Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I don't take credit for it, but a poster (adamdewilde) on FM came up with the brilliant idea of "coloured" domes for the Einstein strobes.

I'd take three, 1/4 CTO + 1/2 CTO + Full CTO.

AB.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/904347/0#8522987

Just send us a vendor who can do this at reasonable cost and we might consider it. Not an easy thing to source.

+1 to this idea

Put on the colour you need, and you are good to go no matter which light modifier you are using (gel the 2" softbox, anyone? :D )

I think this is a great idea also, but as Paul said it might be hard to find a vendor to make them at a reasonable price.

And what would you consider a reasonable price for each, $10, 15, 20, or more?

Paul, what about the vendor who made the original domes?

They're in China, and Chinese don't understand color coating or even milk glass or colored glass. They are Pyrex and are sandblasted. Getting anyone to apply a heat resistant color to the domes would be really difficult even in the USA. The dome gets really hot and would probably discolor most coatings.

Hmmm- anyone know anything about blending the color right into the glass? I've done a little digging of stained glass window hobbyists and glass blowing websites but haven't found any good answers yet.

Is it even possible to colorize pyrex? Does it have to be pyrex?

First, it has to be Pyrex or Quartz. There's too much heat for ordinary glass. I was barely able to find a vendor to make the clear domes. You have to deal with the Chinese to appreciate how difficult sourcing anything unusual actually is.

If you go to US or European companies they don't even answer requests and only want to deal with mega corporations. Even when they do answer it's a salesman who is dumb as a rock.