Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I was looking at buying a snoot but then noticed the grids. The snoot and the 20 degree grid both say they confine the beam to 20 degrees. What would be the reason for purchasing a $50 snoot instead of the $20 grid? Is there a difference in the light behavior?
Thanks!

It all depends on what your shooting or what your trying to accomplish. Snoots are used as a spot light and also used for splitting power with power packs. Grids take the light down but you still get an overall spill of light coming through (very,very minimal). Not really a light behavior, more of a personal preference and lighting style.

Here is my take... a snoot limits the spread of light but doesn't change its character. Said another way, it restricts the light but keeps the same properties as the raw light. I tend to think of it like a spotlight.

A grid "aligns" the light which gives you less wrapping and crisper shadow transitions. You can also get a more feathered falloff depending on the degree of the grid.

Also check out this site; it gives some examples of how different modifiers shape light: http://www.bron.ch/vt_pd_lg_sc_en/index.php.

That is a good link, however, keep in mind those are Bron modifiers and they may or may not correlate directly to our products due to overall system. The 20 degree grid and snoot do offer a 20 degree spread, however the grid is 6.5" or so in diameter while the snoot is 2" in diameter. At far ranges, you would not see that difference, but up close, you can get a tighter light (the spot of light will be approx 4" smaller with the snoot than with the grid). Yes the snoot is $48, but you also need the $54 mainframe. The grid snaps into the 7" reflectors or mainframe.

Wasn't sure if I should post a Bron link on a PCB board... seemed a like it could be considered rude but I decided it was a nice bit of info to have (and therefore ok?). I would like to put together the same info using all PCB modifiers I just don't have enough of them yet :)

Zack Arias also put together similar info for his Creative Live class a few months back and posted it to his blog: http://www.zarias.com/modifiers-from-da ... ive-class/

I thought the Bron modifier comparison was AWESOME and I'd love to see the same kind of tool from PCB. Would have helped a lot when trying to select modifiers.