I have been looking at different ring flash options for a few months now. When I ran across this article on how to make a ring flash. The article talks about how to make a ring flash similar to an Orbis Ring Flash
First I bought all the supplies needed to build my Ring Flash
1 Plastic Bowl
1 Plastic Water Pitcher that Looked like it would fit nicely around my lens and in the bowl
1 Can flat black spray paint so make it look nice on the outside.
1 Can Silver metalic spray paint for the reflective surfaces.
1 Roll painters masking tape.
1 Dremel High Speed Cutter
1 Roto Zip Saw
1 Black Sharpie
1 Lens Filter for Measuring the holes
I Bought these supplies before sanding and painting (2nd trip to the hardware store)
1 Package sanding sponges.
1 Dust/ Painting mask.
1 Pair Protective Safety Glasses
1 Bottle 6 minute Epoxy Glue
I did spend about $40 on the total build of this project but I already had the Roto Zip Saw and that would have raised the expense considerably.
First I cut the bottom out of the bowl. I measured with a 77mm filter so I knew how big to cut the hole. I started cutting with the drill and Dremel adaptor but that quickly proved insufficient for the width of this specific plastic bowl (would work great for thinner plastic bowls). So I switched to the Roto Zip Saw
Next I shaped the pitcher into what I needed by cutting off the handle, cutting off the bottom to fit nicely in the bowl and cutting off the top to the length I needed. The pitcher did crack in a few places during all this cutting. I suggest getting a softer plastic that can flex so you do not get cracks.
Once I had the pieces cut to the sizes I needed I glued that cracks with the epoxy.
Then I sanded everything, with the sanding sponge, on the outside and inside so that the paint would stick.
I painted the outside of the bowl black and the inside silver.
I painted the outside of the pitcher metallic silver and the inside of the pitcher black.
What I would do differently if I made this project again is wait hours for each color paint to dry. I would paint the black and wait hours for it to completely dry. Then I would come in a paint the metallic silver and wait hours for it to dry before touching it. I waited about 20 minuted in between colors and then when I touched them I got fingerprints in both the silver and the black. That made the unit look amateur and poorly made.
I did tape off the holes between colors so that none of the silver got on the black and vise versa.
Once the paint was dry I glued the two pieces together with the plastic epoxy. Epoxy bonds very well and will never come loose so if you do this project make sure to use a good glue. You do not want to be on a shoot and have your flash fall apart.
As the glue was drying I adjusted the centering of the ring flash. This was tricky but I am sure you will get yours centered just fine.
Last, I held my flash up to the side of the bowl and traced the shape of it on the side, then I cut out the rectangle to make the hole for the flash to slide in.
In the end I would sugest to you to save your time and energy and just go buy a ring flash adapter. Making your own ring flash is difficult to say the least. If you had to buy everything including the saw you would be looking at around $100 to build this ring flash. For $224 (at the time of article) you can buy a professionally manufactured Orbis Ring Flash this is a much better option that building your own.
If you really want to tackle this project I would love to see and hear about your results so leave a link in the comments section.
What do you think build a ring flash or buy a ring flash adapter?
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