As a follow up to my lighting inquiry, here comes the next one.

I am absolutely in love with my AB set up. I currently have 3 ABs, powered by vagabond/cybersyncs.

That said, I want to get me a better light rather than a straight on flash. As we all know, soft light is.. soft light. :)

Seeing that I am not going to have my own "studio" at least until April (and if my home buying hope falls through, even longer) I am going to be bringing the lights with me..which raises a question:

Is there a good soft box that will be a good, durable box that is also easily collapsible and can be put up in a matter of a minute or two?

Ideally, i'd love to get my hands on an affordable, portable soft box set up (I would love to get me an octobox one day)


lastly, any instructional materials educating how to shoot with a ring flash? :)

The manufacturer of your AB lights produce numerous softboxes and other lighting modifiers. If you are looking for something soft, you might consider one of the umbrella or PLM options. They collapse nicely, and are easy to transport. They are also relatively inexpensive.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by Foques As a follow up to my lighting inquiry, here comes the next one. I am absolutely in love with my AB set up. I currently have 3 ABs, powered by vagabond/cybersyncs. That said, I want to get me a better light rather than a straight on flash. As we all know, soft light is.. soft light. :) Seeing that I am not going to have my own "studio" at least until April (and if my home buying hope falls through, even longer) I am going to be bringing the lights with me..which raises a question: Is there a good soft box that will be a good, durable box that is also easily collapsible and can be put up in a matter of a minute or two? Ideally, i'd love to get my hands on an affordable, portable soft box set up (I would love to get me an octobox one day) lastly, any instructional materials educating how to shoot with a ring flash? :)

I really do enjoy using my Photek Softlighter II - 60" with 8mm removable shaft. I leave the diffusion panel on all the time to speed setup to a few seconds. Make sure to use a wide-angle adapter on the flash, or some other device to spread light quickly in order to fill the device as completely as possible.

It's got 10 panels to more closely approximate a circular emitter and, with the stem extension removed, you can get very close to the subject.

You can also remove the diffusion panel and use it as a conventional white reflective umbrella, or you can remove the black cover and use it as a shoot-through umbrella. It's just extremely versatile.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ighter_II.html
http://www.adorama.com/PTSL60.html

(Do make sure to get the 8mm, detachable shaft for greatest safety and versatility. The 7mm shaft is more problematic.)

The 60" is measured along the arc of the umbrella. These compare more directly to a 36" square softbox in terms of light size and shadow softness.

Ziggy, which strobe are you using?

this is the brella that is really interesting to me.. I have it's baby version the one for speedlights.

Originally Posted by Foques Ziggy, which strobe are you using? this is the brella that is really interesting to me.. I have it's baby version the one for speedlights.

I use the SoftLighter mostly with speedlites, Canon 580EX or Sigma DG Super series. It works great for this. The brackets I use are not ideal, but they do work. (The umbrella brackets I use hold the 580EX Sigma flash higher than I would prefer. It works but it's not optimal.)

I have used the SoftLighter with a monolight, but then I generally remove the diffusion panel.

I can, but haven't so far, use the SoftLighter with a Lowel Tota quartz-halogen light too, for video work. (The diffusion panel "must" be removed for this application.) (The Tota light has a built-in umbrella bracket.)

If you want to use the SoftLighter for monolights and leave the SoftLighter diffuser on, I believe that it's better to use the optional diffusion panel. (I have not done this myself.)

http://www.adorama.com/PTHSD6000C.html

This diffusion panel seems better at handling off-center and large diameter flash units, like a monolight. I would not use a modelling light very long with the SoftLighter, but you can put a lower wattage modelling light on the monolight for safer and longer operation.

These rings from Chimera are really nice. The allow you to collapse your softbox w/o disassembling it (or makes it a lot easier to disassemble). The link is to the one for Alien Bee, but they make them for a bunch of vendors. You can then use this speedring with most softboxes, you don't have to buy Chimera's box. My box is made by Aurora.

Ziggy, I have brella like that for a speed light. I want to be able to use my alienbeens.

Andrew, I'll check them out, thank you!

Can't beat these prices :)

Pops up like an umbrella...

http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_...olly%20box.htm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._with_8mm.html

I use them on B1600's.

Cheers, Don

don, thank you!

Originally Posted by Don Kondra Can't beat these prices :) Pops up like an umbrella... http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_...olly%20box.htm http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._with_8mm.html I use them on B1600's. Cheers, Don

Those are very good examples of a conventional "back-facing brolly box". Thanks Don.

