75 pence DIY Snoot
 

I really needed a snoot when having a flash workout yesterday so a special purchase at the supermarket today. Not really sure how effective this would be but I bought 2 packs of party straws for use as light straighteners.

Trimmed the bendy bit off a packs worth, and trimmed a kitchen roll inner card tube to fit the long sections and the smaller sections. Smaller sections worked but gave to wide a light spread so I went with the 5 inch longer bits.

The attatched image is the trial version so not tarted up at all.

I stuffed the whole packs worth of straws into the cardboard tube and used 2 rubber rings left over from a plumbing job to really grip each end of the tube tight.
To attatch to the flash I could have done a Blue Peter job with cardboard but found the diffuser attatchment from my Vivitar 283. Stuffed a 52mm threaded rubber lens hood inside so the thread is on the outside and masking taped in. Dug out a 52mm filter ring without the glass and taped it to the card tube with the straws in. Screw into position on the flash and job done.

Next was to take a pic with the snoot to prove it. For this I used my geared head as the front provides a perfect target for the snoot.

Attatched image shows the area lit by the snoot positioned 20 inches away at 45 degrees with SB-80DX on 1/4 power so not much light loss.

Final image is adding the Metz at full power undiffused. A bit of foil reflected light onto the base without intruding onto the black.

Tomorrow I will take some pics with it disassembled to visually show how it is put together.

Don

I see Mr Blue Peter is at it again, Hi Don Looks like you're getting a very nice light from it, Do you think the straws help? what sort of beam would you get with just the tube? But as it seems to work fine with the the straws why change it :)

Lello,

Thinking behind the straws was as in a honeycomb which limits spill light. Years ago for work I used a larger square of works honeycomb material to good effect so I guess that idea stuck in the back of my mind. Straws should act as a light straightener.

Easy enough I will do a comparison today without the straws. I need to see if I can come up with a zoom version anyway.

Don

A DIY snoot is something I rustled up during a photo and consisted of an A3 black card rolled into a tube held in place manually. Admittedly it was too long but there will be a critical length verses diameter to achieve a wide but straight beam of light. I am puzzled why the party straws are required and would like to see with and without. In a book titled 'Light for the professional' pp46, shows a professional snoot with different light effect ends to beam lots of individual straight lights to a subject forming a shotgun effect. I imagine these ends are optional.

I am going to see of a Pringles tube lined with foil does the same job and would be more permanent than a rolled up piece of card, as I had before.

'Light for the professional', Richard Hunecke, pp46 shown below.

The Honeycomb screen does not show up to well in the book and this one fits on the front of the mini reflector bowl.

I will now try out with and without straws.

Pringles tube .......................... excuse for a munch. :D :D

Don

Results from the snoot with straws v without straws.

Looks like you need straws Foxy. Even the 1 1/2 inch with straws is better than a plain Pringles tin.

Don

Were the photographs produced from the same diameter tube?

What happens if an excessively long tube is used, as in my experience. My snoot plan tube was 500mm and approx 80mm diameter.

I am happy about the straws they do make the difference just interested length v's straws for same result.

Stephen,
In each case the tube was from a kitchen roll around 43mm diameter.
I need to remind myself of your original perhaps you can post it here. I am sure this would be more versatile 130mm plays 500mm.

I have just tried zooming the 1 1/2 inch section inside a toilet roll ( just over 4 1/4 long ) and it has no real effect on the light pattern.
This suggests that straw length inside the tube determines the diameter of the projected light.

Don

I'm not surprised at all that the straws are needed. Stephen, imagine the straws as acting like a series of singlemode optical fibers, without the straws it would be more like one large bit of multimode. The the light will bounce down the tube giving a wider dispersion as it leaves the end.

I had that thought Duncan, but Stevie will not let me use the nice bendy fibres from the Christmas tree. :rolleyes:

Don

Gents ,
just to interupt,have been following this with some interest, and it does make compelling reading,many thanks for sharing this.

Regards

Lee :D

Thanks Don
Off to buy some straws now :D:D

Any reason you are going with a round shape Don?

