Lastolite umbrella boxes

[Mark Anthony]

Do any of you use them?

If so could you share any likes / dislikes about them please.

[Rudi]

Yes, I have one. Only used it one one shoot so far, but I like the ease of use. Te light it provides is pretty much identical to what comes out of a small Octa softbox. It has three zippers arranged in 120-degree increments, so you can position your strobe without having to stretch the diffusion material or deform the umbrella, even if your strobe does not have a central umbrella holder (and is far off-centre as a result). Here it is, on my RX600, so you can see what I mean. :)

http://rudiphoto.zenfolio.com/img/v8/p788033970.jpg

If I would have any reservations, it's that you cannot position it as close to the subject as a traditional softbox (or something like the shoot-through Elinchrom Varistar umbrella box). But... I wouldn't call that reservation, I knew that when I bought it, and the convenience more than makes up for it. If I *need* a light that close to the subject, then I'll bring a softbox or the Varistar. :)

[TMR Design]

I like devices like this very much for quality of light but I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with them because of the catch light. Yes, I know I can just PP it out but I'm a bit anal about capturing images the way I think they should look without knowing that the first thing I need to do is edit or process a catch light.

The problem I have is that any device like this places the riser of the light stand and the flash or strobe right in the line of fire and will show up in the catch light because the catch light is a reflection of the light source.

For this reason I much prefer softboxes and I'm drawn towards the Elinchrom Varistar because it's front firing with the strobe entering the modifier from the back and firing through the diffusion material rather than entering through the front, reflecting off the interior and then back out the front.

The tighter the shot the more it bothers me because obviously the eyes and the catch light are larger and more noticeable.

[Mark Anthony]

That's interesting, thanks for the input both.

[TMR Design]

Hi Mark Anthony,

Since the Lastolite umbrella box is so similar to the Photek Softlighter I thought I would just show you what I'm talking about. I know many people that are not bothered by this and many that just assume use Photoshop to fix it and that's cool. A lot of people don't realize that the catch light is affected so here is an example. Granted, at small sizes you barely see the riser or flash head but with a tight shot or one that is printed at a large size it can be distracting or bothersome.

[Mark Anthony]

Nice to see it in an actual image, thanks Robert, need to rethink what i want now then haha.