Off Camera Flash Softbox

MJ Stebbings

MJ Stebbings

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Mike
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Up until now, I have been playing just using my 430 ex flash on camera, however I have upgraded one of my 430ex's to a 580ex and want to do some off camera work.

I want to look at getting some softboxes for one or both of them. Now, i'm not after anything expensive, and will probably just the 580 as the main flash with a rear fill light of the 430. I dont do a lot of this work, in fact this is my hobby stuff really, so I dont really want to be shelling out loads of cash for something I use 5-10 times a year and not really sure I would fit one to both.

So, I trecked over to Ebay to look at what kind of thing was on there. They do 24" (60cm) ones for touch under £40.
Is 24" big enough and would that sort of thing be ok for this sort of use? All my stuff is shot on location

Mike
 
You could start off with a shoot-through umbrella. Cheaper and easier for location shooting.
 
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Mike I have one of the 24in Softboxes, its really good, very well made and works a treat, ive done many portraits with it, I bought a cheap £10 konig stand to go with it and im very happy with it, you could go with a shoot through umbrella as mentioned above but then you need to buy a flash/umbrella bracket which takes the price back up similar to the price of the softbox, the softbox folds up very small when not in use, as does the stand, just leave them in the boot of your car and away you go
 
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+1 for the umbrella. Cheap light stand £10. Cheap bracket £15. Brolly about another £15. If you got for a reflective brolly (basically a shoot-thro with a removable covering) your options for shooting increase too.
 
I have the softbox from eBay. Seems a great job. But have not really had the chance to use it properly. But worked great in the house
 
Ok, any further opinions? Having the umbrella thrown in to the mix has just made things a little more confusing for me! :LOL:
 
Have softbox from ebay and umbrella too. I only use the umbrella. The softbox just droops all the time - a royal pain to deal with... really annoying. Was nice when it was pointing in the right place but just a pain to use.

The umbrella is light and you can move it around super easily. Works great. I just use that now.
 
I have a couple of 24" portable soft boxes and they work a treat (problems arise when outside in breezing conditions) I also use brollies, both reflextive and shoot throughs. If I were you, I would start with a shoot through brollie, a cheap stand and bracket and see how you go. If you like this style of shooting, you can aways add more equipment at a later date.

Ian
 
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