Softbox setup

[dlang]

Does anyone know where I can get a sofbox setup for around 200 to 250 (light, speed ring, box) I'm reluctant to buy a britek for obvious reasons, and I've also tried the amvona stuff..literally worst experience I've had for literal junk. I know it's probably a long shot, but has anyone had luck with a less expensive soft box setup??

 

[FiddlerMD]

i looked for the very same advice, and my search provided me with some users being rather satisfied with JTL lights off ebay .. 500wat lamp, softbox and stand is like $150 .. i'm thinking of getting a couple myself

 

[dlang]

Cool thanks fiddler. I did a search and couldn't find any useful info. I'll go check out the JTL's

 

[hemophilia]

Hey dlang.... which amvona stuff were you dissatisfied with?

I got one of their softboxes, and although it's a bit unwieldy and non-standard, it's still really solid and TOTALLY unbeatable for the price. I'm not going to say it's as nice as the pro-gear that costs 10x as much, but I was fairly happy with it and certainly wouldn't characterize the experience as as "worst experience ...for junk". I'd say it was a great deal on an OK product. So I'm just curious as to why your experience was so bad.

-Kevin

 

[Cool Lights]

You might consider a fluorescent softbox. If you use the 200w bulb like shown here you get an equivalent of 800 watts of incandescent light for only drawing about 200 watts. So you're not heating your subject up in quite the same way you would with an 800 watt light.

 

[dlang]

Hey dlang.... which amvona stuff were you dissatisfied with?

I got one of their softboxes, and although it's a bit unwieldy and non-standard, it's still really solid and TOTALLY unbeatable for the price. I'm not going to say it's as nice as the pro-gear that costs 10x as much, but I was fairly happy with it and certainly wouldn't characterize the experience as as "worst experience ...for junk". I'd say it was a great deal on an OK product. So I'm just curious as to why your experience was so bad.

Do you really want to get me started on this one?? OK well to make a really long story short, first I happily ordered my new softbox only to wait 3 weeks before it arrived. This was after trying numerous times trying to get a hold of the company with no luck, just an answering machine. The guy did not contact me until about 10 days (and four messeges, two emails)later. Then when he finally contacted me he informed me that it did not get shipped. He promised me 2 day shipping to make up for the mistake, 7 days later I finally got my light. I openned the box and everything was fine until I started to put thing together. They only packed 3 of the four softbox rods, so the waiting continues. I went through the whole trying to contact them motions with lot's of frustration....and got my rod once again a week later. So I finally assemble the thing only to reallze there was a defect in the lights housing that prevented me from putting the speed ring on. Maybe some have had a good experience but mine was horrible. The lights are really cheap and will fall apart on you, the soft box itself is actually not so bad. The stand is cheap but can be useful. Anyhow there's my story Oh one more thing, try packing the 8" lamp with you on a shoot and not breaking it....which if you did would cost you over 50 bucks! Poor design if you ask me. Just my opinion. I'm glad to hear you've had a good experience, I wouldn't wish mine upon anyone. Now I'm looking for alternatives.

 

[dlang]

I'm still open for replies on this one. If anyone has used the jtl's and it hasn't been a nightmare let me know. The only thing I could find on them here was in a post named steve Kaeser....and in that post someone commented that these were britek lights? I've read enough about britek to not want to take the gamble. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[FiddlerMD]

from what i understand, these are NOT briteks but are in the same category (cheap). One dvx member (disjecta) has these and I pm'd him about them asking:
----------
I was just wondering how you like it sometime later - has it held up well? how's the quality (for the price)? how portable is it?
Thanks.
------------------

His reply was the following:

----------------
Don't have a lot of time so here's a quick answer:

Love it
Still working great
Great customer service
Very portable.


---------


seemed like good enough for me .. if anyone else care to comment on JTL's, i'd love to know

 

[dlang]

Ok I think I figured it out. Steve Kaesler sells JTL's and Britek. They do seem similar in that they both take fuses and are identicle in price....but needless to say they/re different lights. It's cool to hear someone had a good experience with the JTL's, but you hear good experience with the Briteks too, but only about 50 percent of the time....I just want to make sure that's not the case with the JTL's as well. I wish the rifa wasn't so dang expensive. It's a little rediculous if you ask me, but what can you do.

 

[PaPa]

You might consider a fluorescent softbox. If you use the 200w bulb like shown here you get an equivalent of 800 watts of incandescent light for only drawing about 200 watts. So you're not heating your subject up in quite the same way you would with an 800 watt light.

what are the temps of these lights? Do they flicker?

 

[zimzum]

i have 2 britec softboxes(the 600 w that switchable to 300w) i got from ros tronic and used them once on a 6 hr shoot in my house with no problems at all!they came in a nice carrying case ect.. allthough i wish i would have waited till i learned more about lighting and what i really want wich is a 7 foot octogan from photoflex.

so now im gonna have brand new britecs sitting in the corner collecting dust i guess!

 

[dlang]

If you truly have briteks that work then I'd take em' off you. The gamble is buying them from the factory and not knowing if you got the lemons or the good ones. I have another guy I work with that bought the two 650 with 24" softbox and I love them. I have used them on several shoots with no problems. It's such a bummer that the company is producing inconsistent lights cause these are great when they work. Let me know if you want to get rid of them.

 

[Cool Lights]

what are the temps of these lights? Do they flicker?

No flicker with the right bulb and you can get it in 5500K, 5000K or 2700K right now. We aren't selling these solutions directly because we didn't source them at the proper costs and quantities to offer it directly.

When you choose to buy this fixture I'll send you links on where to get the right softbox hood and bulbs from other vendors we've dealt with.

In the future we'll have 3200K and 5600K on our site to go along with our other 55w bulb offerings. Its just a question of finding the right solution. 3200K/5600K can be had but it takes a very large order for them to make it worth while for the manufacturer to do it. ALso, we were wanting to offer a universal voltage model bulb that will adjust to whatever country it operates in--which is very rare to find right now. Usually you can only get them in 110v or 220v but not one that will work with both.

We weren't wanting to offer some of the cheap 6500K alternatives we found in China. It's not always about saving money...