I bought a softbox from Calumet, they have their own brand and they are definitely less expensive than Chimeras. I'm very happy with mine, so just passing the info along. Here's an example, the medium size is $70 without the speedring. (I got mine on sale, which they have if you get on their mailing list.)
Calumet Nova Soft Box, Medium - RM3132 - RM3132

It fits perfectly on my Coollights 600 LED, even down to having a square opening in the back. I just orange clip it to the handle.

I've got a few Plume Wafer boxes that I use with still/strobes.

Is it correct to assume that mounting an Omni lite would be a potential fire hazard in combination with the Plumes?

Those Omni's get hot. Are the Photoflex boxes specific for video apllication with hot lights?

Jonathan

Dana, would you recommend coollights Fluorescent lights, such as the cl-255md, as well as their led ones? If you get 5600K coollights, what's the most efficient way of changing the color to 3200K and vice versa?

I'm having trouble coming up with an economical way to use the same lights in daylight and 3200K tungsten. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Natan: The Coollights fixture link is here: CL-SFT1 Cool Lights Fluorescent Video Softbox Fixture - Cool Lights USA. You should be able to find your way around from there.

You need to buy a bulb (the flos come in both 3200K and 5500K so there is your ability to match light) and the softbox itself. Richard Andrewski of Coollights can set you up with one of their softboxes to match, and they used to sell a complete kit, I just didn;t search far enough possibly. That light setup with their softbox is one of my flo softboxes and I like it very much, especially for the price. I also have a mogul base halogen bulb I can use with an open softbox...

The fact that his softbox includes the grid is a nice bonus!

Chris: Two questions about the coollights:

1. On their website, it says not to use the softbox diffuser with the CL-SFT1 very often because it could get hot etc. This is a problem, because that light may be too strong for certain circumstances.

2. The CL-255MD and CL-455MD look great, but when you dim them, does the color temperature change/go down? If they don't, I think these lights would work pretty well with or without a softbox.

1. I use the diffuser most of the time and have not noticed a heat build up problem.

2. I cannot comment on those units as I have not used nor own them

I see there IS a kit, at the bottom of the page link I sent you. It is $194 for everythying but the stand... but that only includes your choice of ONE bulb. Still a good deal in my estimation and I am very happy with mine.

Really? Thats great. I bet there's a lot more people out there that would like to hear that. Dan Brockett for one had been searching for a square speedring that could work so he had to make one since he didn't find it. Can you post any pictures of the setup here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-ma...speedring.html


Sounds basically like you didn't need a speedring, are just using the softbox itself and clamping it somehow to our carry handle?

Thanks for sharing that!

On item 1, its no longer a problem, we took care of that issue.

On item 2, yes there is a change in color temperature when you dim past 50% or so. It is the same for all fluorescent units, its just the behavior of fluorescent (and LEDs for that matter) when you dim them. HMI would have the problem as well but you can't dim it below 50% anyway without losing ignition, so you won't see the issue. Even tungsten has some change when dimmed.

We also include bank select switches on the dimming models to help for when you think it might be too severe. But, these are very popular units and no one is complaining so I would say its not a problem for most people. Those that do find it a problem just buy the non-dimmable bank select only models.

I use totas with chimera and photoflex. Chimera is noticeably better made.

for smaller fixtures go with rifa. On the new ex line you can switch from tungsten to daylight balanced compact fluorescents.

Aiyeeeeee! just noticed someone say they use Calumet. - you are sure that those Calumet softboxes are for video (hot) lights and not for photo strobes. You will start a fire if you use a photo box with a tota

Thanks Chris, we do still have the kit. Just look under product categories and "Kits".

Hi Peter,

What size Chimera are you using with your Tota. And, how much do you cook your subjects. Those little lights get really hot.

Garrett

Yeah, you're right about using hot lights with the Calumet softbox. I wouldn't recommend it either. It works great with the LED light, however. I will post pics soon, but just want to clarify that the speed ring is still round, and the opening of the softbox is square.

Please do!

Exceptionally hot. Two or three in a home setting for more than about an hour and it's balmy. It's also a bear to power them from a single breaker. Both the heat and the power consumption are the big reasons we started buying flo lights.

Natan, there's efficient and there's economical. The lowest cost way is to put a CTB gel over a 3200K source. That costs you (other than the gel, which is cheap) light output, and doesn't impact the temperature of the lamp. The nice thing is you can dial in the temperature a bit, with either a 1/2 CTB or a full. I'm not a lighting designer - so when I say "a bit", part of that is my saying "it's a bit less like math than it looks."

But absolutely, the lowest cost route is to use your existing Totas and Omnis and gel them as needed.

That solution is warm. When we put two Omnis and two Totas up in softboxes, all about four to six feet from our subject to achieve what we feel is proper lighting, the temperature on the subject pops from 70 to about 90 in 30 minutes. That's in a room with 10 foot ceilings, about 18 by 30 in size. Add another 30 minutes and they get warmer still...amplified by the need to cut off the AC during takes, and the poor air handling of residential AC units.

That's why flo lights were so important to us. Figuring out where you're going to shoot, making the most use of your money, and finding the best solution are always key - but they're always in conflict, at some level. We went looking for the best solution at our pricepoint with the strong condition that it work as the package grew. The Omni and Totas now serve as fill lights, and even hair lights when on a truss or a boom.