• (9) Had to do the painting in the bathroom floor (covered with a lot of paper of course) because it was -20 degree celcius outside

DIY ringflash, workflow

Visit my website at akikorhonen.org for more projects, thanks!
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My DIY ringflash that I've been doing for the last few days.

(Photo, starting from top left) Description

(1) I started with a 24 cm diameter steel bown and a normal food can.
(2) Added some tape on the bowl and drew the cutting lines with the can as a guide.
(3) Bottom from the bowl and can removed. I also shortened the cat a little bit. I first drilled a hole on the bottom of the bowl and then cut the metal with metal cutters.
(4) The two parts connected with strong epoxy that was meant for metals.
(5) Hole for the flash made and few connecting holes drilled. Also the needed aluminum parts are cut and bent in shape.
(6) The bottom part covered with black hockey tape. In the photo it has a Manfrotto quick attachment plate on it. Also has a hole for attaching it to the tripod mount of the camera.
(7) The top part where the flash is attached. Made some holes for the DIY TTL flash cord.
(8) I added some plastic parts for the flash hole to make it look nicer and to prevent light from escaping too much. Next I added some putty to finish it (wasn't necessary but I got too carried away again with the building).
(9) Putty and the bowl fully sanded and waiting for some gray primer and matte black finish.
(10) Painted and finished. Added some black hockey tape on the can's edge to prevent it from scratching the camera.
(11) Close up of the flash hole. A little bit of aluminum foil tape on the inside and black hockey tape on the edge.
(12) White thin fabric streched and being glued on the edges to get some diffusion to the light. There is a rubber band holding the fabric to the can.

See the finished righflash:
* DIY ringflash finished, without camera
* DIY ringflash finished, with camera

Cost: bowl 3€, can 0€, aluminum 1€ + some extra costs from paints etc. but I'm not going to count them to the total. Cheap anyway.

20090114: Added to favorites 100 times.

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    J Tra, jameshamiltonphotography, djguyk, David Sandell, and 140 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. joshuahoffmanphoto (65 months ago | reply)

    Great design!

    I'm pretty interested in how you made that rim around the hole for the flash though..

  3. akeeh (65 months ago | reply)

    I just cut few pieces of plastic from a cover of some old broken device and glued them in place with hotglue. After that I applied some of plastic putty and sanded it smooth etc..

  4. Airchinapilot (65 months ago | reply)

    Thanks for the tutorial. Some day I will make this but alas I don't have a workshop and my girlfriend dislikes metal work in our apartment.

  5. Dav Kiang (65 months ago | reply)

    very cool, nice work on the cutting.

  6. raumgreifend (65 months ago | reply)

    very well done!

  7. Jake Penrose (64 months ago | reply)

    this might also have application for a DIY beauty dish. thats what the last image reminds me of

  8. akeeh (64 months ago | reply)

    Well actually I have a same kind of steel bowl waiting to become a beauty dish.

  9. Luissss (64 months ago | reply)

    I still don't get how did you make the hole. You said metal cutting, you meant something like this: www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/3 006320/2/ist...
    Could you please show a picture of it?
    tks

  10. akeeh (64 months ago | reply)

    Luissss: My cutters were more like these pms.nebula.fi/kuvasto/kuvat/M-3R.jpg

    First I drilled a start hole ofcourse and then started cutting.

  11. Luissss (64 months ago | reply)

    thank you

  12. RobSalmon (62 months ago | reply)

    This is amazing.

  13. JayJay=) (62 months ago | reply)

    I'm waiting for the paint on mines to dry right now=)
    I didn't do the sides for the flash or the bracing to hold the flash and connect the camera.
    That will be done later. I just wanted to see if i could cut the holes.
    It was surprising though how the aviation snips cut the metal easily.
    But anyways... I'll show you my end product when its done.
    Thanks for the awesome workflow.

  14. Syakirah (61 months ago | reply)

    what did you use to cut the hole?

  15. akeeh (61 months ago | reply)

    Syakirah: I used this kind of normal metal cutters: pms.nebula.fi/kuvasto/kuvat/M-3R.jpg

  16. panchoskywalker (57 months ago | reply)

    Nice! Check out mine!

  17. AlexEdg (57 months ago | reply)

    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called All Tutorials [AllEdges], and we'd love to have this added to the group!

  18. Leo.Amaral (57 months ago | reply)

    You measured the Guide Number?

  19. Richard Pflaume (54 months ago | reply)

    akeeh, great work! i looked around a lot to get an inspiration for a DIY ringflash and i still like yours most :-)! do you have any pictures taken with it?

  20. g.chamekh (51 months ago | reply)

    have some example of photo taken please ?
    thanks for the tutorial !!!

  21. Jeff in WI (51 months ago | reply)

    The best designed ringflash on the net. I hope I've got the skill to make it.

  22. kanchihan (46 months ago | reply)

    cooool

  23. KyLe | MancusO (42 months ago | reply)

    Heya mate! i'm starting a group for DIY posts called DIY GUYS, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

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