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Portable Folding Softboxes
saurora
Registered Users Posts: 4,320 Major grins
I'm looking and comparing lighting to purchase in the very near future and these look very promising for those who don't have a studio and have to shoot on location. Does anyone else make foldable, transportable softboxes that you are aware of? I have a Canon 580 speedlite, but am considering Alien Bees as I am not aware of any softboxes for speedlites, other than small handheld ones. It's always nice to have one of everything, you know! :wink
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I use the 48 inch AlienBees Brolly Boxes with my B800 monolights. They can be mounted on an umbrella adapter (Photoflex Shoe Mount Multiclamp) and used with your speedlite. I like the Brolly Boxes on location because there is no assembly, you don't need a speedring . . . and they're cheap!
Scott
www.rscottschmid.com
My Web Site
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=13259&is=REG
Those AB folding boxes look great. When they come available, I may just buy one and see if I can figure how how to adapt it to my 580EX. Unfortunately, I need more control over the light than I get from modifiers like the brolly boxes. They give me trouble both with spill on background and lens flare.
Thanks for the input...I'm a little overwhelmed at all the options, not to mention conflicting comments read regarding what works best. Did you need any kind of special adaptor for the light to work with the brolly, or does the brolly clamp onto the stand like an umbrella? I'm not familiar with them at all.
edit: Ok, I just re-read ....mounts on an umbrella..no special attachments.
I have (and use) two of those myself. Easy to transport, easy to setup.
Getting a nice light anywhere becomes a non-issue.
I must add that it was our esteemed AIR Shay who advised me on those.
Yes, I have read about the problem with spill using a brolly and thought softbox was the way to go until I discovered they are really made for monolights.
Beauty dishes look like fun to use for certain portraits (like young people with great skin!) I like the idea of having some really sharp portraits, too. I wonder how they would work on babies? I think Owen uses one for his modeling. Has any one else had experience with these?
Personally, I find the construction on AB accessories a little cheap-- I've had stitching come undone on my medium softbox and the design is, well, cheap. Their silver reflective umbrellas are the worst though-- they loose their coating FAST. AB outsources their lighting modifiers to a company in China, so that may explain why the modifiers aren't up to the same standards made by them in their Tennessee factory.
Anyway, that said, I've had better luck with and think the Photoflex softboxes are much better designed. I can set up a medium softbox in less than 30 seconds. Photoflex does make a really small softbox that will work with an off camera strobe-- there's a guy over on dpreview who does this ALL the time for his photos. You basically have to make a little l-frame to mount the strobe and softbox together.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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Anyway-- light from beauty dishes can be harsh-- but close enough to your model, it can be nice too. This shot is a straight beauty dish, no sock, but the softbox fill helps soften the look. Personally, for babies, I'd just use a softbox-- but that's just me.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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I am well aware of the very high reputation the Alien Bees have! No one seems to sing anything but high praises of them. And.......our esteemed Shay also promotes using speedlites for portability. I'm a little concerned about lugging all this equipment around everytime I go somewhere. It's hard for me to envision how bulky/heavy it will all be. I don't know if the weight difference is that much between a speedlight and a Bee (plus battery pak). Is it enough for me to be concerned about or not? Keep in mind I'm not s spring chicken anymore. Cost is not the issue with me, I just don't want to buy something I won't use. I may buy one Bee at a time just to see what I think and go from there...I'm not crazy about using lots of light, I like a little shadow and drama in most instances.
Now I really like the lighting in this, but they don't sound too practical to lug around. I'm such a sucker for 'variety' and new gimmicks. Always wanting to try the latest. You can imagine how much trouble I can get into buying gear!!
I'm not using AB *lights*, only brolly-boxes/umbrellas.
As to the rest, I got two 10' poles from Amvona, 1PW transmitter, 2PW receivers and 2 Sunpacks Auto 555EX as the strobes.
The whole thing fits into one long bag (poles/modifiers) and one small duffel/backpack (PWs + Strobes + few other accessories, like a dedicated light-meter, which is kinda a must).
The whole thing fits any street legal transport (including two-seaters), is easily transportable from car to any location and is very easy to set up.
Of course, if you shoot outdoors you may need a sandbag or two to hold the thing from falling, since those BBs (and especially umbrellas) act as huge sails...
http://gallery.liquidairphoto.com/gallery/2520072/1/132371389#132371389
Here is are my conclusions for portraits with umbrellas:
Silver umbrellas provide the best control and are the best choice for low key and dark backgrounds. The control from a silver umbrella is quite good, probably comperable to a gridded softbox. Even when I have a softbox or two in my kit I will probably keep a couple of silver umbrellas (medium and large sized) in my kit.
