Bredan, Depends on your shooting style, really. Soft boxes are the best form of illumination but they don't transport too easily, being a general PITA to strip down and set up, so they're best in a permanent studio environment. OTOH they get the most from a light because they are foil lined inside. The light that is bounced back from the diffuser is recirculated into the diffuser again, a simple diffusing umbrella can't do that and loses the back-scattered light. A soft box also gives you an unbroken lit surface whereas an umbrella's lit surface is interrupted by its spokes and they ~will~ show up as reflections in the most unwanted places, such as a portrait sitter's eyes.
But if portability is paramount the you would find that umbrellas are very lightweight and easy to set up and stow away. They also come in many "flavours", translucent to beam the light through for the softest effect, white lined to bounce light for a slightly less soft effect but more efficient use of light, and foil-lined (in silver or gold) for high efficiency but not so soft a quality of light. There is also a hybrid type of umbrella/soft-box (sorry can't remember its name) that is two umbrellas, one translucent and the other foil-lined, that face each other with the light mounted inside and facing the foil. This makes it ~almost~ as soft and efficient as a soft-box and ~almost~ as portable as an umbrella. If you can find one it should be worth considering. Try movie industry suppliers if photo suppliers can't help, I seem to recall that they are movie accessories. Hope this helps you to choose. Regards, Anthony Farr ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brendan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Softbox or umbrella? Next week I'm going to order the > Alien bee B1600 unit and wondered which would be the > most usefull accessory if I can only have 1, an > umbrella or softbox. I know soft boxes loose less > light but I want as little shadow as possible with one > main light source, no more deer caught in headlights > looks as with on camera flashes, even when bounced or > diffused. Any advise on placement of the light would > also be nice, I have the AF500 that I can use for > background or hair light and I'm still getting a > little 100ws unit to. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
