Differences between octobox, umbrellabox, softbox, shoot through & bounce umbrella

[dubcat]

Could someone describe the differences between these in terms of the type of light they produce? When would you use which? Which of these is available for speedlites?

 

[Garry Edwards]

Most of your questions are answered in this article on another site and demonstrated in this series of linked articles in the Lencarta Learning Centre
The only tool not mentioned in any of these links is the umbrellabox, which is basically an umbrella with a cover. I haven't looked lately, but you'll probably find some info on them on the Strobist site.

All of these basic tools can be used either with hotshoe flashes or studio flash, although hotshoe flashes have their limitations they can still be used with them.

 

[dubcat]

Garry thanks very much! I'll check the link out.

I know it's a cliche but I wish I had just invested in a lencarta starter kit instead of spending money on my strobist setup. Oh well. I'll have to make do until next year.

 

[Y15HAL]

I know it's a cliche but I wish I had just invested in a lencarta starter kit instead of spending money on my strobist setup. Oh well. I'll have to make do until next year.

Sorry matey, off topic here, but why do you say that?

 

[dubcat]

My batteries always need charging, you can get larger modifiers as the lights have more power, you never have to worry about recycling time, the gear is sturdier (my softbox keeps drooping - maybe i just need a better clamp).

The worst one is the first one - the batteries. Just a big ball ache really Maybe I am just not organised enough. I guess if I used the gear more I would be..

 

[Y15HAL]

Have you got rechargeables?

I get loads of shots from my flash gun with rechargeables......maybe they drain more when shooting off camera?

 

[Chaz Photos]

lot of 7dayshop re-chargeable's......or external bat supply

 

[dubcat]

Yah i got rechargeable batteries. It's just a matter of being more organised about charging them. I'm starting to sound a bit lazy here aren't i

Charging for one flash is easy enough even for me. Now it's 2 and really I need 3 or maybe 4. With 4 flashes that is 16 batteries at any given time. Add a second batch and you have 32 batteries that need to be charged up...

 

[HoppyUK]

I gave up using rechargeables a while ago when I've got a lot of guns on the go. It is a right pain when they're all flat. If you buy right, you can get Duracells for about 30p each (eg multipacks at Xmas). At £1.20 per gun that's not a lot of money for easy and reliable power.

On the hot-shoe guns vs studio heads, I think it is pretty much a rule that if you are near a power point, you'll be much better off with studio lights and they're not that expensive - £120-150 for a decent head. The £300-400 two-head kits are v good value.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

I gave up using rechargeables a while ago when I've got a lot of guns on the go. It is a right pain when they're all flat. If you buy right, you can get Duracells for about 30p each (eg multipacks at Xmas). At £1.20 per gun that's not a lot of money for easy and reliable power.

£1.20 a gun for a set of 1500mAh batteries you can use once, or £3.60 for a set of 2100mAh ones (which come ready charged and hold the charge longer than the alkalines) that can be recharged up to 1000 times......


Not sure I follow the logic as to how that's a better idea.....:shrug:

 

[Mikesphotaes]

Pehaps because you don't need to bother remembering to charge all the little bleeders?

Now if we were talking value, that's a different kettle of fish!

 

[Flash In The Pan]

Pehaps because you don't need to bother remembering to charge all the little bleeders?

Now if we were talking value, that's a different kettle of fish!

In that case you'd be as well with a camera that runs on AA bateries too

 

[cowasaki]

My favourite is by far the Octo softbox although I am a beginner. It gives VERY pleasing catch lights in the eyes although for my favourite type of image I am now looking for a really nice strip box

 

[Marcus Geezer]

I use speedlights for my shoots and love the portability.

I recently did a shoot using the FITP large brollybox as key and had to fire my 580EXII at 1/1 for about 500 shots. Only needed to change after about 350 shots. The fill and rim lighting in my 430EX didnt need to be changed for the whole shoot.

Isnt part of photography about charging batteries? Charge up my two camera batteries, make sure I have spares for my radio triggers, and then ensure that my 18 eneloop AA's are as topped up as they can be using my two chargers.

 

[HoppyUK]

£1.20 a gun for a set of 1500mAh batteries you can use once, or £3.60 for a set of 2100mAh ones (which come ready charged and hold the charge longer than the alkalines) that can be recharged up to 1000 times......


Not sure I follow the logic as to how that's a better idea.....:shrug:

I must admit that I've just bough some Eneloops for everyday stuff

But when I've got three or four guns on the go, it's about convenience and confidence more than anything. I've had a small mountain of rechargeables before (they're all rogered useless now from my fast charger :shrug: ) and charging that lot is just something I can do without when a fiver sorts it.

 

[cowasaki]

I must admit that I've just bough some Eneloops for everyday stuff

But when I've got three or four guns on the go, it's about convenience and confidence more than anything. I've had a small mountain of rechargeables before (they're all rogered useless now from my fast charger :shrug: ) and charging that lot is just something I can do without when a fiver sorts it.

I get 500+ flashes out of a set of Eneloops and they charge over night in a charger costing £1.50 ish for 7 days shop ie £8.50 for 4 AA Eneloops WITH the charger. I just charge loads up and carry several spare sets I think I have 40 Eneloops now. Never had a problem with any of them until yesterday when my Technoline BC900 told me two of them were totally knackered so just waiting for an RMA from 7 day shop.

 

[EOS_JD]

look at the battery packs(like the Quantum QB1C or Turbo batteries) expensive but work very well and you don't need to worry about rechargeables much after that.

 

[cowasaki]

look at the battery packs(like the Quantum QB1C or Turbo batteries) expensive but work very well and you don't need to worry about rechargeables much after that.

