallel light. Both the length as the diameter of the combs/tubes affect the parallelity of the light. Strange enough the OP seems only interested in the lenght.
The superior stage would be a huge fresnel lens.

ic-racer · Nov 15, 2020

So, the idea being it is hard to put a big barn-door on a flat diffusion screen to prevent side-spill light?

AgX · Nov 15, 2020

No, you are comparing two different things.

-) Barn doors only can only control the boundaries of light ( light cone).
-) Honeycombs can control the character so to say of the light within the output too.

Pieter12 · Nov 15, 2020

Grids focus the output of the strobe, and come in different sizes (usually referenced in degrees), depending on how narrow or broad you want the output to be. Softbox grids do the same thing but less so since the light is already diffused.

ic-racer · Nov 16, 2020

Thanks for the example. Looks like a softer way to concentrate the beam, vs the moving lens on a zoom-shoe mount unit.

AgX · Nov 16, 2020

Pieter12 said:
Grids focus the output of the strobe, and come in different sizes (usually referenced in degrees), depending on how narrow or broad you want the output to be. Softbox grids do the same thing but less so since the light is already diffused.

What you show can basically be achieved with barn-doors, or (to yield a round shape) with snoots.

I do not reject that grids can and are used that way. But the benefit of a grid is that it yields more or less directed light. At leasr if te combs are small or long enough. Then they are kind of counterpart to a softbox.

Pieter12 · Nov 16, 2020

AgX said:
What you show can basically be achieved with barn-doors, or (to yield a round shape) with snoots.

I do not reject that grids can and are used that way. But the benefit of a grid is that it yields more or less directed light. At leasr if te combs are small or long enough. Then they are kind of counterpart to a softbox.

Barndoors can be heavy and impractical with large lights like soft boxes and beauty dishes. And of course, grids give more directed light.

AgX · Nov 16, 2020

In general, it can be said that by different means one can achieve similar effect. Furthermore if one looks back into the last 100 years of studio lighting there are fashions, not the least started by manufacturers.

Pieter12 · Nov 16, 2020

AgX said:
In general, it can be said that by different means one can achieve similar effect. Furthermore if one looks back into the last 100 years of studio lighting there are fashions, not the least started by manufacturers.

Certainly. A piece of black fabric or board can help direct or block the light. It is a matter of what is convenient and how comfortable one is with the procedure to modify the light. The OP was asking about building a honeycomb grid for a shoe-mount flash, not about any alternatives.

eli griggs · Nov 16, 2020

Pieter12 said:
This might help: https://www.diyphotography.net/how-to-make-a-diy-honeycomb-strobe-flash-speedlight-grid-with-straws/

Cheers, a very simple approach, with simple alternative materials.

I do wish she stated, or had shown us, the effect of the comb at the length of straws she uses.

eli griggs · Nov 16, 2020

Pieter12 said:
Barndoors can be heavy and impractical with large lights like soft boxes and beauty dishes. And of course, grids give more directed light.

For large light boxes or other broad light sources, large panels, black, gray, or white are stood between the light source and subject, ie model.

Barn doors are best for hot lights and smaller reflector dishes, IMO, but will work with portable flash units like the Vivitar flashes, I have to work with.

eli griggs · Nov 16, 2020

ic-racer said:
Like this below? What does the honeycomb do? I had not seen that before.

This looks to be a studio attachment to be used with a light box, for controlling a scrim light, a narrow, light source to say, for a full length body shot braced by darker or unlit backgrounds.

As I mention elsewhere, panels can be used, but the light will no be as controlled and directed as with this lightbox add on.

You could try to make a similar unit, by using some black closet shoe 'racks' or hangers, Velcroed or sewn, together with excess material trimmed away neatly.

IMO.

alanrockwood · Nov 17, 2020

Pieter12 said:
This might help: https://www.diyphotography.net/how-to-make-a-diy-honeycomb-strobe-flash-speedlight-grid-with-straws/

I made a honeycomb panel with black straws, and it worked, sort of. It had a strong color cast.

eli griggs · Nov 17, 2020

There is a new 'King of the Jill's in the blackest black paint arena, a bit pricey, but spray able, that would do nicely with metal tubes in building a permanent honeycomb.

I'll see if I can find the review and post a link, unless someone beats me to it.

Alternative solutions include making white paper straws to fit each tube and can be pasted in, so no colour cast.

Did you enjoy using you honeycomb and what subject were you using it for?

AgX · Nov 17, 2020

eli griggs said:
I do wish she stated, or had shown us, the effect of the comb at the length of straws she uses.

As I tried to indicate above, that depends on the kind of light source and the reflector. Any such grid makes part of an optical system and effect thus depends on the set..
But as basic advise: the longer and more narrow the combs/straws are, the more pronounced will be the directional effect, the same time the agnle of the lighting cone will be reduced, down to zero.

By the way, longtime I got bundles of straws in stock for a grid project, but I never came to it...

Pieter12 · Nov 17, 2020

eli griggs said:
There is a new 'King of the Jill's in the blackest black paint arena, a bit pricey, but spray able, that would do nicely with metal tubes in building a permanent honeycomb.

I'll see if I can find the review and post a link, unless someone beats me to it.

Alternative solutions include making white paper straws to fit each tube and can be pasted in, so no colour cast.

Did you enjoy using you honeycomb and what subject were you using it for?

White paper might be too translucent to efficiently direct the light from a bright strobe.

FYI, here is the one I use with a shoe-mount strobe. It attaches to a velcro strip wrapped around the business end of the strobe, The tube diameter is 4mm, the length is 15.5mm. I mostly shoot B&W, but have not noticed a color cast when shooting color.

Discussion welcomed on making a Vivitar 283 or 285 flash unit honey comb panel.

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