gelling cobs with parabolics

Peter C.

Peter C.

Veteran
Ive been having trouble gelling parabolics that have internal umbrella like ribs on the inside. They help quickly opening and closing but get in the way of attaching a gel. At the time I needed a parabolic, Aputure was out of stock, they have a better design that has an unobstructed center with a gel holder. On my last job the gel shifted touched the glass in front of the led chip, melting, sticking, and then smoking until all the residue burned off. Any ideas mounting gel without it burning.
 
Taping gels to the inside of a softbox is not fun (nor fast!).

I'd sell your current soft box and get the aputure with gel holder. Otherwise if the softbox isn't too big, gel the outside where the diffusion is (maybe locally you can find a place that will cut a sheet for you rather than buying a roll).

If there are velcro tabs for extra diffusion inside the softbox, you could use those to help with mounting. There may still be light getting past the gel but maybe it'll work enough to give you the CT you're after, or you can experiment with different strength gels that take the light leak into account.
 
This is what it looks like. I have been taping the gel but you can see how much of a pain it is. Btw this is Adorama Glow brand. It was only $55 and has served me well for my limited use. To bad there isn't an easy way to use gels
parabolic inside.jpg
Aputure looks like this
light dome.jpg
 
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that aputure looks nice. did you cut your gel into a circle? maybe you could clip it to the 4 spokes surrounding the cob if it were a little larger than the opening such that it could curl up into a bit of a dome? it might not end up gelling 100% of the light, but probably 98% of the light that makes it out of the unit

a lot of times if i'm going quick and dirty, I just attach gels to the front of a softbox and cover as much of the area as I can. which is quick if I have large gels to work with. if I'm changing the color instead of adding diffusion, I don't worry that much if there's a little bit of ungelled area. but it sort of depends on the situation
 
right now I just have a square piece of gel that I awkwardly tape. my issue is gaining access to that area. there is a small zipper entry just big enough for my hand and the top access is blocked by the ribs. so maybe i just need a bigger piece of gel cut into a circle with a hole in the center to put on top of the ribs. the Aputure isn't a perfect solution either because the gel holder is only available in the larger version. The mini you need to swap the inner baffle to a gold one. I use these for quick travel setup where I often don't have the space.
 
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You could try a sort of circular cone shape, it might just be a trapezoid strip etc. and place it on top of the ribs (side away from COB).

Untitled.jpg
 
Peter C. said:
right now I just have a square piece of gel that I awkwardly tape. my issue is gaining access to that area. there is a small zipper entry just big enough for you hand and the top access is blocked by the ribs. so maybe i just need a bigger piece of gel cut into a circle with a hole in the center to put on top of the ribs. the Aputure isn't a perfect solution either because the gel holder is only available in the larger version. The mini you need to swap the inner baffle to a gold one. I use these for quick travel setup where I often don't have the space.
Click to expand...

Just saw this response. Yeah I'd avoid going under the ribs.
 
I had the same softboxes by godox, and the westcott one with the same problem.
The easiest solution is to get a different softbox, which is what I did.
The "triopo" ones on ali express have the snap in rods and I just gel the inside with the large sheets (almost 2x2).
The triopo ones are a bit shallow which is nice for space, but I wouldn't gel with the 600D as it would probably be too hot.
They're also quite plasticky so I don't know how it will go with heavy use, I've only used them a few times so far.
You can search for "triopo 120cm bowens"

The laofas/nicefoto etc ones are more circular with more rods, and are twice the price
Also an option is the Angle parabolic quick open ones on BH

The aputure is smaller than the laofas ones, and 3 times the price of the triopo.

I imagine you get what you pay for, since it's just OMB for me I went for the triopo, but for sure if you give it to someone else don't expect it to survive very long (although to be fair most softboxes are probably the same)
That being said, the tripo is 1kg / 2.2lbs so it's very light.
 
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Peter C. said:
Ive been having trouble gelling parabolics that have internal umbrella like ribs on the inside. They help quickly opening and closing but get in the way of attaching a gel. At the time I needed a parabolic, Aputure was out of stock, they have a better design that has an unobstructed center with a gel holder. On my last job the gel shifted touched the glass in front of the led chip, melting, sticking, and then smoking until all the residue burned off. Any ideas mounting gel without it burning.
Click to expand...

It's the type of Parabolic you are using, those funky umbrella type. The cheapo Nice Foto and Laofas I have are easy to clip a 12x12 gel to the rods on the inside, either
right on the built in first layer diffuser or right behind it. I rarely do that I just use them at 5600k but I have done it for a hair light once or twice.

The Aputure gel holder models would be best probably if this is something you need to do all of the time?
 
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