I spent a lot of time looking for good CFL bulbs intending to make my own softbox using them. I'm pretty handy with making things out of wood, board, foam core etc. Sure, my time costs me something as well (Years ago an accountant told me, "You cost the company $xxx an hour, so don't think you come for free. You're better off spending your time earning money for the company and paying someone else to do somethings").

Well I found some great CFL bulbs (if anyone is interested):
100W light output/26W power consumption
5500K
92 CRI
$17.99 each
http://www.naturallighting.com/web/shop.php?crn=565&rn=2312&action=show_detail

After I bought 12 of these intending to make my own softbox I found these. Oh by the way, I think these bulbs are just great. They are full spectrum bulbs and I've read a lot of good things about full spectrum lights (health and productivity benefits).

Anyway, this is the kit I bought:
http://www.skaeser.com/servlet/Detail?no=519

I'll be posting a quick and dirty clip I shot using these lights with information related to the clip in that thread. I hope this information helps others like me who are starting out and are probably looking for a good set of lights that are pretty reasonably priced. I'd be interested in opinions from everyone, especially on the video clip.

Each softbox is 32" x 32" and 900W of light output (but using only 252W of power). The lights were pretty simple to set up (3 minutes - which includes time to figure things out) and the quality of materials used is pretty good as well. The power consumption is import if you're shooting at home or offices where larger light could easily trip circuit breakers. I've had this happen to me shooting using a green screen, where I needed a lot of lights just to light of the green screen evenly.

This image below shows the various parts of the kit.
http://download45.mediafire.com/zotg1g9at34g/09z2uo2wm9u/176.jpg

This next one shows the view of the back of the light head. Notice the "master" (green) switch and the 3 smaller switches. These smaller switches allow you to control the banks of bulbs, so you can have 2,4 or 6 bulbs on. Anoter cool thing is that the light can be mounted either horizontally or vertically on the stand. Of course in my case it makes no difference (32x32) but they have other lights that use a similar light head...

http://download92.mediafire.com/mnd9g2m5utbg/8234kotg2mg/177.jpg

The next one shows a close up of the light mounted on the stand. Both the Light and the stand have these quater turn levers that go from completely loose to fully tight allowing for quick height adjustment and Light tilt adjustment. The other lights I have (Britek) have screw type knobs so I thought I'd mention that.

http://download45.mediafire.com/akdedq33dafg/5ozz3zz3mei/180.jpg

The next image shows the "inside" view of the light. The silver reflective material inside the softbox as well and the light bulbs mounted on the light head). These bulbs (the ones supplied with the lights) are a bit larger than the regular bulbs including the bulbs I bought, but they fit in the same sized bulb holder (U.S house hold).
The bulbs are:
150W light output/42W power consumption.
2800 lumens
5100K
CRI - don't know.

http://download282.mediafire.com/xjq3dvjjte4g/f1gt5tbid3e/178.jpg

This last image shows the softbox assembled and mounted on its stand with other known items as a point of reference for size. The computer monitor you see is a 21" monitor. The light is turned off by the way.

http://download257.mediafire.com/yyc454gzc1mg/bjgjml3bcel/181.jpg

Moved from Canon XH to Photon Management.

What we'd really like to see are stills from a video shot with the light. ;)

Oh, Will that help determine the quality? I'll post links to a few.

Seun,

Here are 3 frame grabs

http://download178.mediafire.com/uej4mkikdzvg/8zotz6miirn/Softbox1.jpg

http://download178.mediafire.com/dwtozuifcplg/5qtw9nmjt9y/Softbox4.jpg

http://download178.mediafire.com/ngw3vvoxbxog/6mkdw5vamot/Softbox5.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to post this info.

None of the images are working for me.

Emre,

What is happening exactly? These images are hosted on www.mediafire.com Can you access their website?

The images do not show just adds they want you to click on.

Why not attach the images to this post?

Bill

Bill,

I don't see how I can attach images to this (or any other post). I don't see any option to do this.

When you see their website, on the left side of the page there is a yellow box that says "Click here to start download...".

Shiv, I'm getting popups and invitations to play online poker when I try and access the pics - I think that will put a lot of people off - it did me, sorry!

