learning lighting - umbrella/softbox, etc.??

[ghache]

Ive been testing out the Steve Kaeser umbrella softbox as an alternative of expensive softboxes and i really like the outcomes.

You get a little more control over your lightning with the light softness of a softbox.

its cheap and can be used on any strobes you have.

Steve Kaeser Photographic and Video Lighting

they worth the money.

 

[KmH]

The softbox was very far from the model for soft shadows. You can see how hard the shadows were.

The soft box has to be moved far back to light the full length of the model.

The inverse square law would also apply in that shooting situation necessitating move light output at the softbox.

Tee also should have turned the light stand 180° to make it more stable (a light stand leg directly under the softbox rather than directly behind it.)

 

[mike3767]

Google cowboystudio and you will find some cost effective equipment.

 

[D-B-J]

.......I can vouch for adorama brand, as i use all their flashpoint "noname" stuff and its working GREAT so far.......

Thank you for the Flashpoint recommendation - very much appreciated.

Very welcome.

Regards,
Jake

 

[Derrel]

I use the Lastolite Umbrella Box quite a bit. It's a high-quality umbrella with a very nice quality of the light, mostly due I think to design and to the materials used to make it. I have tried the Steve Kaeser knock-offs...much cheaper design, and not quite the same level of light quality. "Different".

The Lastolite Umbrella Boxes have 100 percent opaque black backings an dull, matte white interiors....the Kaeser ones have silvery-colored interiors and thinner diffusion material over the front. The quality, the look of the light, is not the same.

Annie Liebovitz uses the Lastolite's chief name-brand competitor all the time. So, you've probably seen a lot of celebrity portraiture and advertising shot with umbrella boxes. What I like about them over conventional umbrellas is that they set up FAST, and they keep ambient spill MUCH more under control than reflecting umbrellas, and do not create the soft,hazy,ugly light that shoot through umbrellas can create in smaller spaces when used with higher levels of flash power. When you need to use 300, to 1200 watt-seconds through one flash head, a shoot-through umbrella will be sending 40% of he light out through the front and 60% is blown back the opposite way, which in many spaces creates its own "fill" lighting, and causes a sickly, ugly look to the light.

The Lastolite Umbrella Box works on double diffusion: the umbrella, and the front panel causes the light to be diffused TWICE...this is not the way a shoot-through or reflecting umbrella works, so the lighting quality of a quality reflecting/enclosed Lastolite Umbrella Box is different from a conventional umbrella, and also different from the el-cheapo "Brolly box" things Paul C. Buff sells, which are just a cheap shoot-through umbrella with a black backing over the back side.

 

[kundalini]

The Lastolite Umbrella Boxes .......

Are you refering to the 8-in-1?


Using the 8 in 1 Umbrella « Lastolite School of Photography

 

[Derrel]

No, I've been referring to the 40 inch Lastolite Umbrella Box, the original model. It was used quite a bit by the founder of the dg28.com web site, whose site is, I think, the one the stobist blog spot was coined after.

LU3227 Lastolite 40" White Umbrella Box with 7mm Shaft.

The umbrella boxes that Annie Liebovitz uses so often are the Photek Softlighter models, like this one
SL5000 Photek Softlighter II, 46" Umbrella with Diffuser.

 

[dallasimagery]

I prefer bounce umbrellas. I like sotboxes too though, but umbrellas are so fast and easy to move around and set up

 

[photosoto]

No, I've been referring to the 40 inch Lastolite Umbrella Box, the original model. It was used quite a bit by the founder of the dg28.com web site, whose site is, I think, the one the stobist blog spot was coined after.

LU3227 Lastolite 40" White Umbrella Box with 7mm Shaft.

The umbrella boxes that Annie Liebovitz uses so often are the Photek Softlighter models, like this one
SL5000 Photek Softlighter II, 46" Umbrella with Diffuser.

Derrell, I am interested in this style umbrella box because of the quality light I THINK it has. Have you used any other style diffusers to compare them to?; also, being priced basically the same, do you think either has advantages over the other?

