Bore-off.... brollies

[Livin The Dream]

Well, I never thought I'd raise a question about brollies, but here we are. In short, I'm looking to buy two new ones. My compact westcott that I use for a quick hotshoe flash arrangement is falling apart. I don't shoot through it and so got fed up with the pull-off tabs coming off everytime you pack down so glued them on, but the white material is poorly stitched and I have butchered it together a few times now. So, what's a simple replacement recommendation, there doesn't seem much away from westcott, maybe they're better now? My westcott measures 100cm but even on the widest setting on the flash it probably only fills about 85cm, can't see a point in anything bigger if this is the case?

I also would like a larger brolly for my studio heads. I have a December wedding this year and so the backup plan if weather isn't kind is to use a studio head with shoot through, bounced behind. Ideally the bigger the better, but I haven't really done any tests to see what a 16cm elinchrom reflector will fill in size. There's some newer larger parabolic brollies out there which I haven't explored that aren't silly money and so would they offer anything more?

 

[Phil V]

My personal view is that brollies are consumables, good ones cost lots more and aren't lots better than cheap ones.

I bought a couple from a bargain bin at the Photography show last year for pennies.

 

[sep9001]

I bought some from Lencarta and they are very good compared to the cheap ones off eBay.

 

[Livin The Dream]

My personal view is that brollies are consumables, good ones cost lots more and aren't lots better than cheap ones.

I bought a couple from a bargain bin at the Photography show last year for pennies.

Yep, they are Phil. I keep looking at the elinchrom ones at twice the price thinking, are they twice as good - probably not.

 

[Jayst84]

Yep, they are Phil. I keep looking at the elinchrom ones at twice the price thinking, are they twice as good - probably not.

They're still going to snap in half and need replacing if a gust of wind catches it.

 

[juggler]

I haven't really done any tests to see what a 16cm elinchrom reflector will fill in size. There's some newer larger parabolic brollies out there which I haven't explored that aren't silly money and so would they offer anything more?

I've found an umbrella reflector on a studio head does a better job of filling a brolly then a standard dish reflector. Is that what you're using?

In theory parabolic brollies will give a collimated beam of light if you can get the flash at the focal point, and consequently the falloff will be much more gradual than the inverse square law as applied to a point source would imply.

fwiw I did some crude sums for a fair few softboxes marketed as parabolic and very few would have actually produced a collimated beam. The Elinchrom Rotalux deep octa was one of the exceptions.

 

[HoppyUK]

I have a good selection of brollies, including some of the cheapest you can find, and a couple of the most expensive. The difference isn't obvious, and as James says, neither is likely to survive a gusty moment unscathed.

I've also been experimenting with parabollics recently, and aside from being unconvinced about the benefits* there is bugga-all difference between a so-called parabolic brolly and a regular one. If you look at a shallow parabolic curve such as a brolly (or beauty dish for that matter) it's very close to a sphere and given the imprecise curve of the surface and the focus position (that is not a point source, and often some way from the ideal focus point for practical reasons) then I remain cynical. I have a Phottix silver parabolic brolly that's very nice, though the best thing about it is the 16 struts for a more circular catch-light and they're made of fibre glass, so more robust and also flexible in case of a tumble.

Couple of other points: if you use a shoot-though brolly outdoors you will lose a lot of light compared to reflective - about one stop in round numbers. And brollies tend to catch the wind more than front-sealed softboxes if you're unlucky with the wind direction. The other thing for Elinchrom users, if you want to use their unique (and beneficial) central brolly shaft, it's 7mm. The standard 8mm will not fit, and 7mm versions are very rare, aside from Elinchrom branded ones. I've converted mine to 7mm, but that was a right PITA as 7mm tubing is very hard to find - I had to use 7mm brass from a model shop, reinforced with 6mm steel inside http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7mm-outsi...hash=item53fa7c9db6:m:m2Jan3RLDq7P0MdElGd3JBg

*IMHO, the only parabolic modifiers that really work are the big, deep (and expensive) ones with an adjustable focus position for the head.

 

[Livin The Dream]

I've found an umbrella reflector on a studio head does a better job of filling a brolly then a standard dish reflector. Is that what you're using?

I use Elinchrom Simon so the umbrella reflector is the 16cm reflector, which I think is the widest that they offer.

I have a good selection of brollies, including some of the cheapest you can find, and a couple of the most expensive. The difference isn't obvious, and as James says, neither is likely to survive a gusty moment unscathed.

I've also been experimenting with parabollics recently, and aside from being unconvinced about the benefits* there is bugga-all difference between a so-called parabolic brolly and a regular one. If you look at a shallow parabolic curve such as a brolly (or beauty dish for that matter) it's very close to a sphere and given the imprecise curve of the surface and the focus position (that is not a point source, and often some way from the ideal focus point for practical reasons) then I remain cynical. I have a Phottix silver parabolic brolly that's very nice, though the best thing about it is the 16 struts for a more circular catch-light and they're made of fibre glass, so more robust and also flexible in case of a tumble.

Couple of other points: if you use a shoot-though brolly outdoors you will lose a lot of light compared to reflective - about one stop in round numbers. And brollies tend to catch the wind more than front-sealed softboxes if you're unlucky with the wind direction. The other thing for Elinchrom users, if you want to use their unique (and beneficial) central brolly shaft, it's 7mm. The standard 8mm will not fit, and 7mm versions are very rare, aside from Elinchrom branded ones. I've converted mine to 7mm, but that was a right PITA as 7mm tubing is very hard to find - I had to use 7mm brass from a model shop, reinforced with 6mm steel inside http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7mm-outsi...hash=item53fa7c9db6:m:m2Jan3RLDq7P0MdElGd3JBg

I do like the look of the Phottix brollies Richard so I shall maybe try one of those, thanks.

You are all correct regarding wind, and that is the occupational hazard with them for sure.

 

[paul williams]

I have a good selection of brollies, including some of the cheapest you can find, and a couple of the most expensive. The difference isn't obvious, and as James says, neither is likely to survive a gusty moment unscathed.

Oh I don't know, my 6 foot Lastolite is very substantial