DIY Ringflash on the Cheap
Upon seeing several photos on Flickr taken with the Ray Flash (link), I thought I could build my own ringflash for less than the $200 Ray Flash. Seeing numerous instructions on how to build a ringflash on Strobist (link), I began searching for parts. I found a salad bowl ($1 from Dollar Tree) and a toilet brush bowl holder ($1 from Dollar Tree), and some other components from Home Depot. At Home Depot, I picked up some reflective duct tape for use on the inside of the bowl.
Step 1: Measure the holes to be cut from the salad bowl for the flash and brush holder.
Step 2: Cut holes in both pieces of plastic (I used a Dremel Tool) and sand the edges with the same tool.
Step 3: Apply the reflective tape in stripes from the bottom of the bowl to the top for the salad bowl, doing the same for the brush holder.
Step 4: Put the pieces together, the brush holder inside the bowl from the bottom.
Step 5: Drop in your flash and test!
Check out the rest after the break!
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- The bowl setup for the ringflash, prior to cutting anything.
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- The bowls viewed from above, marked to cut. Make sure the hole in the bottom is big enough for your largest lens.
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- Trace your flash to make the correct template size. This will likely need to be sanded slightly bigger due to the curvature of the bowl.
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- I had to cut the brush holder twice, in order for my Quantaray 55-200mm lens to fit through it.
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- Cutting the template out of the salad bowl with a Dremel tool.
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- The finished plastic cut and aligned. Note that the setup is slightly different here. I changed my mind on which way the brush holder should sit.
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- Half of the bit bowl covered in the reflective tape.
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- Shiny tape covering the inside bowl.
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- Lauren holding the semi-finished product. I’m still thinking about adding a bracket mount from the tripod mount on my camera.
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- Note that the light density is a bit off. The reason for this is that my flash is pushed too far into the ring itself. I’ll adjust for this later when building the mount.
There are a few more things I’d like to do to improve this. Firstly, I’d like to add a diffuser, with a sight increase in thickness where the flash is. Secondly, a variable length mount from the tripod screw mount on my D50 is in the works.
I’m still waiting for some hotshoe flash triggers, and looking for a cheap hotshoe sync cable. I’ll post an update or a newer post when I find the other necessary parts.
Update: If you want to see further construction/modification I do with this ringflash, check out my set on Flickr where I’m detailing the changes I’ve made.