Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello I have preordered four Einsteins (can’t wait!) and will also be getting some softboxes and other accessories. However, I am having a hard time deciding which beauty dish to get, the High-Output Beauty Dish Reflector or the High-Output White Beauty Dish Reflector. I will be using this mostly in a small (20X14) home studio. Any idea which would work best with the Einstein?

There is no high output white dish. The white dish, by nature of white surface, drops the output about 2f stops because it doesn't focus, so has a much wider coverage area.

My personal preference is the silver dish with the white diffuser sock when you want to use it in close. But there is a click that insists this acts like a small softbox and has a different "look" than a white dish without diffuser. Personally, I don't buy this . . . they both emit a similar amount of light from a similar source size at a similar angle of coverage.

I see a lot of beauty dish shots with the light 10' from the subject, with really nice results, but the click insists this is not how you use a BD. But if you're outside and fighting with the sun the silver dish without sock will give you the same look as the white one, but will give you a 2f advantage in overpowering the sun. PLM will give you even more output and a wider source for this sort of use.

I'm more into science and physics than in magic light. So the answer is very subjective and depends on who you talk to.