I got it yesterday. When Bryan posted the 15% off Refurbished SLR coupon for Canon Direct, I had to. I also got the Vello battery grip for it from B&H. I spent yesterday evening customizing most of the settings that are important to me and played around with the camera a bit. Here was my first flickr post with it:
Just Another Day by budrowilson, on Flickr
I was trying out the autofocus and seeing how the depth of field is different between it and my 7D. Oddly enough, it seemed to nail autofocus with my 85mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.4 lenses without any AFMA corrections (which surprised me). So far, I'm happy with the camera, but it certainly is a different animal to shoot with. I'm looking forward to giving it more of a workout this weekend.
I was never a huge fan of the PCB silver dish that I had. Don't get me wrong, it's "ok," and relatively cheap. For the money, it's hard to beat. The only time I really liked it, though, was when I was trying to overpower the sun for a dramatic effect. The coolness of the light (which I'd often counter with a 1/4 or 1/2 CTO) plus the specularity turned me off from using it much of the time. I had gotten to where I used it socked most of the time--and at that point, it's just a round softbox (although it handles better in the wind than a traditional softbox).
So far I'm really enjoying the Mola. I ordered the Opal glas center diffuser for it, but it was back-ordered so I haven't received it yet. B&H said they'd have stock replenished next week. As I don't have the Opal diffuser yet, I've been using it with the stock PAD (perferated aluminum diffuser) without the diffusion sock on it (typically speaking). I wanted to get an idea how it performed stock before adding the opal diffuser. I'll use it a bit more this weekend on at least one shoot (maybe two). We'll see how it goes.
That's pretty much where I am right now. For the price I think it's a worthwhile purchase and using the sock does give it some versatility. Do you have the white version? If so, is it noticeably softer? After my PLM incident I'm looking to start taking my BD wish me more often on location. Like you said it's kind of like a softbox, but better in the wind.
By the way, is this ever going to be in stock?!?!?! I am not really interested in going to the Christmas Wreath route. Drum/Cymbal bags may work but I feel like they will break the $50 mark which is all I am interested in spending.
Just realized that this thread was about screen protectors and not beauty dishes, sorry!
Staying on the hijacked subject, sorry!:
I don't have the white version (PCB HOBD-W). I decided that if I wanted a white dish, I was going to go all out and get a Mola. Compared to the PCB HOBD, the Mola's light is certainly softer, but just as important is the build quality--it's much more rigid without being unnecessarily heavy. The Mola requires a speed ring, but that also means that it's made to be universal (just in case I wanted to use it on something other than my White Lightnings).