Review: Beauty Dish

Sorry for the small delay on my review of my beauty dish however I wanted to use it enough to make sure I could give a good review.  

Review: Cameron Mini-Max Beauty Dish (Set)

Recently I purchased a beauty dish because I wanted to create different lighting that had more character.  Before the beauty dish I was using two umbrellas with my SB-600 and SB-900.  Most of my portraits had no shadows and were perfectly lit however I wanted more attitude sometimes which two umbrellas couldn't deliver.  So I decided to get a beauty dish.

Thoughts and Opinions:

It was one of the hardest things to assemble since the instructions did not make sense.  Once I decided to ignore the instructions it was easier to built.  However I had never seen how a beauty dish was setup so part of the could have been my lack of knowledge.  Anywho, it is a 20 inch beauty dish and it came with the brackets and a diffuser as well as a honeycomb grid.  The size is great for my SB-900 and the beauty dish and its pieces are well made.  I am not worried about it being cheap and breaking easily.

So far it is a very great light modifier to have.  I do love the light it makes, especially with the grid.  If I need to go back to my shadowless lighting then I can usually achieve it from just using the bare beauty dish or with the diffuser.  

I think it is a great beauty dish to use with a speedlight and is a good size for what I use it for.  I have no complaints with it so far and it is doing everything I need it to.

Usage:

I have used it in five shoots now and I really like the results.  It does add a lot more character than an umbrella which is great.  I am very impressed with the lighting and I find that I am learning to use it even better with each shoot.  

Pros:

- Good Size

- Great Lighting

- Versatile (grid + diffuser)

- Well Built

Cons:

- Springs holding the dish in the centre might lose their spring over time (however there is a spare set)

Sample Images:

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4 D

Portrait - 35mm f/1.8 G

Portrait - 105mm VR Macro 

Conclusions: 

Overall very impressed with this light modifier and I am very impressed with what I have gotten from it.  Well built, lightweight and produces great light.  I hardly have any faults with it and I really like the effect it is having on my portraits.  There isn't much to say about it other than it is a great addition to my lighting setup.

Additional Info (Added October 2012):

Here is the link for my video review of my beauty dish: http://youtu.be/ZUU4LCUCuZM

Hope that helps!