Are these different to the battery packs you can get from FITP etc.

 

[dubcat]

Could you compare the fitp soft box and the fitp umbrella ocotobox? If i have one shoot through / reflector umbrella and one softbox should I stick with those? I find the soft box really hard to collapse and set up.

 

[cowasaki]

Could you compare the fitp soft box and the fitp umbrella ocotobox? If i have one shoot through / reflector umbrella and one softbox should I stick with those? I find the soft box really hard to collapse and set up.

John CGeezer has my FITP softbox now as I upgraded to a Lencarta Safari system but there are some black background shots of my daughter on here somewhere taken with it and some of the Haslam park shots used it too. The FITP softbox is really very good but I would get a lighting stand (which he sells for £12.50 with it to get the most out of it).

 

[Kaouthia]

My batteries always need charging

But you have batteries. Mains powered flash is going to leave you stuck indoors unless you've got a relatively expensive reliable generator. Portable strobes like Elinchrom Quadras you'll still have to charge up to use on location.

you can get larger modifiers as the lights have more power

You can use the same large modifiers with multiple speedlights.

you never have to worry about recycling time

I've found you have to worry about recycle times MORE on most studio flashes. My SB-900s recycle a full power pop in just over 2 seconds, with the external battery pack, I can happily shoot away and almost never have to wait for it to recycle unless I'm caning it away at 8fps. The new Yongnuo YN560 flashes are supposed to recycle at about a second with a freshly charged set of NiMH rechargeables.

the gear is sturdier (my softbox keeps drooping - maybe i just need a better clamp).

Whether using speedlights or portable studio flashes, you'll still want sandbags to weight your light stands down.

The worst one is the first one - the batteries. Just a big ball ache really

It can be a pain, but I use GP2700mAh batteries with a 35 minute charger. I've got 12 batteries for each SB-900 (4 in the flash, and 8 in each battery pack), I just charge everything up the night before a shoot.

 

[Mikesphotaes]

In that case you'd be as well with a camera that runs on AA bateries too

Had one of those too.............

.........lasted for ages!

 

[Kaouthia]

http://www.zarias.com/modifiers-from-day-03-of-my-creativelive-class/ <-- there ya go, loads and loads of images with different light modifiers because people were screaming on IRC and Twitter for him to do those

 

[EOS_JD]

Are these different to the battery packs you can get from FITP etc.

Yes. THe ones from FITP uses 8x AA batteries. The Qualntum pack is a larger more powerful battery cell. Power is more consistent and depending on the battery you choose, refresh rates can be consistently much quicker. With some you can use 2x flashes from one battert.

Check out the warehouse express site. They do all the Quantum batteries and there's a new one that is very small and compact but very powerful and expensive (about £500)!

 

[cowasaki]

Yes. THe ones from FITP uses 8x AA batteries. The Qualntum pack is a larger more powerful battery cell. Power is more consistent and depending on the battery you choose, refresh rates can be consistently much quicker. With some you can use 2x flashes from one battert.

Check out the warehouse express site. They do all the Quantum batteries and there's a new one that is very small and compact but very powerful and expensive (about £500)!

They sound rather expensive! Then again I've just bought a Safari with twin lights and I'm getting the ring light next week so I haven't got any room to speak

 

[cowasaki]

I was really pleased with FITP's softbox once I worked out how to get it back into the bag I would have kept it but switched to a Safari instead. I took the FITP softbox to the Haslam park model shoot and was very pleased with the results. You probably need the spigot and you need to budget for a radio trigger (unless you are using Nikon's CLS system).

 

[dubcat]

http://www.zarias.com/modifiers-from-day-03-of-my-creativelive-class/ <-- there ya go, loads and loads of images with different light modifiers because people were screaming on IRC and Twitter for him to do those

Brilliant! Thanks

 

[Y15HAL]

http://www.zarias.com/modifiers-from-day-03-of-my-creativelive-class/

Looks like a VERY good link John!

Will have a read when i get a moment!

 

[Garry Edwards]

Yes, that's a good link and it's good to see others doing it. I particuarly like his thinking, i.e. that sometimes he uses a particular tool just because it will do the job and sometimes it's the only one that will do the job - that's pretty well my approach too.
The link does have its limitations though...
1. He has only compared a tiny number of light shaping tools
2. You can't really see what a particular tool will do if it's used in a generic way - some tools, beauty dishes for example, only produce their specific result when used in a specific position, which he hasn't done. Maybe he'll revisit it later and deal with these limitations.

 

[Kaouthia]

Those were all shot on the last day of his 3 day CreativeLIVE workshop, it was a live webcast, so he was only able to compare the modifiers he had available to him in the studio at the time.

So, it's about 30 hours of video broadcast condensed into about 28 images, purely because people were asking for it while it was all going on. Actually watching the whole 3 days of the workshop showed a lot more than just generic positions.

I don't think he ever intended it as a comprehensive list, more of a sort of starting point. In fact, he actually says on the blog..

This isn&#8217;t the most comprehensive light modifier test in the world. It isn&#8217;t even half way scientific in approach. There are real issues with comparing modifiers like this.

There's millions of examples out there of various light shaping tools on the web as a reference, but this just gives people a starting point to see what can be done with different modifiers, so they can decide if they like one, go out and buy it, learn and experiment.

Chances are, by the time they've fully learned how to use that one modifier completely, and done everything with it they can do, they'll already have figured out what they want their next one to be.

I particuarly like his thinking, i.e. that sometimes he uses a particular tool just because it will do the job and sometimes it's the only one that will do the job - that's pretty well my approach too.

Indeed. The trick is getting a modifier, and playing with it enough to learn where it will and won't work, and then figuring out what will do the job if that one won't.