WpgCameraMan
Well-known member
I built a Ring Light tonight for my HMC-150. Total cost was $16. Here's what I used:
120mm LED Ring Outside LED ring. 39 bright white LED's.
90mm LED Ring Inside ring. I found this ring had a pronounced blue tint to them. Possibly to match the blue of certain headlights.
72mm Filter Smashed out glass, just needed it as a ring.
Lid from most any CD/DVD pancake stack.
Hot glue gun
Knfie
Drill & a 1/16" bit
Some type of convenient power plug.
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This really is simple to make, but it takes time and patience.
Step #1: Break glass out of filter.
Step #2: With knife, cut out middle of lid, around the filter. At 4 spots, cut a bit of a 'V' shape in the edge.
Step #3: Remove top part of lid from sides. Some of these lids can be brittle, others quite flexible. Wear goggles. I used the knife to score the inside corner, made for a fairly clean edge. Main thing is you don't want to damage the remaining 'disc' much.
Step #4: I drilled 2 small holes for each ring and re-soldered the power wires through those holes. Looks clean. You could drill a larger hole and fir the power leads through without soldering as well.
Step #5: Along the lip of the disc, drill 8 holes about 3mm from the base. These will be anchor holes for the glue to seep into. This is what the 'V' notches are about as well. We want the glue to get into and through these openings and will set hard, holding everything together. The glue itself will have very, very little sticking power to the plastic without these little anchors.
Step #5.9: Total option. I screwed the filter onto the camera and took note of it's orientation when it was on tightly. I want the LED ring to match this, so the power cable (and a possible switch) can reside on the far side of the lens, keeping my focus ring clear of any obstructions.
Step #6: The filter ring won't fit inside the smaller LED ring. It's shy by a little bit. I think it would be nicer if it did. Thought crossed my mind to freeze the aluminum ring to make it shrink, might be just enough to get it inside the LED ring. Not all filter rings have the same wall thicknesses.
This is tricky, use some tape to hold things in place. How you go from here is up to you. I had all parts taped in place, and did some tack spots just to get things started. The glue ran into all the openings, curled up, set nice and tight. Then I went around and put down glue wherever it looked like it could help. This part will not look pretty, nature of the beast.
Step #7: Both my rings are wired together at the moment, I wasn't able to find a good switch for this. Something with 4 positions would be great (Off-L1-L2-L1&2). Mine ends with two alligator clips and go to a 12dc source (battery, DC supply). Have not measured the current draw yet. Oh ya, I kept the little connectors that come with these, they are handy for removing the power cable off the unit.
Step #8: Secure the power cable with some tape, the idea if you don't want to tug on it and pull this all apart. My wind sock on the internal mic is just a bit in the way, but not a problem. I've got plenty of finger room around my focus, this doesn't get in the way of shooting at all. Heat is a non-issue. Nothings going to melt or burn.
----
My next ring, I'll do a few upgrades to an on-ring power switch. Paint the back of the ring black so I'm not seeing that brightness from behind my camera.. and under the LED rings, have something white. It's all about shooting that light out to the front. Right now, the rings are uncovered, if you add any diffusion, you have to make sure you supply a 72mm 'tube' that goes from the empty 72mm filter to just past the diffusion layer. I found that a ring of diffusion placed over the LED's reflected all those points of light back into the lens.
These rings have so many LED's , I don't see the need for diffusion unless you don't like seeing so many points of light in an object's reflection.
At some point tomorrow I'll post some stills of footage I shot tonight with this ring. I *love* it.
120mm LED Ring Outside LED ring. 39 bright white LED's.
90mm LED Ring Inside ring. I found this ring had a pronounced blue tint to them. Possibly to match the blue of certain headlights.
72mm Filter Smashed out glass, just needed it as a ring.
Lid from most any CD/DVD pancake stack.
Hot glue gun
Knfie
Drill & a 1/16" bit
Some type of convenient power plug.
----
This really is simple to make, but it takes time and patience.
Step #1: Break glass out of filter.
Step #2: With knife, cut out middle of lid, around the filter. At 4 spots, cut a bit of a 'V' shape in the edge.
Step #3: Remove top part of lid from sides. Some of these lids can be brittle, others quite flexible. Wear goggles. I used the knife to score the inside corner, made for a fairly clean edge. Main thing is you don't want to damage the remaining 'disc' much.
Step #4: I drilled 2 small holes for each ring and re-soldered the power wires through those holes. Looks clean. You could drill a larger hole and fir the power leads through without soldering as well.
Step #5: Along the lip of the disc, drill 8 holes about 3mm from the base. These will be anchor holes for the glue to seep into. This is what the 'V' notches are about as well. We want the glue to get into and through these openings and will set hard, holding everything together. The glue itself will have very, very little sticking power to the plastic without these little anchors.
Step #5.9: Total option. I screwed the filter onto the camera and took note of it's orientation when it was on tightly. I want the LED ring to match this, so the power cable (and a possible switch) can reside on the far side of the lens, keeping my focus ring clear of any obstructions.
Step #6: The filter ring won't fit inside the smaller LED ring. It's shy by a little bit. I think it would be nicer if it did. Thought crossed my mind to freeze the aluminum ring to make it shrink, might be just enough to get it inside the LED ring. Not all filter rings have the same wall thicknesses.
This is tricky, use some tape to hold things in place. How you go from here is up to you. I had all parts taped in place, and did some tack spots just to get things started. The glue ran into all the openings, curled up, set nice and tight. Then I went around and put down glue wherever it looked like it could help. This part will not look pretty, nature of the beast.
Step #7: Both my rings are wired together at the moment, I wasn't able to find a good switch for this. Something with 4 positions would be great (Off-L1-L2-L1&2). Mine ends with two alligator clips and go to a 12dc source (battery, DC supply). Have not measured the current draw yet. Oh ya, I kept the little connectors that come with these, they are handy for removing the power cable off the unit.
Step #8: Secure the power cable with some tape, the idea if you don't want to tug on it and pull this all apart. My wind sock on the internal mic is just a bit in the way, but not a problem. I've got plenty of finger room around my focus, this doesn't get in the way of shooting at all. Heat is a non-issue. Nothings going to melt or burn.
----
My next ring, I'll do a few upgrades to an on-ring power switch. Paint the back of the ring black so I'm not seeing that brightness from behind my camera.. and under the LED rings, have something white. It's all about shooting that light out to the front. Right now, the rings are uncovered, if you add any diffusion, you have to make sure you supply a 72mm 'tube' that goes from the empty 72mm filter to just past the diffusion layer. I found that a ring of diffusion placed over the LED's reflected all those points of light back into the lens.
These rings have so many LED's , I don't see the need for diffusion unless you don't like seeing so many points of light in an object's reflection.
At some point tomorrow I'll post some stills of footage I shot tonight with this ring. I *love* it.
