A Quick Look At Relative Efficiency Of Some Portable, Collapsible Modifiers

There are occasions where I need to travel super light and super portable with no handtrucks or any more gear than I can carry in three bags with one on my back and one on each shoulder or in hand. The lighting is with one Nikon SB-900 Speedlight.

This is not about what I shoot or where I shoot or time of day and has nothing to do with overpowering or combating the Sun. It's not about center to edge falloff or the ability to add grids or any of those discussions.

The comparison, if you will, is nothing more than a meter reading taken at the center of the hot spot from 4 feet away at ISO200. You Canon guys will lose a stop at your base ISO of 100 but that doesn't change the comparison of relative efficiency, which is what this IS about. I used a Sekonic L-758DR, mounted on a light stand and always measured 4 feet from the source of illumination to the front of the meter's dome.

I simply wanted to know, based on the modifiers I own, which of them gives me the most output and then I would look at which are useful in what applications and choose accordingly. With Speedlight's, regardless of how many, the idea for me has always been to maximize output and be able to work at power levels lower than full power. Full power pops really put a drain on battery life and recycle time.

For each modifier, an initial reading was taken without any diffusion or deflectors. Then I added diffusion based on how I use modifiers and what I find to be most common. With a softbox or octa I took readings with the inner diffusion baffle and then with both inner and outer layers or diffusion. You can see how the size and shape of the modifier seem to apparently change the light loss with diffusion but if you were to take each piece of diffusion material and hold it in front of a bare flash with no softbox or modifier mounted you would see very little change and the loss is not that much at all.

So, on to the numbers.

Photek 46" Softlighter II

• no deflector disc, no diffusion - f/8 + .4
• with silver deflector disc - f/8 + .7
• with silver deflector disc and outer diffusion - f/8 + .2

Photoflex 24" x 32" Softbox (white interior)

• no diffusion - f/11 + .6
• with inner diffusion baffle - f/8 + .9
• with inner diffusion baffle and outer diffusion - f/8 + .5

Cheetah Qbox24

• no diffusion - f/16 + .4
• with inner diffusion baffle f/11 + .7
• with inner difffuion baffle and outer diffusion - f/8 + .6

Elinchrom 39" Deep Octa

• no diffusion - f/11 + .9
• with inner diffusion baffle - f/11 + .1
• with inner diffusion baffle and outer diffusion - f/8 + .2

Generic 36" Octa

• no diffusion - f/11 + .7
• with inner diffusion baffle - f/11 + .3
• with inner diffusion baffle and outer diffusion - f/8 + .8

Make what you will of this information. If it applies to you or helps, then that's excellent. If not, that's ok too.

People like you are the reason this site rocks.
Thanks for your efforts.

Thanks Robert.

I was reading about hot shoe flash like 580 EX II with Paul Buff's PLM on Rob G's webs site and it was surprising that the results with bare flash pointing straight vs flash bounced with PLM were almost the same. Of course no front diffusion in that case but that looks to be the most efficient modifier.

In a sea of Pixel Peepers and Gear Whores, you're one of the very few who can actually "walk the walk."

Thank You...

thanks for taking the time to do these tests rob.

Rob, just for the halibut, did you happen to measure the output from your 53" octa while you were at it? I'm assuming you probably didn't since I'm also assuming you wouldn't be using the midi octa with an SB900.

Dave F.

bobbyz i have the 86" PLM and agree it is the most efficient umbrella i've ever used and has a pretty controlled spill for such a large unit relative to a regular umbrella.

ootsk wrote in post #10677946
People like you are the reason this site rocks.
Thanks for your efforts.

Thank you.

bobbyz wrote in post #10678088
Thanks Robert.

I was reading about hot shoe flash like 580 EX II with Paul Buff's PLM on Rob G's webs site and it was surprising that the results with bare flash pointing straight vs flash bounced with PLM were almost the same. Of course no front diffusion in that case but that looks to be the most efficient modifier.

