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it's not a hobby, it's my life

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2003 Launch Date

McCormick Special Mark I: Back View

Taken on April 19, 2011

Plastic mixing bowl: $4.00
Plastic picnic plate: $1.00
Krylon paint: $4.50
Speedlite mount: $18.50
Misc screws/nuts: $0.75
--
Total cost: $28.75
The only real extravagance here was the speedlight mount. I figured the money I spent there would be repaid in reliability and usability.
I need to finish painting once I'm done fine-tuning the distance of the reflector plate. What makes me particularly happy is that this dish fits both my Vivitar strobes and Alien Bees flash heads.

Thomas_H_photo 2011-04-19

Smart, smart, smart.

61180839@N06 2011-04-19

That flash? It's an ancient Vivitar that was either two or three bucks at a garage sale about a decade ago. It's still going strong. It's probably as old as I am and has a trigger voltage that eats the circuitry of new dSLRs. Works just fine with my cheapie Cactus wireless trigger system, tho. :-)

17135955@N00 2011-04-25

Love the speedlight mount. Who made it? Where'd you find it? Overall build of the whole unit looks great!

61180839@N06 2011-04-25

Here's a link to the article where I learned how to build this:

<a href="http://ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty-dish/" rel="nofollow">ishootshows.com/2010/02/09/music-photographers-diy-beauty...</a>

I found the Speedlite Ring on eBay Canada. Here are the search terms to use:

"soft box speed ring bracket flash speedlite"

The average price is about $29. What happens every couple of weeks is that one of the sellers will put the item up as an auction starting at about $18 and wait for bids. Since they never get any (unless you and I get into a bidding war), you can usually pick it up for that price. That's how I got mine for $18.50 shipped.

The back of the unit needs a coat of black, but I'm still fiddling with the distance of the reflector plate. I'll finish painting it once that's done.

I've already got parts for the Mark II and Mark III. I'm also building a different light mod that I call "The Bermuda Triangle" -- will post pics of it when it's done.