Wednesday 13 January 2010

Continuous light soft boxes, what would be best for me?

I am new to photography and am going to be starting a college for photography next month. In the meantime I would really like to set up a "studio". I would like to put up a background stand and buy some backdrops. I wanted to get a continuous light softbox in the meantime, and eventually buy a softbox with flash after I have learned enough about it in school. I was looking online and saw two different options and wondered what would be best for me. I also don't understand what amount of wattage bulb I should be looking for, my "studio" has quite a bit of natural light due to a large window, so that may make a difference.

The first softbox I was looking at was 50x70 cm with an 85 watt bulb, however that doesnt sound like enough light to me.

And the other was a 20 x 28 inch softbox, with a 1000 watt bulb

Also, I have a fear that since these are so low priced that they may be cheap and cause a fire hazard as the lights get hot.

Could anyone recomment what size of softbox I should get (for infant portraits) a

Best Answer

You are correct that the 85 watt one would be to low a wattage. It is probably made for taking pictures of small things for Ebay and the like.

For the price, the 1000 watt s box isn't bad, but yes, quartz lights do generate lots of heat. On the up side, what you see is what you get.

Most strobes incorporate incandescent, "modeling lights", that provide enough light to see what your trying to shoot, but don't allow you too use anything but manual settings, as when the much more powerful strobe goes off, it changes your white balance, and usually washes out your picture.

So until you become familiar with how to manually set your exposures, for the price, the 20 x 28 soft box might work well for you. Just don't leave it on for extended lengths of time.

Answer by c_j_ryan on 29 Dec 2009 05:44:44

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