prevent sinking softboxes

Patryk_Rebisz

Patryk_Rebisz

Veteran
anyone has found a decent solution to prevent softboxes from sinking? It seems you tighten and tighten the screw and somehow the softbox still sometimes sinks (medium chimera on 650 arri). The only thing i came up with so far it to pace a stand under the softbox as extra support. Any ideas?
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
anyone has found a decent solution to prevent softboxes from sinking? It seems you tighten and tighten the screw and somehow the softbox still sometimes sinks (medium chimera on 650 arri). The only thing i came up with so far it to pace a stand under the softbox as extra support. Any ideas?
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The mount that my 'flash' lamps had to attach them to the stand, had small 'teeth' which prevented 'sag'. I don't know that the flash head was as heavy as a continuous lamp head, but it seems to me that such 'teeth' would mitigate sag until they were worn out.
 
It's a regular Arri 650 we are talking about with only a washer between screw and the head. The forces of the heavy chimera is too much thus the sag BUT any solutions to fix it?
 
In the past I used a bungee cord in a pinch. It worked, not extremely well...but it did the job for a few hours. Just make sure to wrap part of it in black wrap so it doesn't burn.
 
There are some speed rings that have a baby pin on the bottom side. Use those and grab it with a stand.
 
A medium Chimera on a single Arri 650? That is way too big(size and weight). You should really be using something open face in a soft box instead of wasting a fresnel in there. When shooting tungsten and not keying with Kino's, I use inexpensive Lowel Omni's in my Chimera's and "paint" the background with my fresnels. You should really use a much larger light source in a soft box that large.
 
Run&Gun said:
A medium Chimera on a single Arri 650? That is way too big(size and weight). You should really be using something open face in a soft box instead of wasting a fresnel in there. When shooting tungsten and not keying with Kino's, I use inexpensive Lowel Omni's in my Chimera's and "paint" the background with my fresnels. You should really use a much larger light source in a soft box that large.
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That's not really correct as with the lens the beam gets focused and thus can be stronger (thus more kick through the softbox). Yes, you can claim that by focusing the beam you end up with harder light but again practice shows different results. You end up with more punch and the ambient light from within the softbox softens the shadows.

Moreover i'm pretty sure my open face 1k sinks with softbox as well.
 
I looked at your site(nice work, btw) and you obviously know what you are doing, but I stand by my comment that a fresnel isn't the best type of fixture to use in a soft box. Yes, I understand what you are saying about focusing the light beam (and it is a quick adjustment for you), but the idea is to spread the light across as much of the panel as possible and turn it into one large diffuse light source. That's why the speed ring adapter for my 800 HMI is designed to use the bare lamp with the reflector removed. You then have the lamp emitting light in all directions inside the soft box(bouncing/reflecting off of the reflective coating inside as well as hitting the front panel directly) and uniformly lighting the front panel. I also still say that a medium Chimera, which is 3'x4', is too big for a single 650 watt fresnel. There's no way to spread the light across a panel that big at that close of a distance. What are you lighting? Most people that I see using a 650 Arri(or similar sized fixture) in a Chimera are using them for sit-down interview type shoots and they are using the XS size(16"x22"). And yes, I have used fresnels inside Chimeras, too ; )

My two cents…

Keep up the good work.
 
I agree 100 %

Soft box...fill the diff frame panel extents with an open face. Fresnel defeats purpose and has inefficient output per watt.

Corner to corner at that short throw will defeat a fresnel.

But ..as regards dropping issue. Try a fibre washer in the yoke and add wings to the lock off for added leverage.
 
Those are theories, while in practices you want a variable amount of softness - that is, sometimes spottiness in the middle with ambiance on the sides is what you are looking for. Yes, sometimes you want the whole soft box be filled with light, sometimes you don't. There is no rules. Moreover some of you mistakenly presume that lens in front of the light DECREASES the output while in reality it actually INCREASES it. Just have a look at photo metrics at Arri websites, if you don't believe me.

Details aside though, "Shooter" what do you mean " add wings to the lock off for added leverage"?
 
I use this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/124821-REG/Chimera_9510_Speed_Ring_for_Video.html Very study! The handle makes a nice place to put a "wrapped" cable when pointed up.

I know that Totas aren't the highest quality in terms of construction, but if you put a velcro strap on the header cable near the female end and use that to make a "U" shaped loop to strain relief the cable to the bottom of the speed ring the cables last a very, very long time. The plug in the back of the Tota will go straight out and not sag ruining the female end....

I have two Totas lamped 750 on those rings plus cables and they fit in a milk crate. I have the safety screen installed to protect the lamps and the only time I've had to replace a lamp was because one was physically hit hard on the screen. The lamps last for many hundreds of hours so it is economical.

Sturdy connection with no sagging.

The lamp is wide so it "fills" the Chimera much more evenly than a fresnel or an open face Arri 1K or the like. Way better than the new Arri 750 open face. (If you look at the Chimera from the talent's POV it is noticeably more even than other lights.) If you want less light add the baffle/diaper. Get it closest to the talent as possible to make the source effectively bigger and you get softer light, if that is what you want and it is all I ever want.

That is all a Tota is good for for the most part!
 
This is a crude solution that i came up with, a T-bar that mount to another stand or through cartolini > grip head > boom arm to the light stand.

IMG_0089_s.jpg
 
Details aside though, "Shooter" what do you mean " add wings to the lock off for added leverage"?
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My Arri 650s have a small Knob with plastic wings that are about 32 mm span ( 1 .25 inch)

If I was dedicating one to your purpose..I would get the grips to make me a bolt with some wings welded to it that spanned maybe 55 - 90 mm (3- 3.5 inches) and I would put one on each side of the lamp yoke.

A wing is just made of a piece of steel rod and can be flat or bent... that will weld to the nut head.
 
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