Choosing the right umbrella for an SB600

[whtge8]

Im looking for an umbrella to use for my SB600 that im starting to use off-camera. I assume I would need a somewhat smaller umbrella to amplify the light more since its not as powerful as say an alien bees. Also im not sure if I should be getting a silver one with a black back or maybe a convertible white/black umbrella. That way I can shoot through it, but im not sure if the SB600 provides enough light to be able to do any good shooting through an umbrella. Please give me any advice you can, or maybe even some photos with a setup similiar to this to see what can be done.

 

[Big Mike]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Shooting through or bouncing out of, are often fairly similar in terms of the power required. I believe that a silver inside will give you more bounced light, but most prefer a simple white umbrella.

One thing to consider is size vs convenience. A larger umbrella can give you a softer light, but it may be inconvenient to carry & use a large one. Also, power might be an issue because of the distance and light spread required from the flash, to properly take advantage of a larger umbrella.

I'd suggest a fairly standard white umbrella. It's more about how you use it anyway.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I like shoot through umbrellas, and have gotten great results with wescott 32 inch ones.

I usually keep them in close, so I don't need something HUGE. And when I do, i'm not usually shooting speedlights anyway.

All with the little 32 inch umbrellas and sb 600's.

 

[whtge8]

Awesome, makes for an easy decision. How much of a difference will it be if I bounce off a white umbrella with a black backing? Not sure if I should spend more for a convertable one or not.

 

[KmH]

The widest the SB-600 can zoom is 14mm. I think you'd be hard pressed to effectively fill an umbrella larger than 45". Anything bigger would only function as a sail.

 

[Big Mike]

Awesome, makes for an easy decision. How much of a difference will it be if I bounce off a white umbrella with a black backing? Not sure if I should spend more for a convertable one or not.

I'm not sure how much it would matter in terms of light output. Probably not much difference at all. But the advantage of a black cover is that it can somewhat help to control light spill.
If you are shooting indoors, the light might be bouncing around off of the walls etc. This could be troublesome, especially if you are trying to shoot low-key.
Umbrellas aren't really great for constraining light anyway (that's where a softbox is great) so it may not be much of an issue.

 

[Derrel]

For speedlight use, the Photoflex brand's formerly RUT model umbrella, aka the convertible model, is a good choice with Vivitar 285 or the Nikon SB 600 or SB 800 flash. I believe they have changed the specification away from the old three-letter RUT designation. 30 to 32 inchers work very well with speedlights.

You need to be careful of buying cheap, Chinese made light modifiers--many will color your light quite unpleasantly. it is well,well worth the money to buy name brand umbrellas; Westcott, Photoflex, Speedotron, Lastolite, and Photek all make QUALITTY umbrellas that deliver a pure, white light.

I prefer reflecting umbrellas over shoot-through ones because they control spill light much,much better. With a shoot-through, about half the light goes through the umbrella and toward the subject, and the other half bounces back and all over the shooting area, causing a lot of what is called ambient spill; with really powerful flashes, like 400 to 1200 watt-seconds, shoot-through umbrellas throw spill light all over the place. One advantage though is that the ambient spill can also act as a slight bit of fill light; in small camera rooms I have seen MWAC type family portrait shooters use one large shoot through umbrella, and in their low-ceilinged shooting areas, it provides main light AND fill light. Not that it looks professional, but it does create a low level of fill. if you want to simply bring up the light in a room, a big shoot-through with 200-800 watt seconds blasted through it will do that,especially if placed near a white wall, where the light going through goes one way, and the light blasting out the back side hits a reflective surface and adds to the overall light level in the room via bounce.

Using larger umbrellas, like 45 inch models, a speedlight really cannot disperse its beam wide enough to "fill" that large of an umbrella all that efficiently, but you can move the flash very close to a shoot-through umbrella, and get a soft central area of illumination with very dramatic fall off or feathering of the light; the speedlight will shoot through the very center quite nicely, and the edges will have a scant bit of light.

 

[RONDAL]

get a convertible umbrella. they are $5 more maybe than the straight white ones, but allow you to do both. The nice things about convertibles is you can use it as a shoot through to light a large area, or shoot into it and close it down slightly to have a smaller light source with very little spill.

 

[whtge8]

I thought convertable meant it had a removable black backing?

 

[Derrel]

Yes, covertible does mean removable black backing. I like the Photoflex brand of convertible umbrellas, which I use as reflecting umbrellas much of the time--with the black backing on.

This 30 inch convertible model works great for location lighting with a speedlight

UMRUT30 Photoflex Convertible 30" White Umbrella