75 pence DIY Snoot

[Lello]

Here are the details for my home made snoot.
I made my a mk I snoot from Pringles tube (see drawing)
with a black card cone inside and finished with tape at the front, the narrow end of the cone was about 3/4" but it was all a bit flimsy and the beam was wider and harsher that I was looking for. My MK II was made from a biscuit tin (see pics) there are 2 main advantages,1st, it is a lot sturdier, 2nd, the biscuits are delicious . It also has a very tight fitting lid. I cut a hole in the lid and used Don's idea of using drinking straws, As you can see in pic #3 how narrow the beam is on the backdrop, and that is what I was looking for to light up the snow peak on the Mont Blanc pen in my post
" Mont Blanc and noir ".http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...0&limit=recent
The last pic shows what can be done with the beam.
I also found that if I use a slow shutter speed with back curtain sync flash mode I get a pre flash about 1/2 second before main flash which gives me time to redirect beam to where it is needed.

[Don Hoey]

Lello,

I now understand your Mk1.
Mk2 certainly works well, and by eating another tin of biscuits you can have a wider beam version if required.

I seem to have missed out on the idea of using a food container, and therefore having a nibble first. Must get my priorities sorted.

Don

[mw_aurora]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Thanks to Foxy's chart on light posted yesterday, I had a thought, and as I had failed on the zoom snoot front, although zooming can be achieved by moving the flash relative to subject. Decided to try a different tack.

I made a thin slice of metal with a 20mm hole so like a large washer. ( I know, but I do not have any black card to use instead ) This made the equivalent of the old fashioned Waterhouse Stop.

Placed over the front of the 5" length snoot with straws, the object was to see if I could reduce the size of the outputted light circle. It works and results in the attatched graphic.

Knowing Mark has made rectangular units, this principle would allow moving from rectangular through square to circular light pattern with different shaped cut cards.

Don

Cunning Don! I have a stack of straws, card and tape waiting for me to cut and craft into snoots...looks like I will have to play with a circular adaptor too!

I also noticed that your images nicely demonstrate how the light from the lower flash power falls off faster - the image where you moved the flash closer and halved the power didn't light the background but kept the subject exposure constant.

[Don Hoey]

Things are a bit busy here on the non photographic front at the moment. Mods still to be done to mine.

Currently the SB80-DX provides the light to trigger the slaves for the Metz and Multiblitz. With the snoot attatched to the SB80-DX, placement of a flash trigger is a bit of a problem due to the narrow beam of light emitted.

Working with old fashioned kit and not having modern wireless triggering does present its challenges.

Don

[mw_aurora]

Ah, I can see the limitations...

In the shot earlier showing the snoots with the bear and laptop I was trying out ebay wireless remotes, branded Cactus. They are very cheap (one transmitter and two receivers for 1/2 the price of a single Pocket Wizard) but I found they did not play well with my 430EX - plus random flash fires and about 1 in 5 failures to fire...

...more interesting is the RadioPopper project - they are designing (and building) wireless remotes that support ETTL...and a Pocket Wizard type device for only $25...