Question about soft box

[ric_yama]

At photo rental shop I just knew that there're two different interiors avairable, white and silver, for medium sized soft box. What is the difference. I'm sure the one with silver interior gets brighter

than the one with white. But, besides that any difference? Please, advise me how to choose one for

different situations.

thanks in advance.

ric

[steve_artz]

Any time you bounce light off a white surface, the white surface

absorbs UV and the bounced light is slightly warmer in color. White

interior soft boxes produce a warmer light than a silver interior box.

One theory is that the silver interior boxes are used with UV coated

(warm) flashtubes and the white interior boxes with non-UV tubes, with

those combos giving a "normal" color. Results with a UV-coated

flashtube in a white interior box would be quite warm. This is more a

question for critical color on positive transparency film, and you'd

still need a color meter and some testing to be sure you're getting

exactly what you want. If your shooting color-neg it won't make much

difference and on black & white it won't make any difference at all.

[ric_yama]

Thanks Steve, actually I shoot only black and white film. How do they make a difference

in terms of contrast and brightness. If I put a white liner(white screen to cut some light)

inside a soft box with silver interior, do they, white and silver soft box, produce same kind of light??

Any input will be greatly appreciated!! thanks ric

[ellis_vener_photography]

Silver lined softboxes tend to produce a bit more specular light,

but that will also depend on the diffusion material used. More

importantly you should look at the design of the softbox. Plume

Wafers have less fall off in light intensity (it is tunable as well)

from the edge to the center than Chimera, which in turn have

better characteristics than the cheaply made knock offs from

Photoflex. The Chimeras and Plume softboxes are more rugged

as well.<P>I'm not a dealer or manufacturer's rep, just a

photographer who has used all three brands (I now stick to

Plume and Chimera).

[ka_ni_na_beh]

fuck off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is a soft box?