I’d like to start by giving credit to Honl Photo for the design idea. I had the supplies already so I wanted to see what I could come up with.

For those of you who don’t want sticky-backed velcro on your flash, this is the perfect solution. It’s quite simple to make and only takes a few minutes if you have a sewing machine.

Supplies:

• 1.5″ wide loop velcro, about 10.5″ long and non-adhesive-backed
• 1.5″ wide hook velcro, about 1.5″ long and non-adhesive-backed
• a piece of bicycle inner tube roughly 11″x1.5″
• needle and thread/sewing machine

I started by trimming the inner tube slightly narrower than the velcro
so that it didn’t stick out from underneath. Then I sewed the inner tube to the loop velcro and let a piece of the inner tube stick out past the velcro a little to act as a pull-tab. On that same pull-tab end is where the small square of hook velcro goes, sandwiching the inner tube. I used the standard box-X on each end.

Now you can use a variety of velcro accessories like grids, snoots and bounces without having to use stick-on velcro.

Oh, and to the guys who feel that sewing threatens their masculinity, just think of a sewing machine as a [potentially dangerous] power tool. Have you ever impaled your fingertip with a needle? I hear it isn’t a pleasant experience…

I was in the market for a softbox and came across a great deal on an Amvona Dynaphos softbox that I couldn’t pass up. The softbox came with a speedring, which was just a flat, circular sheet of metal with a pattern cut out of the middle that allowed Amvona hot-lights to be removed with a quarter turn. Luckily, it was easy to remove and replace with whatever I wanted. I could’ve modified that metal speedring that came with it but it was pretty beefy and would’ve taken longer to cut. To make life easier, I opted for a piece of 3.2mm styrene (plastic) that I got at a local hobby store (it was with the model train accessories). The actual material isn’t important, you could use styrene, ABS, plexiglass, wood, and so on, as long as its fairly thin and sturdy.

First, I cut out a styrene circle equal to the size of the original speedring. Then I cut a rectangular hole in the middle that was large enough for the head of a speedlite to pass through, with room to spare. Around this, I siliconed a piece of foam. It made a pretty firm seal around the head of my 580ex but to be sure it didn’t fall out, I drilled a few holes and used paracord/550 cord as a way to secure it. On the back of the styrene, I covered it with gaffer’s tape to give it a more professional look. After this, I bolted this new “speedring” into the frame and was good to go. The red arrows indicate how the frame mounts to a light stand (I’ve received many questions on this). One end is threaded for 1/4″-20 and the other, 5/8″, so that it can be mounted on any light stand. It works surprisingly well for what it is. If you need more power, stay tuned for my dual speedlite revision.