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Photojojo's Clever Use of Reflectors to Magnify Light

By Rain Noe - February 28, 2011

in Tech

In the photography studio I run, I've got a seven-foot Octobank similar to this:

The concept behind it is simple. You have a strobe with a small flashtube bulb, just a few inches in diameter, that puts out a blast of light when it's fired. The inside of the Octobank is lined with reflective material, like that on the inside of this umbrella:

That giant cloud of reflected light then goes through a big white diffuser on the business end of the Octobank, like this one:

And the result is a massive amount of light -- able to emulate sunlight in certain shots -- from a relatively tiny flashtube.

This principle is being put to good effect by Photojojo with their Ring Flash Adapter. An ordinary ring flash, which encircles your lense and throws a halo-like light on your subject, is its own light source; PhotoJojo's clever accessory is merely a system of channels and reflectors, relying instead on your on-camera flash to provide the power. It's brilliant, both literally and figuratively, and cheap as heck at just $40. (A regular ring flash can run into the hundreds.)

via gadgetlab

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Mothers of Invention

13 years ago

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Click on my name to read an article I suggest to any product designer interested in photography. These are all people who "just couldn't find the right tool for the job. So they went out and made it themselves. Now they sell it to the rest of us."
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Nermal

13 years ago

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One signature of the ring flash is the pretty circular highlight it gives in a subject's eye. This flash might look a bit weird, or at least interesting, reflected off the eye.

See also Orbis and Ray Flash ring adapters.
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