Upgrade Photoflex 5' octodome to 7' octodome - Any downside?

In my home studio, while most things get packed up and put away, there's one piece that remains assembled and against the wall, ready to go. That's my medium 5' Photoflex octodome w/grid mounted to a Elinchrom 600RX strobe. It typically serves as my main light and sometimes as fill. It never leaves my studio. I'm considering an "upgrade" to the Photoflex 7' octodome. I could better light full-length shots, but I'm wondering if I'd sacrifice anything for headshots or seated portraits (where the 5' octa was adequate). I know the big one is a beast, but once assembled, it's not moving around much. Because of the low ceilings, I wouldn't be able to angle it much at all. I'd get the grid for it, but the light would be straight on. With the 5', I position it practically touching the 7.5' high ceiling and angle it down towards the subject. If I get the 7', I don't really want to keep the 5'. But if I lose something with the 7', I'll probably just stick with the 5'.

The B&H site says the 7' requires the Series 9000 speedring...which isn't Elinchrom compatible. Does anyone know if I could use the same Series 900 speedring that I use with my 5'?

I also looked at the large Elinchrom octa. It's more than twice the cost, not quite as large, and there are no grids for it yet. Anyone know why it so much more expensive?

With 7.5 foot ceilings, I think the 7' octa might just be too big. Given a model will often be 6' tall, then the hotspot in the octa would be at his or her chest, and might cause some funky lighting/shadows or just disarm you of the ability to angle the light down on your subject.

All that said, I've never really had much of a chance to play with the 7 footer, so all this is just speculation regarding angles of light and all that.

Cathpah wrote in post #7736388
With 7.5 foot ceilings, I think the 7' octa might just be too big. .

My sentiments, too.

If you really wanted something that large, a big free standing translucent panel would be just as good for softness of light, and could also serve to provide 'negative lighting' when forced to shoot outdoors in the sun.

Something like this.... ? It's 7' high.

yep....and a diffusion panel is MUCH cheaper too!

The 7' photoflex octodome is huge, I use it my class. I just bought the 5' model and wifey wants it out of the living room so it is now in my office. I need to sell it.

Cathpah wrote in post #7736561
yep....and a diffusion panel is MUCH cheaper too!

But it won't give the even light spread like octodome, isn't it? Not that octodome will be prefect but it has multiple diffusion panels.

bobbyz wrote in post #7736628
The 7' photoflex octodome is huge, I use it my class. I just bought the 5' model and wifey wants it out of the living room so it is now in my office. I need to sell it.

I hope you let me know if/when you do that. I call first right of refusal!!!

I have one and use it in the studio (mega-tall ceilings). In my opinion, it's a bit too big for use in a home studio with low ceilings, and it wouldn't really provide much more than what the 5-footer gives you now. It's a bit difficult to assemble/disassemble and unless you have the flexibility of a large space, you'll find that it's in your way a lot and you'll stop using it.
Just my $.02

Has anyone ever tried to mod the elinchrom speedring on the Octos so they fit other boxes? Would be cool to have a "foldable" 5' octodome or similar.

I really appreciate all the feedback. You've convinced me to stick with the 5-footer for now.

And I'm curious about Hawk's question too. I have an Elinchrom Rotolux Deep Throat and love the ability to fold it up and stick it in its bag. Would be really cool to be able to do that with the octodomes that require an act of God to take apart and reassemble!

sdipirro wrote in post #7737065
I really appreciate all the feedback. You've convinced me to stick with the 5-footer for now.

And I'm curious about Hawk's question too. I have an Elinchrom Rotolux Deep Throat and love the ability to fold it up and stick it in its bag. Would be really cool to be able to do that with the octodomes that require an act of God to take apart and reassemble!

I do believe Elinchrom is about to release their 69 inch octa in May (fingers are crossed), that should have the standard rotalux quick release speedring.

It's listed @ B&H as "accepting orders"

I'm just hoping they make grids available for it!

And the price isn't bad for the 69" octa either. That's kind of tempting, although it's not that much larger than the Photoflex medium octa I have now. Since I have the 5' octa set up right now, I had an idea last night and got out one of my Lastolite collapsible backgrounds that measures 6'x7' and placed that in front of the octa to get a feel for the size difference. Yeow! The 7' octa really is huge, but I realized that by tilting it down, I actually get more room as I can lift it higher when it's aimed at a downward angle. Even so, I think my wife would freak at the size of the thing. So I need to think about it some more.