Light Stands & Softboxes for Mounted Flash

King_Boru

King_Boru

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Afternoon all,

I have seen photographers use light stands with their speedlights set to wireless with nice softboxes attached to them. I have looked around for stands. which are fairly affordable and found the softboxes which attach to your speedlights (but they also require a speedring, which I cant find?).

To say I am not getting frustrated would be a lie trying to find everything I need. So, if at all possible would those in the know be able to cart me together what I need? Pretty please? :love:

One other question, how on earth does the speedlight attach to the stand?

Appreciate any help :-).

Dan
 
I use these light stands, the LS1 version of the Portaflash just cos I wanted something small for skateboarding. But these cost £35 through Jessops, Cameras2u however have the LS2 version is is a bit bigger for £9.49.

Then you would want a way of connecting the flash to the light stand. I have these, Kasier Bounce Flash Adaptor. They are very popular so get them quick before they go out of stock again.

Then if you are thinking about firing the flash off the camera I have the Skyport kit which is £115. Which can be bought here or here.

Plus extra recievers, here and here.

To connect the receiver to the flash get one of these per flash and receiver. (The Skyport kit doesn't come with them).

Hopefully you have some flashes already but if not have a look at the London Camera Exchange but there are loads of different places to them. eBay sometimes has good deals on flashes. Nikon SB-24, 25, 26 and 28's are some of the best 2nd hand flash guns you can get.

If your also thinking about a speedlight softbox have a look at theseLastolite EzyBox Hotshoe. Google it to see what you think.

Hope thats helps you out
 
cherryrig said:
I use these light stands, the LS1 version of the Portaflash just cos I wanted something small for skateboarding. But these cost £35 through Jessops, Cameras2u however have the LS2 version is is a bit bigger for £9.49.

Then you would want a way of connecting the flash to the light stand. I have these, Kasier Bounce Flash Adaptor. They are very popular so get them quick before they go out of stock again.

Then if you are thinking about firing the flash off the camera I have the Skyport kit which is £115. Which can be bought here or here.

Plus extra recievers, here and here.

To connect the receiver to the flash get one of these per flash and receiver. (The Skyport kit doesn't come with them).

Hopefully you have some flashes already but if not have a look at the London Camera Exchange but there are loads of different places to them. eBay sometimes has good deals on flashes. Nikon SB-24, 25, 26 and 28's are some of the best 2nd hand flash guns you can get.

If your also thinking about a speedlight softbox have a look at theseLastolite EzyBox Hotshoe. Google it to see what you think.

Hope thats helps you out
Click to expand...

Legend, thank you so much.
 
Hey Dan,

You might want to have a look at the strobist. There they go into details about using speedlights and the equipment you'll need in the lighting 101 section. You'll also find a link with premade kits that you can buy or use as a basis for your own kits.

Cheers,
Alex
 
Hi King.

Which softboxes that attach to Speedlites did you find? I'm having a hard time finding any decent (cheap) softboxes specifially for attaching to speedlites. TIA :)
 
Mohain said:
Hi King.

Which softboxes that attach to Speedlites did you find? I'm having a hard time finding any decent (cheap) softboxes specifially for attaching to speedlites. TIA :)
Click to expand...

Here
is a cheap softbox for speedlights I found.
 
cherryrig said:
Thats basically the same as the one I posted but the one I posted is by a well known brand and the other one is by Magic Soft Box?!
Click to expand...


Yes they look the same, but by digging info about those two, here are the differences:

Ezybox price = £83.50, Magic Soft Box price = £35.61 both excluding delivery.
Ezybox size = 38x38cm, Magic Soft Box size = 48x48cm
Ezybox is Colour Balanced, Magic Soft Box is not,
Ezybox has light loss of 1/2 stop while Magic Soft Box sucks 2 stops (photomart confirmed via email),
Ezybox has 2 diffuser panels, Magic Box has only 1.

