I use an Apollo softbox with my SB800/umbrella adapter. I was looking for a strip light to use with my SB800, and saw the AB foldable one. Any ideas on how to attach this to my stand/SB800?
Jon
I may post something similar on the Nikon section. I posted this over at Paul Buff's forum, and got 43 views and no responses.
The problem with respect to a hot shoe flash and narrow strip box would be illuminating it evenly without a hot spot in the middle. You'd probably need to put a cap style diffuser on the flash and then put foil over the top to bounce the light more sideways than straight ahead. Its just not a very practical combination.
While a SB on a hot shoe flash might look the same as on a studio light from the outside what really matters is where the flash tube is placed in the box. A studio unit flash tube is fully exposed and radiates nearly 360 degrees. A hot shoe flash tube is enclosed and uses fresnel lenses to focus it forward.
You'd get better more even lighting with a hot shoe unit by creating a long narrow bounce cavity with wide sides with the flash on the bottom aimed up and in, similar in concept to what I use for my DIY foam diffusers, only taller and wider:
Wow Chuck, did you have a thread somewhere here detailing the creation of those? I've got an outside shoot coming soon, but I'd like to try and get away with an SB900, an SB800 and 2-3 600s as well.
flipachu wrote:
Wow Chuck, did you have a thread somewhere here detailing the creation of those? I've got an outside shoot coming soon, but I'd like to try and get away with an SB900, an SB800 and 2-3 600s as well.
Templates are on the bottom for the small one. I found the bigger one didn't make enough of a difference for the type of stuff I shoot to warrant the inconvenience of the larger size.
I use speed lights with softboxes quite a bit for location work. Up to 36x48 using two speedlights if necessary. If the softbox is double diffused, I find there is much less concern with "hotspots." While Chucks DIY solution works well for some lighting situations, the resulting light source is a much smaller source than can be achieved using a softbox. I also fail to see how a "bounce cavity" would emulate a strip box. Using a softbox also allows for using optional grids, louvres and masks as needed or desired.
JDev ... I responded to your post at PCB with this:
With the built in speed ring ... you will likely have to fashion your own adapter.
You could modify this unit but depending on how the inner Balcar ring is attached to the strip box ... but it is pricey ...
butchM wrote:
I also fail to see how a "bounce cavity" would emulate a strip box.
Just put your self in the position of the object being illuminated. What matters most with respect to diffusion is the "apparent" size of the source which dictates how many different directions the light comes from.
Also think about how studio soft box works. More than anything else its simply a cavity used to bounce around the light and randomize the direction of the light rays. The bare bulb sticking out in the box radiates in all directions off the sides, not just forward as with hot shoe flash. At least 50% of the light projected straight ahead from the bare flash tube gets reflected and bounced around the cavity behind the first diffuser.
I realized that when designing my diffuser. Directing the hot shoe flash up, not forward as with a add-on mini SB, ensures that 100% of the light changes direction randomly. The effect is not as great as bouncing it off a larger surface such as an umbrella, but the size is a balance between performance and convenience and its used in combination with neutral fill to control apparent softness. The real goal is to create flattering lighting on the face and there's more than one way do that and create the illusion of softness in a photo.
Using a softbox also allows for using optional grids, louvres and masks as needed or desired.
Quite true, but you need to put the advice / suggestion here into the context of the original question of how to illuminate a strip box with a hot shoe flash. Do you think hot shoe flash is an optimal or even a practical source for illuminating a narrow strip box? If not then whether or not a strip box can attach grids, etc. is pretty much a mute point don't ya think?
To do the job optimally a studio flash unit would be needed. What I was suggesting here is simply a workaround to allow a screwdriver to do the work of a hammer. The best advice is to use the tool best suited for the job and in this case hot shoe flash isn't the best choice
Sorry Chuck, context? Not the best choice? Unless I am mistaken the OP asked about how best to use a hammer. He clearly stated he already owns a hammer. I offered advice on how to best use the hammer he already has. He didn't ask how he could make a screw driver or a wrench or a saw for that matter.
I don't need to think about how a soft box works. I know how they work. I own nine of them from 12"x16" to 4'x6'. Sure, a hot shoe flash isn't the "perfect" or "optimal" light source for use in a soft box, however, it is indeed very practical. In fact, the OP already stated he has a soft box in possession. Why not utilize it for the task at hand? The OP would have far more control over his light source than with your bounce cavity. Which, by the way isn't the "best choice" either. It's another option to what you have suggested.
While you do offer many beginners and novices good advice, you need to allow for opinions other than your own once in a while. There is far more to consider than if a speed light is the optimum source for use in a soft box. Just because it can't illuminate the interior of the soft box in exactly the same manner, does not render the method useless or without benefit. Not only does it work, it works well and offers far more control of the light. I use the combination almost daily. It offers much better results than any DIY source I have seen to date. But I only use my method to earn a living, like I have done for over 30 years now.
Oh ... thanks for the physics lesson ... but to the point of clarity and correctness of which you are so fond, its "moot" not "mute"
moot – adjective
1. open to discussion or debate; debatable; doubtful: a moot point.
2. of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic.
mute - adjective
1: unable to speak : lacking the power of speech
2: characterized by absence of speech: as a: felt or experienced but not expressed <touched her hand in mute sympathy> b: refusing to plead directly or stand trial <the prisoner stands mute>
3: remaining silent, undiscovered, or unrecognized
butchM wrote:
Sorry Chuck, context? Not the best choice? Unless I am mistaken the OP asked about how best to use a hammer. He clearly stated he already owns a hammer. I offered advice on how to best use the hammer he already has. He didn't ask how he could make a screw driver or a wrench or a saw for that matter.
I'd invite you to read the first message again.. He said he has an Apollo SB he uses with a hot shoe flash and is considering buying the AB strip box for use with a hot shoe flash. He doesn't already own the strip box.
I'm simply advising him he might not get the performance from the strip box he's expecting and offering a no-cost alternative to try.
Actually that would be "you're welcome" your Highness
There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar; and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
Wow, what did I start here!? Anyhow, Butch I saw your reply on PCB...thanks. I've been experimenting with my son as the model. With the Apollo, you can mount the strobe backwards so it bounces around the silver interior, and then out through the silk front, eliminating any obvious hotspots. I've always used this technique in studio with my Speedotrons, and just now am using the same technique with my SB800. It's working perfectly, and I can't believe how much power I'm getting from one SB800. Of course, I always put my softbox really close to my subject so I get that nice soft wrap.
As far as the strip light is concerned, the only "pop open and ready to use strip light I've found is Paul C. Buff's. It does have an inner baffle/diffuser, so the light is softened, but still not like bouncing it backwards like the Apollo. I thought I saw somewhere that Westcott makes a "slip on" front with a strip light opening(which Butch referred to), but when I went to their site, I couldn't find any. That would probably solve the problem.
Just a side note here. I have a Speedotron Blackline system, and a number of pieces of Alien Bee's. I love both systems, but I am really starting to fall in love with Nikon's CLS. Anyhow guys, I really appreciate the help.
Anyhow, Butch I saw your reply on PCB...thanks. I've been experimenting with my son as the model. With the Apollo, you can mount the strobe backwards so it bounces around the silver interior, and then out through the silk front, eliminating any obvious hotspots. I've always used this technique in studio with my Speedotrons, and just now am using the same technique with my SB800. It's working perfectly, and I can't believe how much power I'm getting from one SB800. Of course, I always put my softbox really close to my subject so I get that nice soft wrap.