The Beauty Dish You Can Take Everywhere
Review by Fernando Santos
Do you use speedlights and/or strobes? If you do, you may have your own collection of light modifiers that probably includes a beauty dish. Generally large and made from metal, they’re usually difficult to transport, because they can’t be folded and don’t fit into the typical camera/gear bag. That’s about to change because Phottix recently introduced a new beauty dish that solves those problems. Let me tell you about it.
The new Phottix Rani II 60 is a 24″ (60 cm) folding beauty dish that you can easily store inside your gear bag (or use the zippered carrying bag included), whenever you need to go on location. The new beauty dish is 10.6″ (27 cm) deep, and it unpacks, deploys, and breaks down quickly and easily, thanks to its push-and-pull design.
With 16 fiberglass ribs that create a circular shape, the Rani II 60 gives you round catch lights. Thanks to the included center reflector disc, inner baffle, and external diffuser, you avoid hotspots, while having a good, diffused light. Included in the box you’ll also find a fabric honeycomb grid for better light control. The product has a Bowens-S type mounting ring and weighs just 2.6 lb (1.2 Kg).
I’ve used many Phottix light modifiers, and they’ve never disappointed me. This Rani II 60 Folding Beauty Dish was no different. I found it to be very portable, built with good quality materials, and at an affordable price. That’s a good thing when you’re on a budget, but still want to have options from which to choose.
Phottix also has a Rani Folding Beauty Dish 33″ (85 cm) available (priced at $144.95) that I didn’t have a chance to try, but it should be as good as the product I tested, in case you’re looking for a larger version. ■