How big is your... softbox (hotshoe)

[paulpaulpaul]

Hi,

So my first thread and it's all a bit exciting.

This could be a silly question, but hey...

I'd love to know what people think about the different sizes of hot shoe softboxes.

Now, I know with studio boxes you can go way bigger than hot shoe ones, does anyone have recommendations/experience with max sizes for hotshoe boxes.

Say you had a great flash with a massive GN, what would be the largest usable softbox you could attach to it?

The hotshoe ones seem to go up to around 75x75cm.

Would there be any point in getting the large 1meter+ diameter octagonal studio boxes and making them fit too a hotshoe flash? Or would the HS flash simply not fill the box and light the subject?

I'm officially a newbie to lighting...

Thanks!

 

[onform]

It really does depend on what you want to achieve. Any flash will fill any softbox but whether or not any of that light hits your subject is another matter. A larger softbox will simply increase the size of the light source and increase the softness providing you can get an even spread of light. The power of the light source will simply dictate the aperture used to obtain a correct exposure or desired effect. The more the light has to bounce around and the amount of diffusion material used will dictate how much light is lost.

So to summarise You could quite happily use a 1 metre octa with a flash gun as long as the desired effect is very soft lighting using a wide aperture..