My home-mades are all rectangular 'boxes' and just push-on the flash head...I use cardboard from a cornflakes box, cut to the length I want (to vary the size of beam) and the width to fit over the flash head. I cover it all with gaffer tape. The attached set-up shot show two in use - one has a lavender gel in a high tech holder...

For gridded snoots, I use black bar straws, although I have been meaning to try out the coloured straws to see how it colours the light.

The bare snoots fold flat, so take up no room in my bag. I have been meaning to glue together a bunch of short straws that would slide inside the end of a bare snoot...hopefully that should still control the light spill whatever the length of snoot used.

Fewer straws so less cost in case it did not work Mark :D :D , not that I had really got round to the shape issue. One thought though is to see if attatching a filter ring to the end will allow for colour effect through using old photo filters. Although the party straws have a colour stripe I don't see any effect of them in the light.

Black straws .......... I have not seen those but quite logical to mimick proper honeycomb.

Thanks for posting your pic. I will study it in detail.

All the secrets of your brill pic are out now. :)

Don

Stop Press:

A Nikon SB-800 fits perfectly in a pringles tubes and... its foil lined. Now I just need to wait until my lady eats them all. Considering she is on Texas BBQ sauce flavour it shouldn't be long!

Watch this space....

Agreed, a brill pic revealed ;)

Thinking about it, it must be around the anniversary of the ringflash thread. :)

Don

I do like the idea of using old filters...hmmm...one of the smaller, cheap, square Cokin holders could be modified to fit nicely too...and it could probably take cut-up gels too...

A common thing in bars over here, red or black...so if you don't count the cost of beer, they are free :D

LOL :D

I am itching to get some straws and try out the shorter straws now...maybe a couple of days before I get time though.

Yes Don I think you're right, and about the same time as me thinking about getting the D80:D

Duncan that makes a lot of sense but I am thinking multimode light would quickly diminish leaving only a singlemode beam if the length is beyond a critical dimension for this to occur. Critical length depends on diameter of tube and with a party straw this length is achieved as their length must be 40 times their diameter( approx 5mm dia and 200mm length). If the critical length ratio is 40:1 then my 80mm diameter snoot would need to be 3.2m :rolleyes: to give the same result as one party straw.

Here is my photo using long 500mm snoot toward the label of champagne bottle. I recall it be very difficult to aim as the beam was direct.


http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...hp?photo=11266

Educated under a flat top thorn tree on the plains of Africa, so that lot has gone right over my head. :D

Don

Singlemode fibre optics employs a single beam which transmits parallel to the fibre internally. i.e. direct light.

Multimode employs lots of different angles and light frequencies that bounce off the internal sides of the optical fibre i.e dispersed light. Multimode used thicker optical fibre cable.

At a certain length multimode operation should expire leaving only direct light and return to singlemode albeit reduced power.

The party straws no doubt will operate like lots of single mode fibres and allow for a shorter snoot.

Please find below diagram showing single and multimode fibres (its in french)

I'll get me some straws and do my own experiment.

Thanks for that. A bit worried when I read it was in French not Swahilli. :D
Makes sense now.

Don

Can you believe there were NO party straws at the supermarket this afternoon. Either that or my lady forgot ;)

Still she has another two tubes of pringles for me to create the super snoot to test length and straws.

I have bought the pringles (just need to eat them now) and the straws, so just waiting for instructions on what sort of length to cut them :D

Lello,

Try the straws full length first. I guess the Pringles tin being of larger diameter than my cardboard tube will project a larger beam for the same length of straw as in mine.

I had little choice over trimming mine as they are the ones that bend over at the end. So the trim point was just in front of the bendy bit.

Looks like you will beat Foxy to this one. :D

Don

The pringles have to be eaten first, and I'm the only one in the house that eats them, Might take a few days, Unless I put some in jiffy bags and distribute them among the WPF members :D

Days!!!! To eat a tube of Pringles? :eek: :eek:

Anyone found silvered straws on sale? I've seen them in pubs and bars, but never in the shops. Might make a difference.

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

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:D . 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.

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. :rolleyes:

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.

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. :rolleyes:

Don

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...