Softbox size?

I finally have my own studio space and I'm about to order lights for shooting fashion models. I'm building an online store to sell my friend's clothing line and i'm doing the photography myself.

I'm deciding between the Elinchrom D-lite 4 kit and the Calumet Genesis 400 kit. The Elinchroms come with 2 softboxes (21" high and 25" high) but are they big enough to cover my needs (full body shots down to waist-to-neck shots)?

if its better to have larger softboxes... should i just go with the calumets and order the softboxes separately? it seems like the price would be similar to the Elinchrom kit.

I have the 21" and 25" Portalite softboxes. You'll be fine for headshots and waist up shots, but they aren't large enough to give even light for full body shots. You'll want at least a 48" softbox for full body shots. I use a 5ft octabox for full body shots.

Pucky wrote in post #6159721
I finally have my own studio space and I'm about to order lights for shooting fashion models. I'm building an online store to sell my friend's clothing line and i'm doing the photography myself.

I'm deciding between the Elinchrom D-lite 4 kit and the Calumet Genesis 400 kit. The Elinchroms come with 2 softboxes (21" high and 25" high) but are they big enough to cover my needs (full body shots down to waist-to-neck shots)?

if its better to have larger softboxes... should i just go with the calumets and order the softboxes separately? it seems like the price would be similar to the Elinchrom kit.

In this case bigger is better, 48x36 would be the bare minimum, if you can afford bigger softboxes it would be ideal like the Photoflex litedome Q39 X-large or the 5' octa recommended above

I have a soft box that's about 3' x 2', I wouldn't mind bigger for full body, but it's fine.

I have a 1x4, 2x3, and 4x6.... The 4x6 is ideal and wonderful for full bodies. The 2x3 has noticeable falloff so I dont use it for full body shots. The 1x4 can do a full body, but obviously gives off a different feel than the 4x6.

For full body shots you will need larger than the supplied Portalite softboxes with the D-Lites. That said, I'm not sure I would buy the Genesis strobes and give up on the D-Lites just because they don't come with the softbox that you need. The Elinchrom 53" Octa Midi will set you back another $300, but there are other options from Chimera or Photoflex that are cheaper and of good quality.

What I'm saying is that I wouldn't give up on the Elinchrom strobes just because they're more expensive. But... maybe that's just me.

The rule of thumb for optimal softness I use: A softbox with a face diagonal as large as your subject. And positioned no farther away from the subject than the face diagonal dimension of the softbox.

Please realize that one can often be quite happy with something other than optimal.

Enjoy! Lon

While I have my own preferences and practices I think Lon has a great 'rule of thumb', especially for the novice that is trying to get an idea of what size to use in relation to the subject area.

Rudi wrote in post #6166349
What I'm saying is that I wouldn't give up on the Elinchrom strobes just because they're more expensive. But... maybe that's just me.

Not just you Rudi. I'm right there with you.

Lon, those are some great tips! very much appreciated! The elinchroms seem to be the popular vote and will probably end up being the ones i choose. Is the D-lite4 kit too much (or too little) light for about a 16'x13' space?

is this the right octa??

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Midi_Octa_Light​_Bank.html

i'm aiming to have what i think is the bare essentials all setup in the next 3 weeks.

By bare essentials i mean:

Lighting kit (need to buy)
Softbox & Reflector(s) (need to buy)
Background stand & paper(need to buy)
Lightmeter (probably Sekonic L-358 ... need to buy)
Elinchrom Universal Skyport kit (already have)
Canon 5D (already have)
50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8 (already have)
430ex Speedlite (already have)

I'm sure there's other miscellaneous things i'll think of later as well.

Hard to say which strobe is best for you. It depends on what you're shooting and how you light your subjects.

I found a the D-Lite 2's to be perfect for my main, fill and hair lights. My studio space is only about 14' x 17'. I never found the D-Lite 2's to be underpowered, but I have found 400ws strobes to be too powerful in certain instances. You have to weigh things out carefully. The D-Lite 2's can only go up so much in power, but on the other hand, there are mechanical ways to reduce the output of a strobe that has too much power.

I think the D-Lite4 kit will be fine for you. Robert is right that too much power can be a bad thing, but I shoot in a small space (similar to yours) most of the time, and the only time the D-Lite4 was too powerful is when I was trying to just throw a just a small dash of colour on the background and could not stop my lens down more than f/8 (was using the Canon G9, too lazy to get out the 5D ). So I worked around it and doubled up on the coloured gel to tame the background light.

With the 53" Octa (yes, that's the right link BTW) and both diffusers in place, it's not hard to shoot at f/5.6 at minimum power. The Octa is a great diffuser and produces some beautiful light, but the two diffusers do eat up light! If you have the light more than 6 feet away from the subject (for full length shots), you will have to start turning the juice up.

Hi Rudi,

Any chance you can do a quick test to see what the light loss is in the 53" Octa with both diffusers in place?

Tell me what you want, Robert, and I'll do it later today. I'm assuming a reading with no diffusers, then only the middle diffuser, then both. Correct?

That would be great Rudi. Ultimately I really just want to know what the total loss is when both diffusers are in place with the distance from front diffuser to subject being about 6 feet.