Umbrella Softbox?

DekHog

DekHog

Messages
2,785
Name
Derek
Edit My Images
Yes
OK, out of curiosity I bought one of these £10 umbrella softboxes where the flash goes through a zip. Am I doing something wrong or is it akin to tits on a hen, as it appears it'll only point about 5 degrees upwards?

Nice light if your subject happens to be Spiderman and can glue himself 2 feet up the nearest wall..... :(
 
When the end of the zip hits the lightstand the front of the softbox is pointing slightly upwards....... hopefully just me being in a hurry and making a pigs ear of it.... When I say 'only 5 degrees upwards,' I mean I can't get to point downwards!
 
Last edited:
i have one of the umbrella softbox types.. you just need to adjust where the umbrellas rod goes through the mount so you can angle it downwards.. mines here and i can tilt it up or down as need be
15407832851_9eda82ec26_c.jpg
 
Thanks, Dean, will have another look tonight......
 
dean messenger said:
i have one of the umbrella softbox types.. you just need to adjust where the umbrellas rod goes through the mount so you can angle it downwards.. mines here and i can tilt it up or down as need be
15407832851_9eda82ec26_c.jpg
Click to expand...
Therein lies the rub...
That's closer than you'd 'choose' to place the light, but you're putting it there so you can tilt it. If you put it where it lights best, it wouldn't tilt.

These boxes really need a flexible extension on the stand, I use an old flash bracket and a right bodge to put my flashgun into a westcott style softbox (same problem).
Derek has placed his where it lights the brolly properly, so it won't tilt.

There are a few ideas:
Put an extension on the stand so the tilt is lower, or indeed below the brolly.
Ignore the zip in the brolly and put the stand through the diffuser (you'll need to be creative and sew a zip in or attach velcro)
Fasten a brolly bracket above the flash

These things are great if you can work round their limitations (either overcome or accept), if you can't, you need to spend more at the outset.
 
maybe my brollys are different from the ops one as the zip section on mine is about 9 inches so gives enough room to adjust without pushing the flash to close to the umbrella.. problem is you cant also go to far out otherwise rear of the flash will push against the diffuser so you are limited to space. better off really with the type where the flash is fitted through the middle at the rear or one like this
!B9HrjVQCWk~$(KGrHqMOKooEy+jC0cQWBM43hv(eFg~~0_12.JPG


or rear type

4771c6465ce883685265796db76d3708_Softbox-95cm-5.jpg
 
Nice one, Phil - yup, the problem is I can't bring the brolly any further forward (flash closer to the back of the box), as the rod then wants to come out further than the front of the softbox diffuser - some kind of swivel bracket that you could tilt from lower than the zip would definitely do it......

Yours are different, Dean - on my cheapo the stand has to go through the zipped part on the underside of the brolly/box....... I'd be better with an Bowens S-fit bracket for the speedlight and a cheap-ish S-mount brolly type octabox to go on that......

Can't be assed with stuff that doesn't do exactly what I want - pointing a softbox downwards, even slightly, is fundamental to using the thing!! :D

Thanks for the replies.....
 
I have the westcott brolly/soft box too. I use it on a standard light stand with a tilt bracket on top. I have bought a further backlight stand and use the extension pole from that into the tilt bracket on the top of the main light stand.

The soft box is supported on this extension, allowing it to tilt beneath the brolly. I hope that makes sense, I am on my iPad posting this, a photograph would be better but don't have that on iPad.
 
A photograph would def help! :D
 
It does..... very artistic it is as well..... I'm suitably impressed :D :D
 
DekHog said:
It does..... very artistic it is as well..... I'm suitably impressed :D :D
Click to expand...

:D Someone actually favourited that on flickr, what's that all about?

Glad it makes sense Derek, I found this set up easier to tilt the soft box because I too was limited by how wide the zip is on the brolly/soft box. The only caveat on it the light stand may need a little weight on the bottom as it could be a little top heavy dependant on which light heads you use.
 
Thanks guys, will have a bit longer tonight, so will have a play around with it..... it was a bit of a WTF moment the other night. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top