1) I'm looking for a durable way to put a piece of (for instance) Rosco gel in front of the flash window, so as to adjust the flash's color. I have and use the Stofen difuser set. But these items project forward from the flash lens, defeat the flash head's zoom and send light more widely than I may want.

I have taped gel pieces there, but they get mangled when removed, and can be inadvertently torn off too easily. Does someone make a simple and compact slip-on gel retainer that would wrap just the slightest bit around the front of the head, only enough to trap a gel that had been cut to fit the contour of the head? The Stofens have a shoulder that prevents them from being slid on too far; if it were a little more pronounced, one could cut off the face leaving only a surrounding frame that would do what I want. Am I really the only one who wants this, or am I the only pro who doesn't know the obvious solution to this?

-- Jonathan Barber (jbarber1@nycap.rr.com), December 04, 2000

Answers

Jonathan... I was given a rosco swatch of about 500 gels (with data on a seperate sheet between each one!) I occasionaly use a gel on my flash head with a home made remedy that works well. I use 2 pieces (one for eache side of the flash) of (heavy)white construction paper (stiff like cardboard) that is about 1 inch by 2.5 inches. Cut a slit just a bit wider than the width of the gel near the edge of the 1 in. side. Next put two rubber band around the flash head... shove the two pieces of cardboard on either side of the flash head (under the rubber bands) Make sure the slits stick out from the flash head just a bit (so the gel doesn't touch the flash head) Now stick the two edges of the gel into the slits. There you go. It might take you 3 or 4 design modifications to get it just how you want it, but I just leave my cardboards and rubber bands in my bag and when I need them, it only takes about 15 sec to rig the whoe thing. It's not elegant, not pretty... but it works pretty good and the price is definately right. The rig plus 500 swatches didn't cost me a cent. Good luck... David Bindle

-- David Bindle (david.bindle@usask.ca), December 05, 2000.