As far as I can gather, they both come with the "L" bracket to attach your speedlight.

The choice is yours.
At the nd of the day, you get what you pay for.
 
Try these I have two and they are constructed as well as the lastolite - and more importantly perform just as good.
 
Hi, been using the Magic softboxes a while now for location shooting with SB's and they have been fine. Cheap and they do the job.

Iain
 
Holy thread resurrection Batman!

I was doing a UK search on google for speedlight softbox and this thread came up first. The Lastolite ones are pricey and the Magic one is bigger but isn't two stops a lot of light to lose from a speed light? You must have to use the Magic ones on really close.
 
spxxxx said:
Try these I have two and they are constructed as well as the lastolite - and more importantly perform just as good.
Click to expand...

Nice link, they look the part.
 
Yeah I'm looking for one of these too. The Lastolite ones are rather pricey.
 
Get what you pay for guys. The lastolite folds down really easy. I can use it with the 580ex and also my Vivitars, though the Vivitar does not fit through the hole they still work just fine. You don't lose much light, being slightly smaller it does not blow away at the first sign of a draught and the colour balance is spot on. It's a pro piece of kit and I bet it will last too.
 
Hi Ali, do you think due to the size it's limited to head shots only?
 
I picked up an Lastolite ezybox kit and by the time you factor in the stand, handle, bag, etc etc it really isn't a bad deal and the kit all seems pretty well made other than the flash mount part which seems a bit plasticky (if that is a word!). Gives a nice soft light and the softbox can be removed and an umbrella fitted instead if needs be.
 
No kev, I don't have used one for full length shots too.

3059958718_537b8f3caa.jpg


This was shot at the Lowry in Manchester on a miserable November day. Lit with a 580ex and a lastolite softbox, camera left. Just get's enough punch in there.
 
I've used the "Magic" one for full length shots, but I think it's really a wee bit on the small side.It also falls short in that it only has one layer of diffusion material against two in the Lastolite, I find I have to use a stofen on the flash to get a nice even spread of light.
 
Cheers for posting the image Ali. It's funny how people say you can't light a full length portrait with a single speedlight. It might not be easy and it might not be as good as a studio head but that shot proves you can.

FITP - It's bizarre that even though the Magic box only has one diffusion layer it saps 4x the light of the Lumiquest 'box.

Is it possible to fit two speedlights into one of these? I've got one of those el doblo brackets which would have pump a bit more light into the 'box if only I could fit two lights into it.
 
Kev M said:
Is it possible to fit two speedlights into one of these? I've got one of those el doblo brackets which would have pump a bit more light into the 'box if only I could fit two lights into it.
Click to expand...

Not a chance Kev. The Speedlight is mounted externally with the snoot pointing through the bracket at the rear of the ezybox. The vivitar snoot is too large to fit through the hole but stuck flush against the bracket lets 99% of the light throw forward..

Easy enough to use a second speedlight though either with the stofen fitted or a brolly.
 
Kev M said:
FITP - It's bizarre that even though the Magic box only has one diffusion layer it saps 4x the light of the Lumiquest 'box.
Click to expand...

It does? :thinking:

That (plus the fact that it's a bit smaller) probably explains why I could only really get it to light a 3/4 length shot....

Time for me to start saving for an Ezybox then :bang:
 
I posed the same question to the Midland Strobist group on Flickr and someone on their reckons the Ezybox is more like 1-1.5 stops which makes it closer to the Magic in terms of performance. I think it's definately worth testing in a shop or at a trade show before splashing the cash on an Ezy box.

It's a shame those Aldo ones don't have a UK distributer.
 
Kev M said:
I posed the same question to the Midland Strobist group on Flickr and someone on their reckons the Ezybox is more like 1-1.5 stops which makes it closer to the Magic in terms of performance. I think it's definately worth testing in a shop or at a trade show before splashing the cash on an Ezy box.

It's a shame those Aldo ones don't have a UK distributer.
Click to expand...


