Options
New toy
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
Since I got a nice little paid gig a couple weeks ago, I decided to reward myself with some new studio gear. Most of it was not something to write home about, but one thing definitely got me jumping.
Here it is:
1: The new little (or in fact rather "big") brother: 7' octabox from Amvona, next to its old (now "little") brother, 3'x4' Profoto softbox. Both are in modeling light mode (ISO3200):
I was simply playing with it, so I set the liners half gold, half silver, hence the honey color.
2: Now both are firing (profoto lights inside):
3: The new toy mounted on Compact-R 300 at 1/4 power, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/250.:
4: Checking if the grid is working. You can see some light spill on the back, but it's only me not being accurate in mounting the rear cover.:
5: Test full body shot. According to the light meter it's f/5.6 at the face, chest and waist, dropping down to f/4 at the knee level - all that with the actual light/octabox center at the face level. :
All in all I'm very happy with the purchase. While I must admit it's not Profoto quality, it's definitely better than Chimera's (at least the one I saw), and you can't beat the price: $219:deal , no tax, shipped free, with the internal baffle, silver/gold mountable lining AND the grid(!) - those tend to be extremely expensive. I mounted it on Chimera octagon speed ring (thanks again Cathy!) - and that little piece of metal alone cost me $139 + s/h:huh, more than 50% of the diffuser itself...:dunno
I think I'll order smaller softboxes (they all come with grids and switchable linings) from amvona next time I'm on a shopping spree. :wink
Here it is:
1: The new little (or in fact rather "big") brother: 7' octabox from Amvona, next to its old (now "little") brother, 3'x4' Profoto softbox. Both are in modeling light mode (ISO3200):
I was simply playing with it, so I set the liners half gold, half silver, hence the honey color.
2: Now both are firing (profoto lights inside):
3: The new toy mounted on Compact-R 300 at 1/4 power, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/250.:
4: Checking if the grid is working. You can see some light spill on the back, but it's only me not being accurate in mounting the rear cover.:
5: Test full body shot. According to the light meter it's f/5.6 at the face, chest and waist, dropping down to f/4 at the knee level - all that with the actual light/octabox center at the face level. :
All in all I'm very happy with the purchase. While I must admit it's not Profoto quality, it's definitely better than Chimera's (at least the one I saw), and you can't beat the price: $219:deal , no tax, shipped free, with the internal baffle, silver/gold mountable lining AND the grid(!) - those tend to be extremely expensive. I mounted it on Chimera octagon speed ring (thanks again Cathy!) - and that little piece of metal alone cost me $139 + s/h:huh, more than 50% of the diffuser itself...:dunno
I think I'll order smaller softboxes (they all come with grids and switchable linings) from amvona next time I'm on a shopping spree. :wink
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
1: After the first setup attempt I decided to take it apart and redo a few things:
2: One thing I realized I did wrong was mounting. So I decided to mount the speed-ring BEHIND the mounting clamp that goes to light stand. Naturally it limits the mobility, but since it's gonna be used in pretty much vertical position anyway this was a very little cost for the gain of balance and ability to use the central internal reflector:
3: Now the central reflector goes behind the bulb/strobe:
4: It also dramatically reduces the back light spill:
5: And with the rear cover in place the light spill is as good as gone even though I left a few openings for the ventilation purposes:
6: The front view without diffusers in place. I changed all the linings to silver:
7: Both diffusers in place:
8: Finally added the grid again:
9: Me (6'2") standing next to my new 7' toy:
Thanks for watching!
NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
www.daveswartz.com
Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
Yeah, it's fairly large
As to the sand bags: I put a couple just in case, but once I remounted it as shown (behind the LS clamp) it basically zero-balanced itself.
I have no dout it would work for a small group (say, up to 3-wide x 2-deep), but my main goal was to use it for the full height shots, since my 3'x4' was obviously not up to the task (unless we're talking high key only).
Cheers!
Tried to do the math on the luminance values and after about .01 seconds
decided I couldn't ..... or maybe it was shouldn't. Likely it was both.
Michael
thanks for stopping by!
After all, who cares about the math when we can get pikchas!
Thanks for the peek into your new setup.
So where did you relocate all your living room furniture to?
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
My Images | My Lessons Learned and Other Adventures
I do admit - it is rather big. I can't wait to test it on humans :-), which will only happen in two weeks...
Frankly, there wasn't much to relocate. I simply moved the dining table aside, and that was about it.
Techically it would still fit into my first apartment, but there would not be much room left there after that "fer sure"
i cant wait to see your new works, the self portraits just arnt working for me:D
But yes, I can't wait to use it on somebody else besides myself or Helen, who's been very busy lately anyway. I have a few things scheduled, though, so hopefully I'll be abe able to share the results in a week or two...