22" Beauty Dish Strobie Flash Honeycomb Bracket Strobist Off Camera Flash Photographic Flash Bracket Flash Mount Beauty Dish For Canon Nikon EX430, EX580, SB800, SB600 by ePhotoINC A121BH Review

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(More customer reviews)There are a lot of do-it-yourself beauty dishes out there - usually made out of cooking equipment (mixing bowls, tin foil) - but for those who don't want to go that route (or the several-hundred-dollar route a normal Beauty Dish would cost), this is a great option.

Included in this kit is the dish, a diffuser, a honeycomb and a bracket to connect your speedlight flash to. The kit is also available without the honeycomb grid, but if you have any intentions of getting it, the kit is the best option (by itself, it sells for 55 dollars - with the kit, its only an extra 20):
ePhoto Large Strobist Beauty Dish Reflector Beauty Dish Mount & Mounting for Canon Nikon EX430, EX580, SB800, SB600 A121Bracket by Ephoto

There are also different sizes available - 16" or 22" - I opted for the 22" but if you don't need one as big you can save a few bucks with the smaller one.

The dish itself seems solid - made of aluminum, has a nice texture inside.. all is good. The bracket, however, is a bit questionable (particularly the ballhead) - it seems like it can support a couple pounds, but I'd be hesitant to rest the entire 10 lbs of a beauty dish, bracket and flash on it. I ended up using a Manfrotto 026 Swivel Lite-Tite Umbrella Adapter - Replaces 2905 - Sure, its a quarter of the price of the dish, but I know it won't fall.

The bracket has a few knobs on it that let you move the flash forward or backwards (towards the hole in the center of the dish) or up and down -- this is nice as it lets you use almost any flash, big or small. Some equipment is designed for a specific type of flash (like a 580EXII) and won't work properly with smaller ones, this isn't like that.

The opening on the back of the flash is a decent size (ePhoto sells this same dish without the bracket, used for larger studio lights). Unfortunately it's not quite big enough to stick 2 larger (580EXII) flashes in it (for more power). I'd imagine smaller ones like the Yongnuo line may work though.

Another disappointment is the lack of instructions - you get the dish, a diffuser, a grid and a bag of parts (the bracket is mostly assembled, but has 4 extra washers in it (2 metal, 2 plastic). Are these all needed for assembly? extra pieces? spares?

The hotshoe piece detaches and will allow you to connect a radio-transmitter with 1/4" 20 threading on the bottom.

The grid is a 30-degree grid (or so I'm told by the manufacturer) - it snaps into place with 3 little pieces (spread evenly apart). I'm not sure what type of material it is.. possibly thin aluminum? Again, not the best material but at this price I'm not complaining (well, I sort of am, but not deducting for it!)

Also disappointing is the quality control/customer service - my first 22" dish came with a diffuser for the 16" dish. ePhoto customer service was unhelpful and just ignored the issue - they did respond to any questions about selling spare parts (like the grid), while ignoring any complaints. The diffuser-plate inside the dish is adjustable (3 wires coming from the back of the dish towards the front, which connect to the 3 holes on the "plate"), but the beauty dish I originally received had been bent out of place (needed to adjust the metal wires that hold it in place, and re-position the plate for it to work properly). It's nice that they're adjustable, but I would've liked another method of this being done (the current method can become undone or wobble the plate around leaving it lopsided, especially in transit)

The actual product is nice - it's not the best put-together kit (mainly due to the bracket) but it does its job and does it good. It's the cheapest "real" beauty dish you can find (any cheaper are the home-made ones).I'd love it if they sold a carrying bag, but that's nothing I'd deduct for. Carrying this around is no fun! Overall a fun product.

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Product Description:
This large 22" Beauty dish provides high output making it a perfect soft light source for portraits. It will also provide moderate round catch lights in the eyes where a softbox will yield larger rectangular catch lights. It also comes with a front white cover diffuser for softer looks and a honeycomb mount for your directional lighting. This Beauty dish is made of 100% aluminum with superior design.

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