Portable light advice

Craig2008

Craig2008

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Craig Thomas
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Hi All,

I have put off getting studio lights and am probably going to go down the route of a couple of sb800 or sb600's for flexibility and portability. The lighting stand i have decided on is the Lasolite Lumen8.

I am looking at get a softbox or 2 and am currently looking at this one 28" Westcott softbox as used by Zack Arias but it's going to cost me around £113.09 x 2. So a little expensive. What are the alternatives ?

also with the flashes inside the soft boxes i am going to need radio trigger right? so which ones are the most cost effect

Thanks inadvance
 
Craig2008 said:
Hi All,

I have put off getting studio lights and am probably going to go down the route of a couple of sb800 or sb600's for flexibility and portability. The lighting stand i have decided on is the Lasolite Lumen8.

I am looking at get a softbox or 2 and am currently looking at this one 28" Westcott softbox as used by Zack Arias but it's going to cost me around £113.09 x 2. So a little expensive. What are the alternatives ?

also with the flashes inside the soft boxes i am going to need radio trigger right? so which ones are the most cost effect

Thanks inadvance
Click to expand...

Lastolite Ezybox is a good alternative, although you wouldn't be saving all that much. With the Apollo you'll probably need Pocket Wizards or Skyports as I don't think CLS will work
 
Nope, all I did with mine was change the coldshoe for Stroboframe ones, other than that they're ready to use straight out the box.

3516434239_e79da0c715.jpg
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Nope, all I did with mine was change the coldshoe for Stroboframe ones, other than that they're ready to use straight out the box.

3516434239_e79da0c715.jpg
Click to expand...

So i can use it straight out of the box then. Also i have had a quick look at the videos for the ezybox and they have an extendable handle grip for it, which would probable be useful for speed god knows what the price of that would be i don't suppose you have any experience of these or any alternatives?

Thank for the assistance so far, i have no real experience with lighting as i am sure you can tell
 
From a thread in here last week - probably just as good as the Lastolite but half the price...

EZ-Fold Softbox.

Just done myself out another order... :D
 
Craig2008 said:
So i can use it straight out of the box then. Also i have had a quick look at the videos for the ezybox and they have an extendable handle grip for it, which would probable be useful for speed god knows what the price of that would be i don't suppose you have any experience of these or any alternatives?

Thank for the assistance so far, i have no real experience with lighting as i am sure you can tell
Click to expand...

I've got one of the handles too. You can get a short and a long one, iirc the shorter one cost me £22, the other one is around £30, although as you can see from the pic I just use the Manfrotto nano stand if I want a longer handle.
 
Craig2008 said:
Hi Derek,

Do you have any experience in using this one? I don't surpose you could give me a link to that thread?
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I think this is it... I'm sure it's what I'd buy now, but the option wasn't there when spending over £100 on my Ezybox hotshoe softbox... and if I remember correctly, I'm sure I had to buy the swivel mount for the softbox separately, otherwise you're stuck with it in the facing directly forward postion... not much use to anyone like that.

Just had a quick look... add nearly another £20 to the price... I remember being so pee'd off when the sofbox arrived then I had to go and order and wait on this arriving...

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1023463
 
Craig2008 said:
Hi Derek,

Do you have any experience in using this one? I don't surpose you could give me a link to that thread?
Click to expand...

I think a couple of people on here have them, the guy that's selling them speaks highly of them, but then I guess he would....:lol:

One thing to bear in mind is that he stated that the Lastolite doesn't have an internal diffuser, it does, his doesn't. The smaller "Magic" softbox doesn't have an internal diffuser either which can cause hotspots. Having said that at the price it's cheap enough :shrug:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
or just use a normal umbrella adapter, which is what I do :shrug:
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Never had a 'normal' one, only bliddy adaptors with coldshoes on them for speedllights... :'(
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I think a couple of people on here have them, the guy that's selling them speaks highly of them, but then I guess he would....:lol:

One thing to bear in mind is that he stated that the Lastolite doesn't have an internal diffuser, it does, his doesn't. The smaller "Magic" softbox doesn't have an internal diffuser either which can cause hotspots. Having said that at the price it's cheap enough :shrug:
Click to expand...

Could i just put the diffuser on the flash inside the softbox to avoid the hotspot?
 
Craig2008 said:
Could i just put the diffuser on the flash inside the softbox to avoid the hotspot?
Click to expand...

Should work, but with the Lastolite I use the two layers of diffusion material and a stofen on the flash.

Have a look at some of Tomas Whitehouse's work, he uses the Ezybox...
 
would i need to have a radio trigger for the flash when using this soft boxes, or is it a case of you can get away it out, ? if it's better to have some are there some relative cheap ebay ones you can recommend?
 
You can try any of the eBay wireless triggers - some folk are really lucky with them as far as reliability goes, others not so much...
 
This seller is ok - best stick to the PT-04's as they are meant to be more reliable than the older items which are still for sale on eBay... don't bother that it says 'For Canon' or whatever; they'll (hopefully) work with any hotshoe camera...
 
The Ezybox can be used with CLS no problem at all, see Joe McNally's site/blog/book for examples...
 
Just noticed you have a D700 and assume you are using a SB-600/800/900? No need for the wireless triggers like Flash says, just use CLS... that's what I do, and with the softbox and brollies. Works a treat...
 
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