No, I am not afraid to do a total rip-off and call it a DIY project 😛 And thus I decided to build myself a california sunbounce. So I got myself a big reflector, cut it up and brought it to a friend to turn into a nice piece of silver/gold cloth with flexible attachments. I could have done this sewing part myself but it just wouldn’t have been this nice.
The metal parts I got at the regular hardware store, the main parts are actually broomsticks, the flash attachment is made from 2 sizes U-profiles. Only thing is, these broomsticks are bigger than the regular once, looks better IMO. Further some parts I still had from a flash extension cord and an old Metz flash.
The sunbounce flash arm has a screw/clamp system so I think the system I used is easier to turn around, it just clicks into a tube that’s on the mid tube. But that’s just my opinion…
Tested and approved at a recent wedding shoot.
Hi. After looking for a non-PVC version of the sunbounce, I stumbled upon your post. Now that it has been 7 months since you made this, is there anything you would have done differently? Thanks for posting this.
Well, I would try to find a way to make the crossbar not able to twist, especially with the flash attached this is a bit tricky since the flash will not be exactly 90deg to your screen.
Where did you find or what is the name of the gold/silver fabric ?
Hey Juan,
The fabric is from a standard reflector (100cm), bought on ebay.
I know I’m way late to this party, but if you drilled a small hole into the crossbar and on one or two of the horizontal broomsticks, you could easily mount a short brace to minimize twisting of the crossbar. Cool design, thanks for posting. Bet you could also use a quick release (like for a front bike tire) to hold the cross brace to the bottom horizontal beam to make the flip from silver to gold quick and tool-free.
I thought of that as well but there’s not much space. The setup as is, is tool-free to switch, it is held in place by the stretch of the black fabric. It is not possible to flip without disconnecting the crossbar though.