After doing my last couple shoots with small strobe on location, I realized I needed a modifier that was big and soft like the PLM, but fast and easy to setup in the dark. Something with good spill control like the 24” Qbox softbox, but able to cover more that one person. Funny thing was I already had it in my wishlist at Adorama.com. It turns out that Lastolite makes something that fit the bill perfectly. Its called the Umbrella Box. Its 40”, so its pretty soft. Its all one piece construction, so there’s no assembly and it pops open just like an umbrella. The outer shell is made of a rubberized fabric which means there’s is no light leakage at all, and its well constructed for years of service. You’re basically getting a 40” Octabank for $72 shipped free from Amazon.com, or $67.95 plus $7 shipping from Adorama.com. Here’s some product shots and some test shots with a single SB-28 mounted in it.
The center section has three zippers to close up the area around the shaft nicely with no awkward strings with claps.
The spill is very nicely controlled with a distinct but soft edge to the light, similar to a softbox.
The left image is centered to the light, and right image has the light feathered away using only the very edge.
Here’s some images of how even the light spread is inside the Umbrella box. The SB-20 has the 20mm diffuser pulled out. The image on the right is a few stops underexposed to show any unevenness in the spread…but there is none.
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