As a design engineer at heart, Vivitar circa mid-70's, I still enjoy finding ways to adapt lighting products to work together. Such is the case with the excellent OCF light Modifiers by Profoto and the somewhat revolutionary design of the Godox AD-200X portable strobe light.
Why this is important :
As mentioned in a previous blog, A New Light Shaping Toolkit, the light projected from a shoe mount flash is by design, optimized for light output efficiency. Originally intended for 35mm film cameras, the flash tube reflector assembly was designed in a rectangular shape for better coverage of the 3:2 aspect ratio of 35mm film. Unfortunately, this design decision, while being efficient, came with the cost of light quality.
Circular Reflector:
The conical parabola is an ideal reflector for a point source of light, allowing an adjustable beam spread by moving the light source in relation to the parabola apex or focal point.
Prior to the introduction of shoe mounted flash units, circular reflector/Fresnel lens assemblies were utilized for forward light projection, such as the flash bulb holders/reflectors used with 4X5 press cameras, and of course, studio hot lights.
As a designer, I have designed a way to interface the AD 200X flash unit by Godox to the Profoto OCF Light Modifiers. As you will see in the pull-back photo, the 2' Profoto Octa-Box is fitted to the AD-200X, the AD 600 serves as the main light with a Westcott 32" Rapid Box and the sun is the backlight.
Our model, Shelby Pippin braves the wind as two of the attending photographers hold on to the lights.