Qbox question

Do i purchase the 24" that comes complete with grid and round mask for $118

or do i step up to the new 30". is the 6"s worth the extra $20?

I currently use 3 YN flashes with shoot through umbrellas and im looking for a soft box that is easy to take on location. Also that is decently priced too. Dont have the money to step up to large soft boxes and AB's

Im torn between qbox or a say a Kacey BD. both in the same price range.

Does anyone have input?

Qbox and Kacey dish in same price range? Check again.

For speedlite I would take Qbox 30 over 24". When I bought my 24" it came with grid and circle mask. For kacey dish you need to add dual or single speedlite bracket.

Forgot to include i have a friend that gave me his old bracket he used before going to AB's so id only need to purchase the dish.

It bums me out that the 30" does not come with round mask/grid etc. or I would switch up in a heartbeat.

I have the 24 and its a nice box.
If the 30 had been around at the time I'd probably gone with the bigger modifier.
Offers a little more flexibility for feathering etc. Grids are nice but not something I use that much.
the round scrim has no value for me so its not something I'd consider in a buying decision.

Thanks everyone, im going to give the qbox30 a go, cant beat the versatility.

dmward wrote in post #16112487
I have the 24 and its a nice box.
If the 30 had been around at the time I'd probably gone with the bigger modifier.
Offers a little more flexibility for feathering etc. Grids are nice but not something I use that much.
the round scrim has no value for me so its not something I'd consider in a buying decision.

I'd agree with you on that, David, but it's always nice to at least have the option whether to use or not. Mind you, most of the less expensive cloth grids are a waste of space - they do virtually nothing. Life is just too short to sit and make a proper one though. Supremely boring job.

The circular mask isn't exactly difficult to make if you have any manual dexterity whatsoever. Guys seem to forget that a sewing machine is a power tool - hence we are allowed to use one without any reflection whatsoever on our precious masculinity! (Well, most of us are - I'm banned for life after I tried machine embroidery & screwed up all the tension settings. Eight years ago and I still get flak!)
All you need is a shower-cap arrangement with a hole in the middle just overlocked to prevent fraying. With the right machine foot, you could even do a 'pwetty' rolled hem if you wanted. Lack of a circular mask certainly wouldn't have any effect on a purchase decision for me.

Grids are very nice to have IMHO. Outdoors less but indoors I love them.

Better to have and not need than to need and not have.
Feathering usually works better than the toy grids that come with most softboxes though - they're either too shallow to have any effect or the cells are too big to actually collimate the light to any noticeable degree. Or both (usually).

IMHO Qbox grids are much better than typical eBay or similar cheaper softbox you can get.

bobbyz wrote in post #16113673
IMHO Qbox grids are much better than typical eBay or similar cheaper softbox you can get.

Quite probably so, given ET's ethical approach to quality & suitability for purpose. Not seen any as CheetahStand don't export nowadays (quite rightly, too much aggro and high delivery charges vis-á-vis the weight of the items).

In mitigation, I did say "that come with most softboxes...". Obviously there are exceptions, I'm more than happy to take your word that the QBox is one of those.

Phil,
The grid that came with my QBox is quite good. Especally when compared with the low quality items that came with a couple of others.

dmward wrote in post #16114667
Phil,
The grid that came with my QBox is quite good. Especally when compared with the low quality items that came with a couple of others.

David: I rather thought it might be, knowing the provenance. From what I read, Cheetah seem to QC their gear on useability and durability as well as marketability. If only the rest of the world ran along similar lines, there wouldn't be quite so much total CR*P on the market from other "specialists" (unfortunately, not precluding some of the biggest names in the business).

Trouble is, I sort of grew my business with rigid grids (I have a most useful Bowens 24" square I bought in about 1977 which also fits round modifiers using U bolts). After that, everything else seems rather uncontrolled by comparison. I guess the fabric ones we see in the UK just go all floppy as they swim round Cape of Good Hope en route from China or across the Atlantic to little ole England. I guess I'm just spoiled with having a load of properly made gear (yes, it was properly priced too (OUCH) - long before the cheap 'n cheerfully useless hit the market) - I just hope that I wear out before it all does. The only decent fabric grid I actually have is the one for the Cheetah / Godox 19" multifunctional softbox - and even that isn't perfect. Most of the others are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard and roughly as floppy too.

Whortleberry wrote in post #16115166
... The only decent fabric grid I actually have is the one for the Cheetah / Godox 19" multifunctional softbox - and even that isn't perfect. Most of the others are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard and roughly as floppy too.

Truly excellent fabric grids are available but at a price most photographers, hobbyist photographers anyway, are unwilling to pay. The grids from Lighttools, the fabric grid patent holder, are exceptional. Here's a 40-degree Lighttools grid mounted on my Elinchrom deep octa: