Britek HS600 Strobe

[mlhostetter]

I recently purchased the Britek HS600 Strobe kit and it should be

arriving in a day or two. This kit consists of two heads, two 20"x20"

softboxes and light stands. My question is this, does anyone have

any experience with these lights or any tricks with using them that

can help me achieve good portrait lighting results.

I have seen references to Britek in threads, but not the answer to my

question. I even ran a search on google before posting,

soooooooooooooo...

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Marylou

[brooks short]

Marylou,

 

I'm not familiar with the Britek HS600 flashes. But I can tell you that 20" softboxes are pretty small if you're looking for a soft lighting effect.

[chris m., central florida]

Brooks is right, but you can judge for yourself depending on the type of shooting you'll be doing. If you are shooting head and shoulders portraits of singles or couples or reasonably sized still life objects, the 20X20 softboxes should be just fine. I recently did my own research to determine what size softbox I want, and decided to go with a 30X40 as the minimum size. I shoot a lot of 1/2 and 3/4 length poses, and this is the minimum size I'd need without sacrificing portability. I betchya I could get by with a 20X20 if that's what my budget allowed. I'm curious to see what other users of 20X20 softboxes are experiencing.

 

If you find the 20X20 size too limiting, you may want to try picking up a large umbrella or two (40" or larger), you'll get a greater light spread of light, although you'll find you'll need to increase your light output to full power and/or increase your ISO. Umbrellas are very reasonably priced through B&H. I like the Photogenic Eclipse as the reflective interior material covers the ribs. Neat item.

[brooks short]

Hi Chris,

 

I see that you're in central Florida. I own a commercial advertising studio in Tampa. Drop me a line sometime if you'd like to get together. We've been shooting digitally with a ProBack Plus for the last couple of years. You might enjoy seeing how a medium format digital back performs in the studio.