{"id":14590,"date":"2012-01-21T03:36:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T08:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/?p=14590"},"modified":"2020-12-22T01:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T06:50:48","slug":"mola-twin-speedlight-bracket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/mola-twin-speedlight-bracket\/","title":{"rendered":"Mola Demi Softlight Beauty Dish Twin Speedlight Bracket"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In researching lighting modifiers that might fit my shooting style I stumbled across the wonderful products from Mola.\u00a0 They produce only softlights, or beauty dishes as they are known around the industry.\u00a0 I’ve always tailored my kit to be thrown in the car mobile setups, but I thought that it would be fun to add this to the kit.\u00a0 At first glance the dishes are expensive (especially the larger diameters) but after using the smallest Demi 22″ model, I’ve found they are worth as much as any good lens.\u00a0 I’ve got enough cameras, and perhaps lenses, but lighting gear is usually always the last to be considered, at least if you are a more mobile natural light type of shooter.\u00a0 For more planned and stationary shoots, I’ll definitely put up with lugging this extra gear around because the light quality is just bright and crisp.<\/p>\n

The Demi 22″ is affordable, but that is just the dish itself.\u00a0 You also need a sturdy light stand, the studio strobe to go into it and even the speedring or bracket to mount whatever brand of light.\u00a0 Looking around, just the speedlight bracket was about $260.\u00a0 Having access to a machine shop, we decided to just build one.<\/p>\n

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Twin Speedlight Bracket, Laser Cut and machined Aluminum<\/p><\/div>\n

So here’s our twin \/ duo \/ double Speedlight bracket.\u00a0 (A Speedlight is just Nikon’s brand name for a hot shoe flash).\u00a0 In keeping with my shooting style I knew I didn’t want to lug a studio strobe with a battery pack in the field.\u00a0 Shooting with remote speedlights has advantages from a power source point of view and the results you can get by shooting Nikon wireless CLS.\u00a0 Nicer lenses can be used at their full potential, allowing a person to shoot wide open f\/2.8 or larger in the bright sun with a flash.<\/p>\n

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By using two SB-800’s you double the power of the flashes, and cut down on recycling time.\u00a0 I figured I could also set one up for Nikon CLS and have the other SB-800 with a Pocket Wizard if I wanted to shoot with the Canon at the same time.\u00a0 That shooting method with the Plus II’s are of course Manual Flash power only, but even that has an advantage.\u00a0 CLS for some situations and looks, Manual Flash for quick response and consistency.<\/p>\n

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The bracket is actually three pieces.\u00a0 The ring that attaches to the Demi is laser cut aluminum, formed and painted.\u00a0 For the hole pattern we copied the existing one on the back of the dish, inserted hardware as to not have to rely on the supplied wingnuts, and put simple holes so I could mount the plastic AS-19 Speedlight foot with thumbscrews.\u00a0 For a temporary solution to mount it, I used an existing cheap Impact umbrella bracket.\u00a0 Being made of plastic, this didn’t last long so we made a different mounting base out of CNC’ed aluminum.\u00a0 The two pieces fit together as a hinge and both painted as well.\u00a0 I did keep the plastic handle from the old bracket. The square base is just a hole that fits the spigot on the Manfrotto light stand.\u00a0 The back screw is just for show and isn’t needed as it is very sturdy, even when tilted.\u00a0 Much, much better than that plastic mounting bracket.\u00a0 Fine for umbrellas, but this is a somewhat heavy setup.<\/p>\n

\"Mola<\/p>\n

In these fake product shots, the SB-800’s aren’t even firing at max power.\u00a0 The inside paint and shape of the Mola really does make a big difference.\u00a0 In the bottom picture I think the speedlights were only at 1\/8 power (or less!).<\/p>\n

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Here are some example shots including the Mola.\u00a0 Me just learning to use it.<\/p>\n

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This was the unfinished speedlight bracket, before the aluminum base and painting<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Mola used in the background with a ring light in the front.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Thomas literally in the field, keeping the Mola setup from being knocked down by the wind (which it will, Murphy’s Law)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Out of camera image. The light spread and evenness from the Mola is good enough for me. This is with just one Nikon SB-800 and the diffusion dome. Granted, the inside of the bus is small, but you can see the way it can illuminate an entire figure.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We built a custom twin \/ double speedlight bracket for the Mola softlight, or beauty dish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[279,320,151,7],"tags":[269,293,210,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-14590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-design","8":"category-gear","9":"category-photography","10":"category-photos","11":"tag-mola","12":"tag-photo-gear","13":"tag-sb-800","14":"tag-strobist","16":"post-with-thumbnail","17":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t