basic strobe/softbox questions

With studio strobes:

1. do you generally need to leave them on for a bit, or fire them off a few times to warm them up and get accurate colors before using them, or does this not apply/matter with studio strobes?

2. I'm using a softbox that has some minor gaps in the back where it is not completely enclosed. Does this matter? I'm not sure if light is escaping in the back.

3. What should i look for to make sure the softbox is rated to work with a specific strobe? I'm really only concerned with safety. Not even sure if this is a possible issue, just looking into it....

Any info will be very much appreciated...

southwestform wrote in post #18659665
With studio strobes:

1. do you generally need to leave them on for a bit, or fire them off a few times to warm them up and get accurate colors before using them, or does this not apply/matter with studio strobes?

They need no warmup. What a flash gives you on the first shot is as good as it gets. In the past, a flash's capacitor that had been stored unused for a long time (several months) might need a bit of exercising to reach its former speed of recycling, but when it did get recycled, it was good to go.

Usually not. If you're in a very tight space, that light could conceivably cause a reflection problem, but usually not.

As long as it actually fits correctly and there isn't an incandescent modeling light in contact with any portion of the softbox.