I'm sure the efficiency of the PLM will make it popular. For this type of kit it might be quite nice but I still have yet to see quality of light as it falls on human faces and the catch light.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #10678096
In a sea of Pixel Peepers and Gear Whores, you're one of the very few who can actually "walk the walk."

Thank You...

FJ LOVE wrote in post #10678116
thanks for taking the time to do these tests rob.

Thanks guys. I've been telling myself to do this for a while just to satisfy my own curiosity.

tetrode wrote in post #10678123
Rob, just for the halibut, did you happen to measure the output from your 53" octa while you were at it? I'm assuming you probably didn't since I'm also assuming you wouldn't be using the midi octa with an SB900.

Dave F.

Hey Dave,

No, I didn't use the 53" Octa or any other modifiers larger than the 46" Softlighter II. I was going to use the 60" Umbrella and 48" Octa but when I'm out shooting like that, then I know I can get all my shots with the light and catch light I want with the smaller boxes. The 46" Softlighter proves to be great for full length work on location.

Certainly good food for thought and very encouraging regarding the deep octa, do you mean by generic octa that it is a no name octa or that it is the Elinchrom 39" octa that is not the deep one, I'm being specific because I've been looking at one.

And yes, thank you for doing this.

Jannie wrote in post #10679501
Certainly good food for thought and very encouraging regarding the deep octa, do you mean by generic octa that it is a no name octa or that it is the Elinchrom 39" octa that is not the deep one, I'm being specific because I've been looking at one.

And yes, thank you for doing this.

HI Jannie,

The reality is that the results are encouraging all the way around. There is no terrible modifier and there is no one modifier that really stands out. I included the 39" Deep Octa because for me it still qualifies as acceptably small and portable and I do like the quality of light quite a bit. Unless I specifically want the Deep Octa my modifier of choice is actually the no-name 36" Octa for a round catch light and the Qbox24 for a square one.

The 36" octa is a Chinese import with flush front. It's not made by Cheetah but it's sold by them. I like the light, the weight and the build on the octa and it's a good balance between a small modifier that's good for upper body and a larger one that could be used for full length.

Neat, thanks Robert. Have you tried the Hotshoe Ezybox 24" at all, I've wondered about it for a speedlight keylight. So far with my speedlights, I'm mostly using the double fold Westcott umbrellas, two of them with two 580EXII's, I like them as well as everything I've tried and it's just a matter of how close I want to move them to the subject. They aren't the sturdiest things on the planet but I like the light as much as any unbrella I've used and everything, stands and all fit into one case that ends up weighing 21 pounds including 2 lights, 2 stands, skyports, 3 umbrellas (32" Eli silver also), ETTL coil cord, extra batteries/charger, Skyport charger, gells, 80/20 Lumiquest speedlight diffuser, stophen, CA Sunbounce Grip head, matte card, matt card snoots, aluminum foil etc. I also carry in a second bag, one of my CA Sunbounce reflectors, I can leave it in the trunk or it's easy to carry as the third bag and when I do I put a nano type stand in the case as well and I clamp the Sunbounce from the bottom so the stand is almost at it's lowest and widest position. So far for what little I've used this on location, I'm very happy, but I have used the kit here at home for portriats ( I tend to shoot those at very low apertures to blur the backgrounds) and it works really well.

For all intents and purposes the Cheetah Qbox24 is the same as an EZYbox 24" from Lastolite. So, yes I have tried it, not only for this comparison, but in real world applications as well. There are a huge number of very happy Qbox24 owners and lots of thread with reviews and reports.

As I said, Jannie, this is just about output and nothing more. No one can possibly help you select a modifier. I know that you are picky and honestly don't know what you're looking for in terms of quality of light.

You're really going to have to do your own tests and comparisons to find the answer.

Great info - as always - Robert!

One thing I would have liked to see is the QBox with the outer diffuser, but not the inner one. I'd assume that's a more likely setup than the inner diffuser only.

Also, interesting to see that the QBox seems rather efficient...