Simple DIY Gel Holder Version 2

DISCLAIMER: As with any Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project, unfamiliarity with the materials, tools and processes can be dangerous. Posts here should be taken as theoretical advice and you perform these DIY projects at your own risk. The author will not be held responsible for any injury or equipment damage arising from any DIY project posted on AroFarMeR.


I wanted to try out the effects of the Skelton Exotic Sangria (Magenta) gel. Loaded the gel onto my simple DIY gel holder on my speedlite and started playing around with the speedlite's power output manually.

Took it to full power and fired about four to five shots consecutively. Picked up my speedlite to tune down the power and to my horror... i saw my lovely Sangria gel all crumpled up!!

The intense heat from the flash head busted the Sangria gel.

No doubt the gel can still be used but it had turned from a slick smooth piece to a crumpled old tramp. My simple DIY gel holder was... too simple... and there was no design consideration for protecting the gel from the intense heat of the flash head firing on full power consecutively! The gel was practically laid across the flash head in total contact for some big frying!

Of course, the simple gel holder worked very well when I was using it with my speedlite at lower power (up to 1/2) with sufficient cool off time between each firing (not consecutively). Nonetheless, I acknowledged that this is a design flaw and I need to rework it.

Back to the drawing board and re-examined Bo Boswell's design. I now understand why he had another fold of the plastic... to act as a protection from the intense heat generated by the flash head during quick successive full power firing. Initially I thought it was just to hold up the gel. Well... I was wrong.

Here's the Simple DIY Gel Holder version 2... the design is basically Bo Boswell's:











Did some testing and results were good for 3 ~ 4 consecutive full power firing. However, after 6 ~ 7 consecutive full power firing without rest, the gel started showing signs of crumpling. I believe this had to do with the thermal properties of the recyclable PET plastic used to make the gel holder. Maybe other harder plastics (acrylic?) with better thermal properties can protect the flash gel better? Or maybe the gel itself need to be made using material with better thermal properties? But then again, in usual photography usage, we don't normally blast the speedlites in full power consecutively without rest in-between :P

I sincerely apologize again for my design flaw in the first version and really hope that there weren't any gel casualty besides mine. For those who own flash units without the gap for insertion, you can actually secure the gel holder either on top or below the flash head using a rubber band like what I did for the first version.

Hope you appreciate this Bo Boswell's design and enjoy your flash gel photography!


Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ F5.6, Tv @ 1/125sec
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Lighting: Main - Alien Bees @ 1/13 (Between 1/11 & 1/16 mark)
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Diffusion: DIY Light Tent
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII
Flash Gel: Rosco’s “The Strobist Collection” - #3401 Roscosun 85 (5500K to 3200K)