Some of you may know by now that I've been playing around with a monolight lately. I have a couple of bridal parties/special projects in the next few months that I thought would require a bit more "punch" than my Vivitar 285HVs (and even my 580EX) could provide. So, with that in mind, I purchased a used White Lightning Ultrazap 1600 from KEH. I must admit, I've been enjoying the massive amount of light this monolight can lay down. For now, though, I don't have the Vagabond required to take it to location shoots (that will likely be my next purchase).
For lighting large groups (or even an average family), I wanted a softbox that could provide me with flattering lighting from one end of the frame to the other. I found a 4'x6' softbox on ebay. No matter how many times I looked at the dimensions, it never really sunk in how big this thing was until I was trying to put it together for the first time. It is HUGE. With its size comes equally large problems.
The first problem--this thing is heavy. The first time I connected the softbox to my monolight, the monlight pointed straight downward. No matter how much force I applied to the tensioning handle, the softbox would not stay put. The weight was too much. I took the rig apart and found where a rubber washer might solve the problem. A quick trip to Lowes and a large rubber washer seemed to fit the bill. Now everything stays in place with a normal amount of tensioning.
The second problem--rotating the softbox. The speedring allows you to rotate the softbox to any angle (portrait, landscape, and anywhere in-between). I put the rig together with the softbox in a portrait orientation. When I rotated the softbox, the softbox disconnected from the holding fingers and fell to the ground (skimming the flash tube and modeling lamp in the process). I tested out the monolight and everything was ok (after pushing the flash tube back into place, that is). That worried me. I tested the rig later in the day and was able to keep the softbox in landcape orientation--but I was very careful when I rotated it. When using it like that, I'll likely have an assistant holding the speedring at the top (if possible) to ensure it doesn't slip off the holding fingers. Of course, if the light is high off the ground, that won't be possible. I'm thinking about buying a Paul C. Buff Alien Bees speedring to see if it will seat more securely in the holding fingers.
The third problem--this thing is too large to be used indoors under most circumstances. Large event rooms will be fine (unless there is a low ceiling). But this behemoth barely fits through doorways--it's just too bulky to use effectively in tight quarters.
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Originally Posted by Jarhead5811
