Need Modifier Kit Suggestions??

[jerryph]

Of course Korman, that's one of the first things I do with all my toys.

They all can because they are basically all made for speedlights, and the 60" umbrella can be evenly lit from edge to edge if I use the wide angle adapter and using the entire length of the shaft.

BTW, this is only visible *if* you set the flash to about 1/4 power, no wide angle adapter, aperture to around F/11 and shoot directly into the umbrella, then you can see where the fall-off happens (about 90% of the width and about 70% of the height is covered). When looking at the photo of your subject and the area lit by the 60" with the wide angle adapter used, the drop off is not visible it and the appropriately large round area has a good exposure, just what you would want and expect from this modifier that is properly filled.

The one that really gives poor performance, and is not in that photo, is the PCB PLM... that's just not made to work well with a speedlight at all:



However, if you place a light modifier on the speedlight to turn it into a kind of "bar bulb effect, it does a lot better:


This high tech modifier is... get ready for this... an empty Isopropyl alcohol bottle... lol



It works pretty well with some light loss going through that frosted plastic. Would I ever use this in a real shoot? Nah, not really. That modifier works best with a studio head, but it was an interesting thing to see.

The one that especially impressed me in the beginning was the Apollo 50X50 inch softbox. The design is very well thought out, so well, that with a single speedlight in it, it puts out the exact same amount of light over a larger area that the 28X28 Apollo does in a smaller area. Meaning if I set up the 28" Apollo to give me an F/5.6 reading with my light meter, I change nothing but the softbox and it gives me the same F/5.6 reading, just that the area now lit is a lot larger. That is very impressive, if only to me... lol


Fair question.

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

The Honl Photo stuff is the gold standard of hot shoe flash modifiers in terms of functionality and durability...

LumiQuest makes some cute little plastic "softboxes"

The small "EZBox" type softboxes from Westcott (Apollo), Lastolite (the aforementioned EZBox), Alzo, and other companies work okay, but you may find yourself hurting for power when competing against the sun,

Lightware Inc. took another approach: they made a square softbox called the FourSquare

Just a couple of comments, Michael,

Honl makes good quality stuff, but it's generally recognized as being over priced. Especially their grids. One can make an effective grid from a cereal box and black straws covered with gaffer's tape for about 1/20th of the price.

Using *any* speedlight, even a bare one, with the intent of overpowering the sun is an exercise in futility right from the start... unless the area you want to expose is very small, and that flash is very close. That's just the price to pay for the advantages that speedlights offer.

Lightware is another company that is IMHO just trying to screw people over by offering nice products at shockingly overpriced levels. I looked into them last year when Dave black put together his setup to shoot surfers with 8 SB-900s in a double 4-square config. That double 4-Square bracket alone that Dave Black used was $706 dollars (See HERE for my take on that logic... lol)

Oh, there are now Lumiquest clones available at very low prices (like 4X6 for around $7 and 8X10 or larger, I cannot recall, for $10) from China. I just bought 3 of the 4X6 ones for $21... thats $21 shipped to Canada... lol). THIS place, for example, has some ridiculously good prices for many items (example, a Lastolite clone for a touch over $38... B&H charges around $160 for this very similar unit.

After a while, looking at modifiers and what is available, one finds out quick that there are times that getting them directly is the best solution and other times that a DIY solution is often easier and *way* cheaper and just as effective. I have nothing against capitalism, I don't begrudge anyone wanting to make some money, but raping the public is not the way to be IMHO.

[korman]

Jerry,

thanks for posting these details. That's exactly the kind of posting that make the Photocamel worth visiting.

Korman

[cyclohexane]

Jerry, I think we've had this conversation before, and we'll have to agree to disagree.

I can't in good conscience recommend knock-off copies of trademarked products. How am I supposed to expect people to license my images if I buy stuff from companies that completely disregard the trademarks or copyrights of others? It'd be like me illegally downloading music all the time, and bemoaning that my pictures were stolen.

We could take this all the way to Honl or LumiQuest knocking off someone's cereal box snoot and grid, but I don't think we need to go there yet.

Honl makes good quality stuff, but it's generally recognized as being over priced. Especially their grids. One can make an effective grid from a cereal box and black straws covered with gaffer's tape for about 1/20th of the price.

I have yet to be able to make mu own grid that holds up to hard use as well as the Honl stuff. A number of my friends and I have all made cereal box and straw grids of various quality, but they all leak or fall apart very quickly. We're not exactly incompetent at constructing things either, but the Honl stuff just works better.

I'm pretty sure that after factoring the cost of my lost time, glue, etc. spent making homemade grids and snoots and other modifiers, that I'm somewhere near the cost of my Honl grids, snoot, and mini softbox. The ease of use and durability is worth it to me.

