Well, after getting off my lazy ass I finally made a couple of “proper” snoots for my flashes. Until now I was using a couple made out of 6 inches of packing tube but since I had to fill a round hole (the tube) with a square peg (the flash head), the whole thing wasn’t lightproof.

Instead of the recommended gaffer’s tape I used duct tape instead. For one thing, gaffer’s tape is hard to find in a regular hardware store. In order to get that I would have had to go out of my way to a theater supply store and like I said, I’m too lazy for that. For another I figured that duct tape can’t be that bad, as long as you add a couple of extra layers. Not least, gaffer’s tape is a lot more expensive than duct tape and I really don’t want to invest more than I have to into this lighting stuff while I’m at the learning stage.

I used regular cereal box cardboard cut to a length of 7 inches. I won’t detail the whole process here because it’s baby’s play but I will say that I made sure to fold the cardboard carefully so that it fits the flash head impeccably. I made these 2 snoots to fit my Vivitar 283 flashes.

I then taped duct tape round and round the entire length of the snoot a couple of times and there you have it: cheap-ass home-made duct-tape-and-cardboard snoot.

Here’s the snoot in all its glory, mounted on the Vivitar 283 flash.

I tested the flash initially without the snoot. I fired it 20 inches from a wall and here’s the light pattern. Settings are: 1/32 flash power, with an exposure of 1/250, f/9, ISO100 at 24mm.

After fitting the snoot, with the same settings, the spot is a lot tighter, although a bit ragged.

I also blocked the end completely and fired the flash in darkness and I’m happy to report that the snoot is 100% lightproof. Yeah so forget the gaffer’s tape. Go duct tape!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm and is filed under DIY, Lighting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.