Can anyone recommend a softbox that would fit my current ABs and then could be used if/when I upgrade to Hensel, Elinchrom, or another mid-level type of strobe? I guess the issue is just availability of different speedrings that would fit different strobes and the softbox.
I recently purchased an Illuma Softbox from Calumet. They sell a Balcart adapter which fits the AB just fine. The small Illuma is about 22 x 30 inches. It is very well made.
I have to concur that the AB foldable softboxes are great! I had a medium and large "regular" softbox from AB and ended up selling the medium and returning the large for the same sized foldable ones from AB.
The foldable softboxes are made well, but most imporatantly, they fold and setup SO QUICKLY! I couldn't see myself dealing with setting up standard softboxes constantly. It would take forever. So the foldable ones made a lot of sense to me. Quality is good too! It takes me perhaps 5 minutes per box to set up and that's being careful to velcro the edges of the diffuser too! If I had to rush, I could do it perhaps in 3 minutes.
While the cost of the foldables are about $20 more than their standard counterparts, it's worth it. Plus, the edges of the box are recessed so you could add grids to these boxes too. You can't add a grid to their standard boxes. Something to consider.
I have one of their strip light boxes as well (also foldable) and love it! I added a grid to that for use as a hairlight, but found that the strip box has so many other applications as well.
