Softbox suggestions for speedlights

DaveAndHolly219

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I'm looking for some suggestions for cost effective (decently priced but not junk quality) softboxes for use with speedlights. I'm not ready to make the jump to strobes but I want to start playing with softer and more controlled light than I get with umbrellas.


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There are a lot of vendors for these. Maybe look at Steve Kaeser Enterprises, online. Adorama sells a number of these. In recent years, there haver been some marked improvements in rounded plastic mounting rings, where the flash sits in a shoe, and blasts the beam right thru the rounded, rear mount for the softbox. Adorama has its newer "Glow" line of modifiers. I used to use Chimera, but thiose were expensive, and for strobes back then; since 2007, I've gone Steve Kaeser, or Amazon made in China from various vendors.

The MIC stuff has improved over the years, but is still a notch below Chimera or Photoflex stuff, but the prices make it a good value.
 
There are a lot of vendors for these. Maybe look at Steve Kaeser Enterprises, online. Adorama sells a number of these. In recent years, there haver been some marked improvements in rounded plastic mounting rings, where the flash sits in a shoe, and blasts the beam right thru the rounded, rear mount for the softbox. Adorama has its newer "Glow" line of modifiers.

I did see the Glow 31"x31" that includes the mount for a single speedlight and the mount for up to four lights all for $40. It's on backorder, of course.


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I love my 26" Rapid Box Octa. Super easy to set up and take down and it produces nice, soft light.
 
I've been using a couple of these for a while.
Amazon.com : Godox S-Type Bracket Bowens Holder+ 80x80cm Softbox + Grid + Bag Kit for Camera Flash : Camera & Photo

At $50 bucks a piece they pack a lot of value. Dual diffusers, recessed face, a grid, a bowens mount, collapsible. Even though the mount is plastic it's pretty beefy, I haven't had any problems out of it yet in about a year of frequent on-site use but I'd like to spend more time with it before I give the plastic a full seal of approval.
 
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Let's toss in another point of discussion.

Size.

Does one typically use a smaller softbox than they would an umbrella for the same shot? For example, I have 45" umbrellas. I use them for portraits (headshots all the way up to full length shots). Would I want a similarly sized softbox or could I go smaller?


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I've been using a couple of these for a while.
Amazon.com : Godox S-Type Bracket Bowens Holder+ 80x80cm Softbox + Grid + Bag Kit for Camera Flash : Camera & Photo

At $50 bucks a piece they pack a lot of value. Dual diffusers, recessed face, a grid, a bowens mount, collapsible. Even though the mount is plastic it's pretty beefy, I haven't had any problems out of it yet in about a year of frequent on-site use but I'd like to spend more time with it before I give the plastic a full seal of approval.

This looks like a hell of a deal. Does that package include everything needed, minus the speedlight, trigger, and light stand?


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I've been using a couple of these for a while.
Amazon.com : Godox S-Type Bracket Bowens Holder+ 80x80cm Softbox + Grid + Bag Kit for Camera Flash : Camera & Photo

At $50 bucks a piece they pack a lot of value. Dual diffusers, recessed face, a grid, a bowens mount, collapsible. Even though the mount is plastic it's pretty beefy, I haven't had any problems out of it yet in about a year of frequent on-site use but I'd like to spend more time with it before I give the plastic a full seal of approval.

This looks like a hell of a deal. Does that package include everything needed, minus the speedlight, trigger, and light stand?


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Yeah it does... you get the sofbox itself, a carrying case, both diffusers, the egg crate, the bowens mount, a sleeve for the softbox and a larger bag for the whole kit. The entire thing breaks down into a square bag roughly the size of a large toaster. I typically don't break it down that far, the softbox itself folds flat and I find it much faster to put up and take down by folding it in half and shoving it into a portfolio case.

The mount, btw can be used without the softbox for any modifiers that have a bowens mount and the softbox itself doesn't block the face at all so it's possible to use a bowens mount modifier inside the softbox.
 
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I feel that a 24 x 24 inch softbox creates about the same "main swath" of light as a 42-inch reflecting umbrella. I will often use one, or two 24 x 24 boxes and a pair of 42-inch umbrella boxes on a shoot, more or less switching between those types of setups a couple times or more.

I like a 24" x 24", square box with a fabric "grid"...thre 31 x 31 box linked to above, with the grid, looks pretty good.

A 45 x 36 inch softbox is pretty "big"....a 45-inch unbrella does not seem to me to feel "as large".
 
Let's toss in another point of discussion.

Size.

