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easily assembled octa for travel / location?
For Profoto. I currently have an Elinchrom deep octa, but it's just too much of a pain to setup / teardown. I've worked with the Westcott rapidbox, but the central shaft doesn't lock into place so that's a no-go. I was looking at the Jinbei k-90, but I'm reasonably sure there's no Profoto speeding for it. Are there any other options for Profoto? Apr 29 15 08:29 am Link I have both the Elinchrom 150cm Rotalux and the Profoto 5' Octa's and prefer the indirect light of the Elinchrom plus it's a little easier to setup and tear down because the speedring is permanently mounted. I used to own the 74" Elinchrom, that was a beast but the light was beautiful. The Profoto requires mounting the speedring every time so you probably would not like it unless you work with an assistant. Apr 29 15 08:39 am Link I have an Elinchrom Rotolux that folds up into a nice storage bag. You have to remove the diffusers to fold it but it is easy to do. Apr 29 15 09:46 am Link One thing that disturbs me with the octo's is the color quality of the light is often too cold for me. Some diffusing fabrics are too blue for my taste, aside from the slow setup time. I was sort of surprised using one of Paul Buff's 86" shoot-through PLMs (umbrellas) recently. It had a nice warm feel to it on the camera LCD. Came through in post processing too. Buff mentioned he didn't want the ultra-bright white additions to the fabric and seems it helped on the Kelvin too. The PLM sets up quicker than my softboxes too and comes in the heavy cardboard tube for storage (I put a plastic cap from hardware store on the end to seal it to travel.). For now, I tend to dye my diffusion socks down to about 5,300K just to get rid of the bluish of flash - and some speedlights of this decade are very cold over some older ones designed for the film era. My SB-900 hits about 7,100K and gives me a two-color cast against daylight. So I have to set Control Points up (Capture NX-2 or Nik Viveza) and warm it a bit in post which is another pain. Catch-lights in the attached photo off the model's eyes are from the 86" PLM at about 12 feet away in shoot-through mode. Wish I could have moved it higher, but the tin roof in the work shed stopped me.  Apr 29 15 10:07 am Link I have cut gel to fit around the front of the flash head but haven't used them since going digital. It's a quick and easy trick to modify color temperature or just shoot RAW and adjust when you process the files. Apr 29 15 11:11 am Link Not an octa, but have your tried the 36" Softlighter? Apr 30 15 07:18 pm Link I see tube videos setting up Elinchrom Octas in 15 secs ? Something different using on Profoto ? Apr 30 15 07:37 pm Link I don't know if they make quick release speedrings in an octa configuration, but they eliminated my passion of never wanting to see a softbox again due to conventional speedrings (but they're pricey - and worth it). Apr 30 15 10:07 pm Link J O H N A L L A N wrote: The Bowens quick release can be modded for an Octo. You lose the threading to mount the ring on a stand, but it seems to work. Google. May 01 15 01:10 am Link Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote: You are correct in that the 70 and 100cm Deep Octa boxes take about 15 sec (30 if your are really slow) - but this is assuming it is out of the storage bag which can take about another 5-10 seconds. But, it you are using the reflector instead of the baffle & front cover, it could take another 30-60 seconds (assuming you don't drop the nut for the screw out in the west Utah desert...lol). May 01 15 05:14 pm Link Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote: I can't do 15 seconds, but I can assemble my deep octa in under a minute, including diffusers (leave em half attached). The key is to snap in every other rod. May 01 15 11:54 pm Link The ProFoto OCF boxes are quick and easy. Easier, bigger, cheaper, more adjustable and useable by all except those limited by Elinchrom's smaller brolly hole, the Westcott Apollo range. http://www.fjwestcott.com/light-modifiers/halo-apollo May 02 15 07:07 am Link I have several Elinchrom Rotalux soft boxes and octas with Profoto speed rings and setup is quick and easy. Initial setup takes longer as you have to mount all the rods. After that, however, it folds down, goes back in its carry case and takes around 60 seconds to set up to include both diffusers. May 02 15 07:17 am Link photoimager wrote: Elinchrom also has a clamp below the light for odd sized umbrella shafts May 02 15 08:50 am Link |
