60cm or 80cm softbox?

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bozwellox

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Hi everyone,

I will be splashing out on a softbox in the near future (an eBay jobbie) and the majority of them seem to be 60cm. However there are a few that are 80cm and I'm wondering if anyone with experience of both has any recommendations as to which size would be most suitable.

I will mainly be using it indoors to take shots of my kids, but would also like to experiment with some outdoor shots, sometimes of a small group of people (3 or 4). I'm wondering if the 80cm would make a significant difference in terms of light spread, or whether it may be a bit too big for my flash (Yonguo YN-468). Also the 80cm one is mahooosive and might be a bit inpractical for indoor use, particularly when my living room is a shoebox.

Any recommendations welcomed!
 
you can always blank off what you dont want to use on a bigger one
 
What's your budget ?

If you can stretch to it, I would recommend a folding softbox from Lencarta. They do them in several sizes and are much easier to put up & down than conventional SB's.

I would also say get as big as your available room allows :thumbs:
 
Definitely out of my price range, but thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking at the ones you see on eBay that are copies of the Lastolite EzyBox design. They mainly seem to come in 60cm and 80cm flavours for around £40-£55ish.
 
for groups bigger is better, for kids bigger is better imho.

remember the larger the light source to the subject size, the softer it is.

ciao

dp
 
It might be worth thinking, if you go for mahoosive, of getting one of those multi flash adaptors so you can have two, three or even four flashes inside a softbox to give you a bit more poke. There are loads of adaptors around on the web, Lastolite does some too. Never tried them myself but have read plenty that says they may help you add a touch more power into a scene.

Those big, big softboxes are pushing the limits of a speedlight and if you want to put any serious power through them, which is inevitable at some point (1/1, 1/2) then you'll hit recycling issues. Of course, ISOs can be upped but then things get a bit messy with ambient Vs flash when working to the maximum sync.

I have a Westcott Apollo 28", which is brilliant but is generally used at close proximity to the subject (3-6ft away) to give soft fill light. I can light large scenes and groups indoors with it but I usually combine it with some form of bare bounced flash that at least lifts the overall light levels. The Apollo is then added in to give some directional light.

The other good thing about the Apollo is that it's based on an umbrella design so is much lighter than the folding softboxes because the ribs keep it rigid as opposed to the metal frame on the foldables.

Phottix does some similar designs (the Easy-Up softbox and an diffused brolly) based on umbrellas that are probably about what you want to spend. You'll need a tilt head with umbrella shaft holder if you don't already have one.

Pages 7 & 8 = http://www.phottixstore.com/store/studio-accessories.html?p=8

The other thing about the folding softboxes is they use tension to keep the speedring in place. I've found this alone isn't enough so I've velcroed a loop onto my 40cm softbox so it stays put on the speedring. And after much folding and unfolding, the metal frame has snapped and is poking through so I now have a five-side softbox :lol:
 
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Thanks for the advice peeps, I think I will go with the 60cm one to start with and see how I get on. If I need/want a bigger one then I will grab one further down the line. Perhaps with a few extra flashes to cope with the thing...

Good tip on the velcro for the speedring too, thanks!
 
Based on my experience, you should buy the large softbox if you can afford. Usually the larger the softbox, the softer the lighting.
 
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