Does one typically use a smaller softbox than they would an umbrella for the same shot? For example, I have 45" umbrellas. I use them for portraits (headshots all the way up to full length shots). Would I want a similarly sized softbox or could I go smaller?


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I honestly never really liked umbrellas, so I didn't play with them a whole lot and I am the furthest thing from an authority about them.

I will say that I use that 32" square softbox I linked for headshots all the way to 1/2 length portraits. Obviously a softbox has different sort of falloff (especially once you start playing with the distance from light to subject) and the spill is much more controlled than an umbrella.

If I want to do a full length I'll typically pull out a couple strip softboxes... like this:
Amazon.com : RoundFlash Strip Light Softbox For Speedlights and Most Flash Units : Camera & Photo
These are the ones I use on site for a lot of different things, but if I want full body shots in a vertical orientation these are my go-to. They pack down to practically nothing and are super fast to pull out and set up (and they can be hung from just about anything including each other, since I do a lot of more intimate types of shoots the spaces are often indoors with questionable access to natural light, in smaller rooms where not that many light stands might fit, and the light from the speedlights needs to be controlled with an iron fist) The light from these tends to be a little weaker at the top than the bottom, for obvious reasons, and they are only 35" long so the upper area of the body still typically gets it's own speedlight and modifier (if full length). These make pretty good rim lights too. It's not an ideal solution, but it is a very workable solution for the way I shoot and allows me to control the exposure/gel independently for each angle.

If I think I need a full length horizontal shot (laying down etc) I'll unpack one more like this:
Amazon.com : Valufoto 12"x60" Strip Light Softbox with Grid and Bowens Speedring for Nikon, Canon SpeedLight and Studio Strobe : Camera & Photo
I can't vouch in any way for the quality of this one, I don't own it, but it is very similar to mine. The greater flexibility in positioning/angling makes this one a decent hair/shoulder/accent/detail light in a pinch... at the cost of being unweildy, slow to set up and take down, etc.

Edited to add: The reason I use strip lights is because I often feel like I need to both control the light from my speedlights, but also to be miserly with it because they have such low power output compared to studio strobes. A large square softbox has a pretty big face that produces a really nice draping of light but it also puts out a pretty big swath of light which is just fine in many situations, but I like being able to be very surgical when it matters and apply light exactly where I want it and nowhere else.

I also really dislike the catchlights in the eyes from strip softboxes, I feel like it gives the eyes a certain sort of inhuman/serpentine look to it (which works out in many fantasy/cosplay shoots) but doesn't look as good when I am going for pretty much anything else.
 
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I'm looking for some suggestions for cost effective (decently priced but not junk quality) softboxes for use with speedlights. I'm not ready to make the jump to strobes but I want to start playing with softer and more controlled light than I get with umbrellas.
I'm glad you started this thread - I had the exact same questions and have been researching different modifiers that fit this description. I love the soft light and nice clean round catch-lights of a shoot-through umbrella, but not the light spill. Bounce umbrella addresses this somewhat, but then I get a catch-light that looks like a bounce umbrella.

I love my 26" Rapid Box Octa. Super easy to set up and take down and it produces nice, soft light.
I've actually been looking at this and the 32" version. From what I've read, these sound like solid performers, with none of the issues people have had with the Apollo Orb. Glad to see a solid recommendation here.

Let's toss in another point of discussion.

Size.

Does one typically use a smaller softbox than they would an umbrella for the same shot? For example, I have 45" umbrellas. I use them for portraits (headshots all the way up to full length shots). Would I want a similarly sized softbox or could I go smaller?
This is my biggest question right now. I am also coming from 45" umbrellas, so the thought of dropping down to a 26" Octa seems counter-intuitive. The 32" version seems like a better fit, but then the price goes up accordingly. I've read various rules of thumb about matching your modifier size to the subject's, and limiting subject-to-light distance, but in the end I'm really just looking for comparable soft light without the spill.
 
If you want soft light but not a lot of spill, look at the Lastolite Umbrella Box...or the Photek Softlighter II, or if you need it to be inexpensive, check into the the Steve Kaeser Enterprises umbrella box pair for $29 or so (for a set of two!) All of these devices give a MUCH better,less-specular,more-diffused light than any shoot-through umbrella. A shoot through umbrella scatters light all over the shooting area,and often has a rather sickly look to its light.
 
Amazon.com : Godox 32"/ 80cm Umbrella Octagon Softbox Reflector with Carrying Bag for Studio Photo Flash Speedlight : Camera & Photo

I've had super good luck with that octabox. $23. Then again, I've never worked with anything else besides my reflecting umbrella. A couple of examples...

tegan easter.jpg

mrs session1.jpg
 
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