To include pics in a post look at the Additional Options dialog just below the text entry box. Click on Manage Attachments. Job done.

Looking forward to seeing them and thanks for the useful info so far.

Ian . . .

Ian,

I think you "special" types have this option. Us regulars don't. In my Additional Options box I see:

Misc Options with a checkbox
Thread Subscription Notification Type with a drop down.

That's it.

I'll put these picture on another server and post the links here.

Oh sorry Shiv! I spose I should be honoured to be special!! Look forward to seeing the images.

Ian . . .

http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox1.jpg
http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox4.jpg
http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox5.jpg

Yes you should be. Look at the perks you get! :)

When I got to 500 posts a man wearing a DVi t-shirt turned up at the door offering to type all future posts for me. Now that's service . . .

http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox1.jpg
http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox4.jpg
http://thehomefront.dynamicarchitects.com/dvinfo/Softbox5.jpg
Working great now.

Ok, to whomsoever is writing this:

Please let Ian know that I'm working on getting to 500 posts and then you can write my posts and Ian can find someone local to do his work for him :).

Please find the images of the lightboxes here:

http://photoalbum.matlus.com//AlbumView.aspx/6

You'll see them after the pictures of the Merlin.

Thanks for those pictures, Shiv. Your softlight light looks very natural.

Though the white balance is a little bit off, it actually appears to me as if the ladies' faces are illuminated by a window. I'm having this idea of positioning my lights to simulate window lighting but I wonder if that makes any sense!

Attached is a white balanced version of the first pic you posted.

Seun,

I had white balanced for the Softbox before shooting. There was sunlight coming in via a window (with a white shade) from the right side of the subjects (looking at the photo, the left side). The window was about 20ft from the subjects. That's the light that caused a highlight on the side of their face.

How do you tell if the white balance is off and how did you fix it?

Hmmm, we can't possibly judge the quality of any lighting fixture using a picture taken with the windows open! I'm not sure that the white balancing was off; perhaps the CFLs had a natural magenta cast? Either that or the wall is light magenta in color rather than white. I assumed that the wall was a white one. I attempted to white balance it using a color balance filter in the GIMP app.

The light from the window was not coming into the area where the subjects were, plus the window was quite far from the subjects. The window had a (white) shade pulled over it (diffusing it).

The wall behind the subjects was illuminated by the softbox only indirectly. The wall is white in so far as a "white" wall in a home. A white foam core board, or a white sheet of paper is much whiter than the wall.

The megenta - don't Canon cameras have more of a magenta then normal?

I think the picture's beautiful regardless. I think the lighting is soft and great.

Shiv, I bought the same lights about 2 months ago and have used them on a shoot once. I love the quality of the light as well. Now I need to experiment on controlling spill so I can get good subject/background seperation.

Video cameras reaction to light, vis a vis white balancing, is different than film. Film reallly is setup for 3200 or 5600 K. Video cameras could care less what the color temperature is. Hitting the WB switch, the camera 'assumes' you are pointing it at white and will adjust its R, its G and its B amplifiers in such a way that they are cumilatively sending out a white signal.

If your camera always seems magenta to you, get an extremely unsataurated magenta gel, hold it up to your lens when you do a white balance, and it will take the magenta down. If they still have them, a LEE or ROSCO color correction swatch book, with little sample gels all pinned together, is a great resource, as is a color accurate field monitor.

As to the Kaiser lights, I'm trying to figure out a way to carry them and set them up with lights screwed in, otherwise the setup time gets too long. But for the money, they are a good light.

Eric,

Thanks for the info.

I used a white foam core board to do the white balance for that clip. I'm planning on buying a swatch book because at a shoot I had a very difficult time finding a "white" something and then the camera wouldn't white balance for some reason. It took about 20 minutes of trying various angles/distances etc. to achieve white balance.


Yes, I love the lights too. They are cumbersome to transport in a way that they are ready to go. In my last shoot and carried one mounted while the other dismantled. That was the only way I could do it given the space in the rented SUV along with all the other stuff and equipment I had with me.

The whitest material I've been able to find is table salt. :-o