If I can't make a little bit of gear pay for itself then I shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

Dave Honl himself was telling us to make our own stuff if you think his stuff is overpriced; ultimately, a few of my friends decided to continue making their own, one bought a complete set of Honl stuff, and I grabbed a pair of grids a few months after that meeting with Dave.

That double 4-Square bracket alone that Dave Black used was $706 dollars (See HERE for my take on that logic... lol)

The two brackets, connection piece, and handle come in at $265. With the unnecessary swivel adapters you can push up the cost a little, but I don't know where you're getting $706 (don't have time to look at the other thread). Are you counting the cost of the softboxes that he didn't use in the shoot, or the Radio Poppers?

Besides, that's an extreme example. I kind of digressed a little by mentioning the FourSquare seeing as the OP only has two speedlights.

[cyclohexane]

Using *any* speedlight, even a bare one, with the intent of overpowering the sun is an exercise in futility right from the start... unless the area you want to expose is very small, and that flash is very close. That's just the price to pay for the advantages that speedlights offer.

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure why I mentioned overpowering the sun. It's not like it's happening with the OP's two flashes. Probably another digression that just happened while I was typing.

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

The two brackets, connection piece, and handle come in at $265. With the unnecessary swivel adapters you can push up the cost a little, but I don't know where you're getting $706 (don't have time to look at the other thread). Are you counting the cost of the softboxes that he didn't use in the shoot, or the Radio Poppers?

Besides, that's an extreme example. I kind of digressed a little by mentioning the FourSquare seeing as the OP only has two speedlights.

The $706 was for 2 of them and the prices were taken from their own website at the time I wrote that blog, the example I spoke of was where Dave Black was using double 4-squares, I am pretty sure I used the word double in here too. I know you did not have time to look, but if you did, it would have been clear. I itemized every piece he used to do that shoot.

My ex-brother in law is in the tool and die and mold making industry, I know what it costs to manufacture and make those things, and if I wanted to kill a few businesses and step on a few copyright laws, I could easiy make a killing.

Did you know that the mold to make a Gary Fong diffuser would cost me $500 to make, and the PVC materials to make the diffusers comes to 11 cents a piece and production time 25 cents a piece? I could sell them for $20 a pop instead of his $50-$85 and make a horrendous killing.

Same thing with the 4-square. After an hour of discussion and looking at various photos online, he gave me a general quote of 5 dollars for materials and 1 hour work on his automated CNC to make it... grand total... $42... and that's with packaging and made in North America, which I can almost guarantee they have it made in the Orient somewhere for much less!

At over $260 each that level of markup is an insult to my intelligence.

I agree that clones are not always the best... we had a very similar discussion about the Apollo Orb in both flavors (original Westcott vs Chinese clone). A man was nice enough to put up some very nice side-by-side comparison photos... I saw the differences immediately and posted so, but 99% of the people could not see (which I find very surprising). They were not huge, but for me, they were obvious, important and would be enough for me to want to pay the $100 more for the real Westcott design vs the Chinese clone version,and indeed, thats what I did. Same thing for the Apollo 28X28 and the Lastolite 24X24.

To see the discussion about the Apollo Orb comparisons, follow THIS link to the strobist forum.

My take is if you can do it better for less yourself, save yourself a bit of hard earned cash... but do the research first and find out if it really is better... same for those knock-offs. Stand them side-by-side and do the tests, and make the purchase based on real life educated results.

[Bilsen]

Just closing out this thread.

I went with the Photek Softlighter II (46"), a 1/8 and 1/4 grid from Opteka and a couple of Gel kits for about $15.00 total. Adding that to my 2 umbrellas and protable softboxes I think that's enough to play with for this winter. I'll also be using Kelloggs Corn Flakes snoots.

Thanks again to all for your help and suggestions.

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure why I mentioned overpowering the sun. It's not like it's happening with the OP's two flashes. Probably another digression that just happened while I was typing.

Yeah, I have that same "you drive me nuts" effect on a lot of people.

Actually, with 2 bare speedlights, you can fill a lot of shadows in daylight and make good pictures, but of course, once you get outside of the shadows and into the direct light of a really sunny day, power rules and speedlights drool...

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt_ny

I went with the Photek Softlighter II (46"), a 1/8 and 1/4 grid from Opteka and a couple of Gel kits for about $15.00 total. Adding that to my 2 umbrellas and protable softboxes I think that's enough to play with for this winter. I'll also be using Kelloggs Corn Flakes snoots.

There is a lot of potential in that kit right there. I hope you enjoy it... don't forget to post a few shots now and then!

[Bilsen]

Originally Posted by jerryph

There is a lot of potential in that kit right there. I hope you enjoy it... don't forget to post a few shots now and then!

Oh I'll post a lot. I enjoy the beatings. LOL