Elinchrom - 3rd party modifiers with grids?

harryduns

harryduns

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My current setup is a pair of BX500Ri and a pair of BX250Ri, I shoot dramatic portraits and tend to use a 3 light setup with my key using an Elinchrom Deep Octa and a pair of backlights which I have mainly been using with the Portalite boxes that came with my kits.

I am happy with the general quality of light from these boxes, but my main gripe has been controlling lens flare when lighting a subject from behind. I'm currently using two large foamboards on wheels as gobos but ideally I'd like to invest in some grids.

Sadly it seems Elinchrom do not sell grids for most of their softboxes, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience with third party boxes? I see a lot of brands on Ebay - Bessel, Walimex, etc... anyone have any experiences with these? How is the overall build quality and quality of light?

Thanks in advance for any input!
 
Elinchrom do now make grids for the square and rectangular boxes, but not cheap. I've heard good reports of the Bessel stuff, which for a complete box with grid, is probably cheaper than just the Elly grid!
 
treeman said:
Elinchrom do now make grids for the square and rectangular boxes, but not cheap. I've heard good reports of the Bessel stuff, which for a complete box with grid, is probably cheaper than just the Elly grid!
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I couldn't find anything about grids on Elinchrom's website, or any retailers - do you have any links to the Elinchrom-made grids please?

The huge price difference does make me wonder about how good the actual grids are that come with these cheaper boxes - has anyone actually tried them?
 
The cheap and cheerful ones that I've seen sold on Ebay are far too shallow and far too widely spaced to be any use. Like everything, else, they tend to be bad copies made by people who don't know what they're actually for.

Lencarta now do a range of softboxes with honeycombs, and they're available to fit Elinchrom, Profoto, Bron, Hensel, Alien Bees, S fit, Multiblitz...
 
Garry Edwards said:
The cheap and cheerful ones that I've seen sold on Ebay are far too shallow and far too widely spaced to be any use. Like everything, else, they tend to be bad copies made by people who don't know what they're actually for.

Lencarta now do a range of softboxes with honeycombs, and they're available to fit Elinchrom, Profoto, Bron, Hensel, Alien Bees, S fit, Multiblitz...
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Any chance you could choose a smaller font in the item description, Garry. :eek:
 
treeman said:
Or The flash centre sell sell them HERE
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Ah, thanks, for some reason I hadn't spotted those! Cheers. No use to me as none of my current boxes are catered for. Garry seems to have confirmed my suspicions about the functionality of the cheaper grids on offer, though.

As an aside, those 'hoods' seem ridiculously priced for what they are.
 
Yeah Elly stuff is v expensive, but you get what you pay for!
Alternatively you could try working with flare to your advantage, personally I love it! :)

(Though I appreciate clients may not think the same)
 
tiler65 said:
Any chance you could choose a smaller font in the item description, Garry. :eek:
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That's the ex-webmaster you want to talk to about that.
But I suppose you could always use Ctrl and the scroll wheel...:lol:
 
treeman said:
Alternatively you could try working with flare to your advantage, personally I love it! :)
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I'm not at all keen on the particular type of flare I'm occasionally getting, it doesn't have much artistic merit - it's not immediately obvious but shows up subtly on black clothing, washing it out and giving a blue hue. As I tend to go for a sharp, contrasty look it's not really for me. If it happens I can usually salvage it in post but I'd rather get it right to begin with. Like I say, I can usually eliminate it with the use of gobos, but grids would be great.

Time to start saving for 2 new Elinchrom softboxes plus grids, perhaps...
 
Here you go - made for your Rotalux by LightTools and, erm, reassuringly expensive :D
http://www.theflashcentre.com/lighttools-grids-for-elinchrom-rotalux-c431.html

On another tack, have you tried a really good lens hood? I mean really good - very long with a rectangular custom black mask across the front so that 1mm too much and it encroaches on the image.

Bellows hoods are good for this, from Lee or Kood - like this http://www.premier-ink.co.uk/photographic/square-filters/p-type/ptype-bellows-hood-p-1259.html Then cut a custom black card mask for the front. What lens are you using that's flaring so much? Havn't got a filter on it have you? :eek:
 
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HoppyUK said:
Bellows hoods are good for this, from Lee or Kood - like this http://www.premier-ink.co.uk/photographic/square-filters/p-type/ptype-bellows-hood-p-1259.html Then cut a custom black card mask for the front. What lens are you using that's flaring so much? Havn't got a filter on it have you? :eek:
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The lens that's flaring most is actually a Nikkor 1.8 50mm, which I was surprised at given that primes tend to be less prone to flare. It's got a UV filter on it mainly to protect from dust, I guess I could remove that. Been using it with an old Nikon hood, an HS-11.
 
harryduns said:
The lens that's flaring most is actually a Nikkor 1.8 50mm, which I was surprised at given that primes tend to be less prone to flare. It's got a UV filter on it mainly to protect from dust, I guess I could remove that. Been using it with an old Nikon hood, an HS-11.
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The filter is almost bound to cause problems. A good honeycomb is a must for backlighting, but the lack of a proper lenshood and fitting a filter pretty well guarantees problems even WITH a honeycomb.
 
Garry Edwards said:
The filter is almost bound to cause problems. A good honeycomb is a must for backlighting, but the lack of a proper lenshood and fitting a filter pretty well guarantees problems even WITH a honeycomb.
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The HS-11 is a proper lens hood ;) I will try without the fitler though.

Oh, and also... those LightTools grids... HOW much?? :eek: Makes Elinchrom look like value for money :D
 
Some of the 'heritage' 50mm stanard lenses are quite prone to flare, and if you have a filter on it, that's your problem for sure. And unless the lens hood is pretty much as I described above, it probably won't help much.

Take the filter off, problem solved :thumbs:
 
Turns out I had already taken the UV filter off! Back to the drawing board I guess... really need some good grids!
 
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