 

[ghache]

No, I've been referring to the 40 inch Lastolite Umbrella Box, the original model. It was used quite a bit by the founder of the dg28.com web site, whose site is, I think, the one the stobist blog spot was coined after.

LU3227 Lastolite 40" White Umbrella Box with 7mm Shaft.

The umbrella boxes that Annie Liebovitz uses so often are the Photek Softlighter models, like this one
SL5000 Photek Softlighter II, 46" Umbrella with Diffuser.

I am so impressed with the keaser umbrella box over a regular umbrella that i might give these a try for sure. for the price, portability, its really hard to beat.

 

[Derrel]

No, I've been referring to the 40 inch Lastolite Umbrella Box, the original model. It was used quite a bit by the founder of the dg28.com web site, whose site is, I think, the one the stobist blog spot was coined after.

LU3227 Lastolite 40" White Umbrella Box with 7mm Shaft.

The umbrella boxes that Annie Liebovitz uses so often are the Photek Softlighter models, like this one
SL5000 Photek Softlighter II, 46" Umbrella with Diffuser.

Derrell, I am interested in this style umbrella box because of the quality light I THINK it has. Have you used any other style diffusers to compare them to?; also, being priced basically the same, do you think either has advantages over the other?

The Lastolite Umnbrella Box is available in 40 inch ,60 inch, and 80 inch models. They are 8-panel umbrellas and use a 3-zipper front closure, so they can be used with rather larger reflector light heads, like even 8.5 inch reflectors.

I have not used the Photek Softlighter, which has recently gone to a "II" model designation, which now comes with two light discs for use in warming/changing the lighting characteristics. The Softlighter is made up of 10 panels, and so it more-round than most umbrellas.

The Steve Kaeser umbrella boxes are really low-cost, priced at around $36 for TWO 40-inchers, and they use the drawstring front closure system,much like the Photek models use.

This type of enclosed umbrella is much,much more like a softbox than a reflecting umbrella or a shoot-through,and wha's nice is the way they keep spill light from striking the lens, or hitting the ceiling or walls, and they keep the light ALL going forward, more like a softbox does.

 

[photosoto]

No, I've been referring to the 40 inch Lastolite Umbrella Box, the original model. It was used quite a bit by the founder of the dg28.com web site, whose site is, I think, the one the stobist blog spot was coined after.

LU3227 Lastolite 40" White Umbrella Box with 7mm Shaft.

The umbrella boxes that Annie Liebovitz uses so often are the Photek Softlighter models, like this one
SL5000 Photek Softlighter II, 46" Umbrella with Diffuser.

Derrell, I am interested in this style umbrella box because of the quality light I THINK it has. Have you used any other style diffusers to compare them to?; also, being priced basically the same, do you think either has advantages over the other?

The Lastolite Umnbrella Box is available in 40 inch ,60 inch, and 80 inch models. They are 8-panel umbrellas and use a 3-zipper front closure, so they can be used with rather larger reflector light heads, like even 8.5 inch reflectors.

I have not used the Photek Softlighter, which has recently gone to a "II" model designation, which now comes with two light discs for use in warming/changing the lighting characteristics. The Softlighter is made up of 10 panels, and so it more-round than most umbrellas.

The Steve Kaeser umbrella boxes are really low-cost, priced at around $36 for TWO 40-inchers, and they use the drawstring front closure system,much like the Photek models use.

This type of enclosed umbrella is much,much more like a softbox than a reflecting umbrella or a shoot-through,and wha's nice is the way they keep spill light from striking the lens, or hitting the ceiling or walls, and they keep the light ALL going forward, more like a softbox does.

ok thanks. I noticed the lastolite is pictured with larger light heads. I only have a sb600 now and I didn't know if it would have excess opening around my strobe for light to spill out.
Would you recommend any additional lighting diffusers, reflectors, etc. to start out? (anyone comment as well)

 

[KmH]

Google cowboystudio and you will find some cost effective equipment.

That is mostly lightweight, poorly made junk, so I'm not sure you can call it "cost effective", but you can sure call it cheap.