Recommend me an Parabolic soft box / Beauty Dish

I don't have a parabolic, but there's an interesting thread on POTN regarding the merits of various parabolic brollies.

I have a traditional BD from Bessel, but nowadays I prefer to use my pop up BD from Lencarta.

The std Lencarta stands are great products at a reasonable price, but you might be interested in the retractable light stand from Essential, which is fab for carrying round at events.
 
It's not parabolic, if you just want a deep softbox then all the ones around this price are very similar. I would personally just go for an easy open one for the added convenience, e.g. :

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/105cm-16-sided-easy-open-rice-bowl-softbox/
https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...nch-16-sided-easy-open-deep-umbrella-softbox/

You might be interested in this one: https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-deeppara120-parabolic-softbox-and-central-pole-bracket-kit/
You get a reverse mount but as I said none of these are parabolic so the light will just bounce around rather than coming out parallel (or whatever the correct terminology is).

What requirements do you have for the stand?
 
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It's not parabolic, if you just want a deep softbox then all the ones around this price are very similar. I would personally just go for an easy open one for the added convenience, e.g. :

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/105cm-16-sided-easy-open-rice-bowl-softbox/
https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...nch-16-sided-easy-open-deep-umbrella-softbox/

You might be interested in this one: https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-deeppara120-parabolic-softbox-and-central-pole-bracket-kit/
You get a reverse mount but as I said none of these are parabolic so the light will just bounce around rather than coming out parallel (or whatever the correct terminology is).

What requirements do you have for the stand?

I already have 2 bowen stands, they were the compact ones, about £40. I can get a photo later but nothing too heavy or super expensive. It's just hold up the softbox and I use it to hold a speedlite at a wedding. So it needs to be folded up shortish and put in the car.

why a parabolic?

I always think they have the most even distribution.
 
I already have 2 bowen stands, they were the compact ones, about £40. I can get a photo later but nothing too heavy or super expensive. It's just hold up the softbox and I use it to hold a speedlite at a wedding. So it needs to be folded up shortish and put in the car.

That'll be a Bowens BW-6610 then, nothing fancy but I always liked them as they were the first stands I used which weren't generic p*** poor designs. You can still buy them from Wex but they're relatively expensive, you could consider the Bowens BW-6605, they're the same just missing one section and still relatively expensive.

Consider https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...ight-stand-4-section-interchangeable-fitting/

Reasonable cost, air cushioned (which I don't like but I seem to be in the minority), the top spigot is removable (useful for some heads/situations) and they pack slightly smaller than the Bowens. You can do better if you need a stand that packs down small though.

I always think they have the most even distribution.

If you want even distribution you shouldn't get a parabolic softbox, rather get one that fires indirectly because it doesn't have to contend with the flash tube firing directly forward (I *assume* some of the easy up designs that have the locking mechanism in front of the tube also act as a convenient deflector but I haven't tested), the downside of reverse firing softboxes is they end up really deep and you have the focusing rod to lug around too.

I might be missing the point a little though, most softboxes that claim to be parabolic are not, they're just deep and have 16 sides which is perfectly fine if that's what you want.

If it's just around 100cm I would suggest you not worry too much about it, if you need a larger softbox then you can see some really uneven coverage and it's worth considering something like a Bowens Octa, Elinchrom Indirect etc. So again I would probably still suggest any of the easy up softboxes, I like the look of the Rice-bowl I linked earlier, it probably won't have amazingly even coverage but is relatively cheap, looks convenient and will give a nice round highlight.
 
You might be interested in this one: https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-deeppara120-parabolic-softbox-and-central-pole-bracket-kit/
You get a reverse mount but as I said none of these are parabolic so the light will just bounce around rather than coming out parallel (or whatever the correct terminology is).
That looks to be parabolic to me (or as near as they get). It is important to have the reverse mount for a parabolic because it can only be truly parabolic with a reverse firing head at a specific distance from the back.
If the light source is too close to the back it will not be parabolic and the light will spread (as with any spherical reflector/umbrella). And if the light is too far away the light will focus to a point somewhere near (an ellipsoidal reflector). Both of these characteristics can be useful as well. None of these characteristics matter much if you put diffusion over it.
 
That'll be a Bowens BW-6610 then, nothing fancy but I always liked them as they were the first stands I used which weren't generic p*** poor designs. You can still buy them from Wex but they're relatively expensive, you could consider the Bowens BW-6605, they're the same just missing one section and still relatively expensive.

Consider https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...ight-stand-4-section-interchangeable-fitting/

Reasonable cost, air cushioned (which I don't like but I seem to be in the minority), the top spigot is removable (useful for some heads/situations) and they pack slightly smaller than the Bowens. You can do better if you need a stand that packs down small though.



If you want even distribution you shouldn't get a parabolic softbox, rather get one that fires indirectly because it doesn't have to contend with the flash tube firing directly forward (I *assume* some of the easy up designs that have the locking mechanism in front of the tube also act as a convenient deflector but I haven't tested), the downside of reverse firing softboxes is they end up really deep and you have the focusing rod to lug around too.

I might be missing the point a little though, most softboxes that claim to be parabolic are not, they're just deep and have 16 sides which is perfectly fine if that's what you want.

If it's just around 100cm I would suggest you not worry too much about it, if you need a larger softbox then you can see some really uneven coverage and it's worth considering something like a Bowens Octa, Elinchrom Indirect etc. So again I would probably still suggest any of the easy up softboxes, I like the look of the Rice-bowl I linked earlier, it probably won't have amazingly even coverage but is relatively cheap, looks convenient and will give a nice round highlight.

I think that Rice Bowl would do the purpose what i need, a 3rd light in a studio from the side.
 
Then you may not be talking about a desire for a true parabolic (that’s not the design purpose)
Yup, sounds to me like any of the reverse firing softboxes are suitable. A lot of them are basically just large umbrellas which mount directly to the stand with the light inside. The problem is that either, you can't fit a very big light inside (limited to speedlights and remote heads), or they have to be very large/deep to accommodate a larger head.
 
That looks to be parabolic to me (or as near as they get). It is important to have the reverse mount for a parabolic because it can only be truly parabolic with a reverse firing head at a specific distance from the back.

I had that softbox for a little while, I wanted the focusing rod more than the softbox but I figured if it was actually a decent design it could be a bargain basement Broncolor para, reality didn't work out so well.

I couldn't get it to act like a Broncolor para so I chalked it down to it just being another para softbox claiming to be something it's not but I'd stacked some discounts and got the rod almost for free so once I'd sold the softbox I sort of got what I wanted? Perhaps I missed something but it really didn't behave the same way a Broncolor para does (my only real point of reference).
 
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