Super basic portrait lighting setup?

[richnmib]

FWIW, and in One Opinion, the softbox problem for speedlights is much more than just the awkward mounting. The problem is also the fresnel lens on the speedlight, focusing a narrow beam.

Your link says the softbox is 32x12.5x25 cm. I assume that means 32x25, and 12 cm deep.
That is only about 12x10 inches, not very large. And 5 inches deep if the head does not extend very far inside. The head is at most 5 inches from the front panel.

So the trig says the 32x25 angle from 12 cm is 106x92 degrees to fill the front fabric.

A speedlight coverage at 24mm zoom is about 80x60 degrees FX, or 58x44 degrees DX (from rear of most Nikon flash manuals, SB-910 quoted here). It is designed to cover what a 24mm lens would see.

So at most, the speedlght makes a bright spot in the center of the front panel. Kinda like a shoot-through umbrella choked up close. But we can turn it around to be a reflected umbrella, with speedlight at end of a longer shaft, and can fill the entire 45 inch fabric, to be a BIG light, for less money.

Light does come out of the small softbox, but whereas studio lights are used bare bulb in softboxes, with greater than 180 degree spread inside there, which the reflective side walls mix all up, and it comes out diffused, like a softbox.

Oops! My bad. It says 32 inches on top line, but says cm on bottom line, which I read. The angles still compute the same regardless, but it is bigger than I thought.

I just posted that link to show that you can get a soft box that is bigger than 8"X12" for a speed light.

 

[WayneF]

Yeah, but mounting is an issue that has to be done differently.

Studio lights mount on light stands, and the softbox mounts on the studio light, which holds the large box up. There are various mountings, but they are designed to do it though. Huge six foot boxes can still be a problem in some cases. That can't work for speedlights, a heavy box has to be mounted on the stand, and it holds up the little speed light.

I've always wondered if it could help speedlights (in softboxes) if the front fresnel lens could simply be removed. Still not bare bulb all around, but that might let the light disperse a little more. And just a little more redesign ought to help it a lot. That would expose some high voltage at the flash tube, but not really different than studio lights. The studio lights are not handled as much though, not while in use.

But really, if softbox is the way we want to go, we can name cases when some properly designed studio lights are less expensive than some speedlights. Like two Alienbees for the price of one SB-910. And more power and with proper modifier mounting and faster recycle and fan cooling and AC operation, etc.