White umbrellas give the best catchlights in the eye and are the preferred choice for high key portriats with light background where some spill won't be noticed.
Shooting through an umbrella (like a brolly box) is more efficient than reflecting umbrellas and gives the softest light because you can place the umbrella much closer to the subject. However, you pay for that with lost contrast due to lens flare.
A softbox likely beats either a white umbrella or shooting through an umbrella for a combination of control, softness and catchlights.
The 60" Photoflex convertable white umbrella I have is first class. Well constructed and great materials. The smaller (45" ?) white Photoflex umbrella I have is not as nice. Reasonably well constructed but it the interior is has a yellowish cast that I am not terribly fond of. My silver umbrella was made by Interfit and one of the struts has broken. A couple 45" Photoflex adjustable silver umbrellas are now on my shopping list.
Why are you wanting softboxes....Umbrellas have serve me very well for portrait and wedding lighting...my largest location umbrella is a 45" and they are either shoot thru white of reflected gold (gold to warm things up a bit)....personally I have never cared for softboxes until recently when more of them are coming out either round or octagonal....never cared for sq. or rectangular catchlights......now those softboxes were very useful for commerical shooting of inanimate objects (food, computers. etc, etc)....here is a link to LASTOLITE PRO ....... they have some very interesting lighting control.
Or these, http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNAPHOS-PHOTO-LIGHT-UMBRELLA-SOFT-BOX-SOFTBOX-NEW-33_W0QQitemZ200081871872QQihZ010QQcategoryZ79008QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
To start with. They are as easy to use as umbrellas, but they have the same effect as a softbox. The second one there is really good for lighting up a whole room as well.
You can find amvona products super cheap on the 'bay.
http://photography.search.ebay.com/_Light-Controls-Modifiers_W0QQcatrefZC12QQsacatZ79007QQsassZamvonaQ2ecom
Shot on location in his living room while he was sitting on his Grammy's lap.
We never know how something we say, do, or think today, will effect the lives of millions tomorrow....BJ Palmer
SEEING THE WORLD IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT...
http://www.imag-e-nation.net
Those look great. I have been looking for better light than I get from my umbrellas, but so far softboxes for shoe mount flashes seem to be a dodgy proposition. The Softliters look almost as good and it appers I can easily use them with any kind of strobe without dealing with speedrings and adapters. I have a 45" and a 60" version in my B&H cart right now...
Very interesting for portability w/Speedlights. Hopefully you will both let us know how they work out
-Fleetwood Mac
Build quality is comperable to my Photoflex umbrellas, i.e. quite good really.
Setup time is not bad, but not as quick as their advertising leads you to believe. They come set up as an umbrella with a long shaft. If you want to use them brolly-box style (which, of course, is the point), you need to unscrew the bottom bit of the shaft after you open the umbrella. Closing them with only the short shaft doesn't look like a good idea to me, so I think they really need to be stored with the shaft assembled. Unscrewing the shaft takes a little while because it has very fine threads. Then you hook and velcro the diffuser (made from rip-stop nylon) to the ribs on the umbrella, mount the shaft on the stand and slip the sock over the strobe. Not overly slow, but definitely not as quick as a simple umbrella.
That said, you are in a hurry, you can use it as an umbrella. Without the diffuser attached they serve as a very nice convertable white umbrella. I don't think I will ever buy another white umbrella because the softlighers are just as good and more versatile.
I did a few tests with my 580EX. You want to zoom your flash as wide as it goes (I was using the 17mm setting on my flash) and even then the light not even over the entire surface of the diffuser. There is at least a stop difference in brightness between the center and edge. The bare bulb of a sudio strobe will probably give you more even light; at some point I am going to pick up one of the tupperwareish bare bulb-style flash modifiers and try it with the Softlighter.
They seem efficient enough that they are usable with a shoe mount flash. I haven't tested it with my light meter yet, but using the in camera meter I could get a properly exposed headshot at f/11 and ISO 100 (and maybe more, that is where I stopped testing) from the 60" version.
All in all, I am pretty happy with them. My biggest beef is I would like more light at the edges. I am hoping that with the right piece of tupperware on my flash head they will work quite a bit better.