Softboxes?

[nrellas]

Hello all,
I've searched around quite a bit for a thread about this but didnt seem to find anything. I have a bunch of Smith-Victor continuous lighting lights and I wanted to get some soft boxes for them. Now can I just get any old soft box or do I need a Speedring to go with them? If I need a Speedring are they universal? Or is it just a by brand basis?
Thanks for any help, still learning

Nick

[FlashZebra]

You will need a softbox specifically designed for continuous lights and a speedring for your specific lights.

There are "universal" speedrings, but they are mostly wortless. Get a speedring specifically to fit the light and the softbox you will use. Universal speedrings advertize "on size fits all" when they are actually "one size fits nothing".

Take a look at the Photoflex softboxes. They have a good selection and ones specifically designed for continuous lights.

A bit of a suggestion, you will likely not be very happy with continuous lights unless you are taking images of things that do not move. Flash is a far better choice.

Enjoy! Lon

[Mark_Cohran]

Additionally, you must be very careful when using soft boxes and continuous lighting with tungsten or quartz lights. These lights get extremely hot and a soft box will trap the heat and can result in a significant fire hazard. Rather than a soft box, when using this type of lighting, you may want to consider a diffusion panel which is placed between the light and the subject to soften the light.

Mark

[wcl4]

Defintely listen to Mark's comments. Continuous lights are going to be too hot for a soft box. Diffusion panels are the way to go.

[zacker]

diffusion panels work great for flashes so im sure it would be great for a continous light..plus, very easy to make and cheap!!

[FlashZebra]

Defintely listen to Mark's comments. Continuous lights are going to be too hot for a soft box. Diffusion panels are the way to go.
There are softboxes specifically designed for hotlights. I have two that I use with 1000 Watt hotlights and they are fine if your are cautious with use

But, you must specifically use softboxes designed for hotlights as I indicated in the first followup on this thread.

Several softbox makes have these models for hotlights.

But the best way to go is with flash, not continuous lights.

Enjoy! Lon