Ring Flash Adapter for Profoto B2 (DIY)

Instead of waiting for Profoto to produce a ring flash for Profoto B2, I thought about a DIY project to make my own adapter. It turned out to be a lot easier than that.

Orbis, Rayflash and some other ring flash adapters have been on the market for a while, but they are made of hard plastic and customized for Speedlights and that form factor.

But looking at Roundflash and their product, collapsible and made of fabric, it was a way better starting point for my project.

Making a square hole round

The hole in the Roundflash Ring where you fit your Speedlight is rectangular, but the Profoto B2 head is round.

All I needed to do to get the Profoto B2 head to fit into the Roundflash was to take my pair of scissors and cut the corners of the opening, just one inch (or maybe less, 2 centimeters) did the trick.

With a cut through the velcro, I could stick the B2 head there and all I needed was a camera.

The Roundflash Ring is constructed with a hole in the middle where elastic cords with a fastener can be tightened around the lens.

It is not perfect, and I feel the ringflash adapter is quite wobbly around the camera. But it works.

Light stands and attachment

I am not quite finished with this project yet. What I did just to see if the light was ok was to attach the Profoto B2 head onto a light stand, and hold the camera inside the hole of the Roundflash adapter.

If you hold your camera with two hands, as I usually do, one or two fingers can grab the cords inside the hole and thereby have the camera in a decent position.

It is not perfect, so the next step would be to use some kind of clamp and maybe an arm attached to the light stand, to hold the ring flash adapter in place. Then it at least would be one unit that I can move around, the camera is no problem to handhold in the right position.

The result?

I like to use ring lighting, but seldom do. That is mainly because my only ring flash is the head that works with my AcuteB and that I never use anymore since I have bought Profoto D1 and B1 (and B2).

Having a quick setup for an acceptible ring flash effect, that is also collapsible and easy to pack, is good enough for me.

As you can see in the example photo above, the spread of the light is not even around the ring, but seen in the full picture below, it looks good. And an adapter like this is not really a ring flash either, it is more like a round softbox providing soft light on-axis from where the camera is. But that is useful sometimes.

Packing a Roundflash when shooting portraits on-location is something I will definately do in the future. It will not be powerful and crispy as a real ring flash, but adds a little extra to the eyes I think.

Total cost and time

A Roundflash sells on their website for 89 Euro (I bought a copy in fact for a little less, they didn’t have the original in my store), and a pair of scissors you probably already have.

If you already have a Profoto B2 and maybe one minute to spare for the easiest DIY project, I can recommend this one.