They are, of course, single-diffusion devices, vs the double diffusion of a typical softbox and the SoftLighter. The SoftLighter presents a flat surface towards the subject, providing better "wrapping" of light around the subject, versus a brolly box which presents a convex surface towards the subject, with subsequently less wrapping of the light.

An improvement is the "front-facing brolly box", like these:

http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_...w%20brolly.htm

These are relatively small and the stem is apparently not removable, but the light "is" double-diffused and they do present a flat face to the subject.

If you want a device that is easier to set up than a softbox, but otherwise shares similar light and shadow attributes to a softbox, I haven't found anything better than a 60" SoftLighter II with the 8mm removable stem. Just order the newer diffusion panel for use with monolights, as I mentioned in the above post.

Ziggy, where in IL are you? I want to buy you a beer.

A prime question would be: How much control over the spill light do you need? If you're in a small space, you'll want as much control over the spill as you can get (say you want your main light to hit the subject but not the background). If you're in a large space or outside, shooting large goups of people or other large subjects, you may not care about spill.

A soft box (including octa) is usually better for controlling spill. Adding a grid gives you very precise control.

An umbrella, shooting through or bouncing (including the with front diffusion like with a softlighter) makes nice light but gives very little spill control. And you can't grid it.

I would decide on this point first before worrying about different box or umbrellas designs.


If umbrellas of some kind are an option for your situation, then the Paul C Buff PLMs are worth looking at, especially since you're shooting Alien Bees. The white PLMs can be used shoot-through or bounce and the optional front diffusion fabric and back panel turn them into the same type of modifier as the Softlighter (I think) with a whole lot of versatility. Or their soft-silver PLMs make really nice bounce umbrellas. They have speed rings to fit your Bees that work very nicely.
http://www.paulcbuff.com/plm.php

Their soft boxes are VERY easy to setup, use, and transport and are priced reasonably for the quality.

Durability with repeated setup/tear-down and the ease of setup/teardown are the usual complaints with the cheap ebay/amazon boxes. It sounds like that could be a possible issue to watch out for with your use.

Kurtw,

Thanks for reinforcing this. i own most of the Buff modifiers. I am very pleased with them for home use, use on the road, and in the studio. I have seen recommendations for the Cowboy studio gear several times here, and frankly I think it's awful. I've had some of their softboxes in my hands and while it's inexpensive, I would never buy it hoping to have it last.

I have 6 PLM units (extreme silvers and soft silvers) along with the diffusion fabric. I have both the speedring versions and the more traditional type. To be honest, I am more a fan of the traditional type simply because of ease and speed. The mount on the Bees are not confidence inspiring, and I am always a bit nervous when I put large modifiers on them. MY Einsteins are a little better, but not a great deal.

You also make an excellent point about spill control. This is lost on many people. Grids are wonderful tools and can really help with light shaping, but as you say, you can't grid an umbrella (or PLM in this case).

Originally Posted by kurtw A prime question would be: How much control over the spill light do you need? If you're in a small space, you'll want as much control over the spill as you can get (say you want your main light to hit the subject but not the background). If you're in a large space or outside, shooting large goups of people or other large subjects, you may not care about spill. A soft box (including octa) is usually better for controlling spill. Adding a grid gives you very precise control. An umbrella, shooting through or bouncing (including the with front diffusion like with a softlighter) makes nice light but gives very little spill control. And you can't grid it. I would decide on this point first before worrying about different box or umbrellas designs. If umbrellas of some kind are an option for your situation, then the Paul C Buff PLMs are worth looking at, especially since you're shooting Alien Bees. The white PLMs can be used shoot-through or bounce and the optional front diffusion fabric and back panel turn them into the same type of modifier as the Softlighter (I think) with a whole lot of versatility. Or their soft-silver PLMs make really nice bounce umbrellas. They have speed rings to fit your Bees that work very nicely. http://www.paulcbuff.com/plm.php Their soft boxes are VERY easy to setup, use, and transport and are priced reasonably for the quality. Durability with repeated setup/tear-down and the ease of setup/teardown are the usual complaints with the cheap ebay/amazon boxes. It sounds like that could be a possible issue to watch out for with your use.

I have an older Paul Buff Octabox that I bought from a friend along with his B800. It has to be assembled to use with its 8 spindly little rods, but isn't too bad and I use it on location as well. I used that for those bikini pics of Melissa I posted in People, Foques. For fill on that shoot I used a Speedlight with a 56" Softlighter II, which Ziggy recommended above. I like that too, but the PB Octabox/B800 combo is better. The new fold-out PB octaboxes seem like a no-brainer to me.

I also just received an 86" PLM that I was going to try out on a shoot this morning, but the model flaked.