Err.....Alzo=Magic...it's the exact same product ;)

I've been mulling over getting the 60x60 Ezybox (blame it on this thread) as there are some good deals on it just now, but I can't make head nor tails of what actually comes with it, there seems to be one version and then a "hotshoe" version :thinking: which is £20 more.....I'm confused.com :bonk:
 
Does the hotshoe one come with a bracket of something? Sounds about right, £20 for a strip of steel bent into a right angle and a couple of holes drilled into it.

where are these good deals and is 60x60 going to be too big for a hotshoe flash?
 
Had a read up and it looks as if the hotshoe one comes with the bracket/bent bit of steel as you suggest. Someone here had the 60x60 (strobemonkey, perhaps?), but I don't think it would be too big anyway.

Karlu.com have it on special here
 
I ordered the Magic one in the end, can't justify the cost of the Lastolite this month along with everything else I've bought. It should arrive today so I'll do a few tests to see how much light it loses.
 
Here's an interesting one for you. The magic softbox turned up this morning, it's exactly what I expected for the money and actually the bracket setup is actually pretty good (the only thing that grated on me was the delivery charges but overall the price was acceptable.

Now I've not done any proper tests on the quality of light but here's what I did notice. Using a Metz MZ54 set to full power and 24mm and using a Sekonic 308 meter it recorded exactly the same aperture values regardless of wether the softbox was fitted of not. How bizarre is that. I then tried a quick and dirty head shot of the wife seeing what the result was with the fleash head zoom set to right out and right in. There was somedifference in the shadows but the main thing I noticed was that the image looked brighter at the wider setting even though this reduces the power of the flash.

One last thing that probably isn't related to the soft box was that at 1/500 the Sekonic recoded 1 stop less than at 1/250. Everything from 1/250 down to 1/60 recorded the same value.

Now I just need a suitable subject to try it out on properly.
 
Kev M said:
Here's an interesting one for you. The magic softbox turned up this morning, it's exactly what I expected for the money and actually the bracket setup is actually pretty good (the only thing that grated on me was the delivery charges but overall the price was acceptable.

Now I've not done any proper tests on the quality of light but here's what I did notice. Using a Metz MZ54 set to full power and 24mm and using a Sekonic 308 meter it recorded exactly the same aperture values regardless of wether the softbox was fitted of not. How bizarre is that. I then tried a quick and dirty head shot of the wife seeing what the result was with the fleash head zoom set to right out and right in. There was somedifference in the shadows but the main thing I noticed was that the image looked brighter at the wider setting even though this reduces the power of the flash.

One last thing that probably isn't related to the soft box was that at 1/500 the Sekonic recoded 1 stop less than at 1/250. Everything from 1/250 down to 1/60 recorded the same value.

Now I just need a suitable subject to try it out on properly.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's very strange indeed. I'd be interested in anything else you find you have after you've tested it further - or if anyone else can give some insight into it.

Thanks for posting that. It sounds interesting and might be exactly what I'm looking for.
 
Did you get a hotspot with the Metz? I find with an SB-600 that sticking a stofen on it does wonders for the quality of the light, but it saps power like nobodies' business.

I'm still debating whether or not to take a punt on one of those 60x60 Ezyboxes, not sure I can justify it at the moment...
 
Those 60x60s are a fair bit of money. I'd definately be trying to find a local shop to try one first.
 
Nowhere round here will have them, maybe I'll pop over to Calumet and see what they've got...
 
Why oh why did I read this thread lol.

Kev M, can you post a pic up of Everything that you got and what the total cost was including the delivery?

Looking forward to seeing some sample pictures aswell.
 
Thanks Flash, So other than obviously the flashgun, the pocket Wizard and stand did everything else come with the set??

How much was that?
 
I changed the coldshoe on the bracket too as the one that comes with it is total crap.

It's just over £30 or so....I can't remember exactly, Kev will be able to tell you
 
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