Diffusing cheap led lights?

Michael Carter said:
There's a couple options:

Look at how the dividers in boxes for glassware or wine bottles are made, with alternating slots. You could go corrugated cardboard, sprayed black. Might even collapse pretty flat.

Look at the cheaper eBay style fabric grids (vs. the sewn stuff from Chimera or Photoflex). Seems to be repeating rows of vertical nylon webbing, with holes punched at intervals. Then, the horizontal part if more of a black ribbon (like giftwrapping ribbon, woven but very light) with slits cut at intervals. The slits come in from both sides but leave 1/8" or so uncut. These are woven through the holes in the vertical material, and when pushed through, the slits hold position but the ribbon "opens up" on either side of the hole. (Kind of have to see it, but somewhat ingenious really - if you've ever looked at a Photoflex grid, it's like "who the f*** sewed this thing???" - seems impossible.)

You can buy a cheap softbox with a grid for (often) half the price of a Photoflex grid. Find one in the size you need, dump the box, save the grid and diffusion?

And, ebay again - there's often several fabric grids for sale. It varies from week to week, so keep looking. For instance, the photoflex medium grid is like a hundred bucks - got one that fits perfectly for $38. (I have this wild-hair idea of sewing several grids together to be medium westscott scrim-jim size... a 5' x 3' grid...)
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Thanks.
 
diffusion / softboxes for other sizes of LED Panel

diffusion / softboxes for other sizes of LED Panel

stip said:
bit expensive to diffuse cheap LED lights, no? Airbox will have those sizes too soon.
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Yes!! We finally do. Tom here of Airboxlights.com, We've just brought out the Model 126 inflatable softbox for 500-ish LED panels measuring roughly 6"x12", and in a few weeks we'll have our 1x1s ready to ship. Come see! Airboxlights.com/products.

yours
Tom
Airboxlights.com
 
TheDingo said:
My favorite diffusion material is Savage Translum which comes on a 54 in wide roll that is 18 feet long for about $38. It's a thick matte-ish plastic that does an amazing job of evening out the light spread. I've been using this stuff since the 80's for large format still photography, and now for video work. I wish they sold this stuff in smaller amounts, because it can take me more than a decade to use up the whole roll. ( the plastic is pretty indestructible, so you can keep re-using the same piece forever )
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i've read about translum.

do you only use it with cool lights?

if you use it with tungstens, how far away from the bulb do you mount the diffusuion? one foot? two feet? five feet?

thanks in advance for any info you care to share.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
wgzn said:
there is a guy here (i think hes one of the mods) whos using a similar light very successfully. here is a look and explanation:
he posted it on facebook. so im assuming its not a "trade secret"

View attachment 77821

"Yup, that is really what I'm using for key. It's a 508LED, daylight with 1/2 + 1/8 CTO to get me down to roughly 4000K (and shooting through an umbrella). The room was very dim to start with and my general approach on these types of shoots is to use the ambient I have and just add/subtract where needed. I threw a small LED on the Texas state seal in the background and a prolight as backlight - that was it. Shooting at a 2.8 roughly, it was more than enough light, surprisingly enough."
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luis-

if i may dissect your lighting set-up:

you took a 500 led panel and put cto on to bring down the temp since you were working with available tungsten light.

you aimed the 500 led into a large umbrella (40"?) to bounce and spread the light creating a much bigger and softer source than the 500 led.

you then filled frame left with a bounce reflector (nori).

and used a lowel prolight on a stand in the back of the room as a backlight.

at 2.8 the background is nicely soft so i'm thinking a medium zoom or prime was the lens?

do i have it right?

any idea of the iso/asa?

thanks in advance for any info you care to share.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
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