Biggest Softbox for D-Lite mount ?

Hi

While trying to decide which flash head to buy in addition to my 2 D-Lites, I often read that bigger Softboxes could lead to problems with the plastic mount on the D-Lites. I googled a lot and read something about a destroyed mount after attaching a 5´ Octa.

So I am quite clueless if I should buy another D-Lite oder if it would be necessary to buy the more expensive Bx400, which is quite difficult to get at the moment. I plan on using an 80x120cm oder 75x150cm Softbox.

So, I would be very happy if you could help me by telling which would be the maximum size of a softbox you would be comfortable using on a D-Lite for normal/indoor use. Thanks in advance

Mathias

i would be interested in an answer as well.

The Photoflex 5' octa has been mounted to my Dlite-4 for some time, and as far as I can tell, it hasn't blown up or anything! That's the 5' octa with inner baffle, outer diffuser, and a grid attached. I will say that it feels a little borderline and feels a lot more secure on my 600RX lights, but it's manageable on the Dlite-4.

LOL, that would probably be my 5' octa that busted the swivel mount off.
I certainly wouldn't recommend hanging a 5' octa or large box directly off of the D-Lite, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
I now use the Photoflex speedring with threaded hole, and boom arm, and Manfrotto 026 swivel adapter to mount the octa directly to the light stand. Therefore all the weight is on the box instead of the D-Lite.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_Ring_for_Elinc​hrom_.html

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …vel_Umbrella_Ad​apter.html

I don't remember which boom arm I have, but Robert(TMR) has the same one and posted some pics on how to mount the D-Lite.

Edit: Ahh, here's the boom arm I use. It's actually a reflector holder, but it's heavy duty, and works great as a boom, so the octa can be tilted.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ble_Reflector_H​older.html

Randy, which octo do you put on the end of that $40 boom? Seems iffy to me without more details.

Mathias, I actually put my 53" octo on the D2 and D4 with no trouble. I have modified the lever adjustment on my D4 to use a Rockler woodworking lever instead. It's heavier and can put more pressure on the locking gears inside the Dlite mount.

Photoflex 5' octo is quite light. If you worried about the weight, get the photoflex speedring which let you mount the octo to the lighstand. So no weight on the strobe mount.

Hi

It seems that for the softboxes I intend to buy, there should be no problem - so I will go with another D-Lite and put the saved money in more accessories. Thank you very much for your help !

Mathias

Be careful of overtightening the swivel mount and if you notice that it's slipping or you feel you really have to tighten it down then you can either mod the swivel mount ratchet handle or if you're using non-Elinchrom modifiers then you can get the Photoflex speedring which has 1/4"-20 and 3/8" tapped mounting holes which allow you to shift the weight from the swivel mount to the speed ring.

hawk911 wrote in post #8743035
Randy, which octo do you put on the end of that $40 boom? Seems iffy to me without more details.

Geoff, I know you know what octa I have, the Amvona. There's nothing iffy about the $40 boom. It's plenty heavy duty enough for the weight of the octa. It's certainly 1000 times more robust than hanging the octa off the end of a D-Lite. I wouldn't suggest to my worst enemy to do something silly like that.

hawk911 wrote in post #8743155
Mathias, I actually put my 53" octo on the D2 and D4 with no trouble. I have modified the lever adjustment on my D4 to use a Rockler woodworking lever instead. It's heavier and can put more pressure on the locking gears inside the Dlite mount.

You can replace the lever with one made out of Lutetium, but that's not going to help in any way from keeping the crappy plastic D-Lite housing from cracking from hanging too much weight off the end of it. This is what happens to a D-Lite when it can't handle the weight of a softbox. It's been repaired with epoxy but you get the idea.

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Knowing how poor impact make their swivel adapters i would be very cautious hanging anything onto that reflector holder , let alone put anything alive under it with big Octa on it.

MR do little wrote in post #8745389
Knowing how poor impact make their swivel adapters i would be very cautious hanging anything onto that reflector holder , let alone put anything alive under it with big Octa on it.

I'm not the least bit worried about it. Like I said, it's 1000 times more robust and stable than hanging a large softbox off the end of a D-Lite. There's nothing flimsy about it at all. And besides, when you order that Impact from B&H, what you actually get is a Manfrotto boom/holder. At least that is what they sent me.

If it doesnt bother you..., well one less thing to "worry" about i guess.

Looks identical to my DL after I put a Mola Demi on it. @#$%^

Nice lights, but construction of the mount dovetail (what you see in pic above) sucks. I did the Manfrotto upgrade to the tilt handle and that actually made matters worse -- leading to the break which was identical to what you see pictured (fixed mine with construction adhesive).

On a DL, the ONLY thing stopping your modifier from hitting the ground are the tilt handle tension and the two thin plastic edges of the mount - both of which have partially cracked in the picture.

On a DL, the mount slides and locks into a slot or dovetail on the body of the light. If you press in the right spot, you can actually remove the entire mount from the light body. Idiotically, the dovetail's female socket is thin plastic and the edges which hold the male part in place are also very narrow. Recipe for disaster.

If you lock the 'droop' of a DL by modifying the tilt handle as many do, all the tension from a heavy modifier (downward on front of light and thus upward on rear of light) is now taken up by the plastic 'lips' of the dovetail. In short, the rear of the light (and thus the dovetail) wants to rotate upwards (thus drooping the front of light/SB), but since the tilt and thus the male part of the dovetail is now locked solid, the two edges of the dovetail female socket take-up all the strain over two strips of plastic maybe 0.25 in width, say 0.125" thick and maybe 2" long (with all the force on the rear-most 1") -- the rest is history.

Think of the infamous DLite 'droop' with heavier modifiers as a fail-safe for the poor mount design.

Upgraded to the BXRi series - WORLD of difference in build quality and mount design.

I still use the repaired (and now likely stronger) DL with SB's, etc - including a 53" Octa with no issues - but I would NEVER trust a Dlite on a boom with anything larger than a small or Med SB.

Modifiers like the smaller Octa's etc are not very heavy (most of the weight being the mount) and their shallow nature puts what any weight right at the light face. With units like a BD, not only is there more weight, but it's shifted further fwd. Add a grid and away it goes.

The DL's are nice light quality and interface for the modest $$. As such, there is a tendency to want to stretch them in terms of mods used. Don't.

shooterman wrote in post #8745375
You can replace the lever with one made out of Lutetium, but that's not going to help in any way from keeping the crappy plastic D-Lite housing from cracking from hanging too much weight off the end of it. This is what happens to a D-Lite when it can't handle the weight of a softbox. It's been repaired with epoxy but you get the idea.

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