Chimera softbox soft vs. hard grid

[jeff__2]

Anyone have experience with a grid for the Chimera medium Super Pro Plus softbox (3'x4')?

I know the price of the metal honeycomb grid is twice that of the soft fabric egg crates. What else should I know?

 

What angle grid do I want for portraits shot at a distance of 3 - 5 feet from the front of the softbox?

 

I am having way too much spill from my softbox with no grid. A professional friend of mine has a metal grid on a 2'x3'

softbox

and he gets great results. I'd like to go less expensive and more portable with a fabric egg crate, if the photo quality is as

good as the metal grids.

 

Chimera website:

 

CHIMERA Soft Fabric Egg Crate Grid designations are 20 degree , 40 degree , and 60 degree . Beam angles at 50%

intensity are 30, 40, and 60 degrees.

Honeycomb Grid designations are 30° , 60° , and 90° . Beam angles at 50% intensity are 25, 35, and 45 degrees. The

Honeycomb Grid 60° is the most commonly used.

 

I assume the answer will be a 40 degree soft egg crate grid ($270) or a 60 degree ($600) metal honeycomb grid.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[garry edwards]

This thread may help http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/00Q79v

[john_duggan1]

Jeff,

 

I suspect your interest in grids for soft boxes may be due to the posts I made that were referred to by Garry above.

I'm going to assume you are new at this studio lighting scenario just as I am. If that's not the case, I apologize.

 

My experience is with a 24x32 Chimera Super Pro Plus and Model 20 fabric grid. As you can see from the sample

images I posted earlier, a Model 20 grid really constrains the side spray of light. The same white backdrop at the

same subject to background distance is featured in both images. The grid sucks up strobe power though, so you'll

need to keep that in mind. More significantly, light quality is changed. I happen to like a harder light, but I don't have

paying customers to please since this is a hobby intended for portraits of family and friends only. If my family and

friends don't like it, there's always Sears portrait studio :-)

 

I can tell you I am perfectly happy with the fabric grid and I wouldn't even remotely consider the metal honeycomb

version for reasons of cost and storage. The fabric grid is not delicate in the least. It is well constructed and

collapses to almost "sandwich bag" size for easy storage. There is no sewing at grid intersections. The vanes of the

grid are about the thickness of a sheet of copy paper and the horizontals are notched and pass through slots in the

verticals. The only sewing occurs where the ends of the verticals and horizontals connect at the edge of the velcro

attachment frame.

 

Given the fact that the specs for each grid size are given on the LightTools web site, it is entirely practical to make

your own grid for sizes larger than the Model 20 since the cell spacing is larger.

 

As you no doubt know, the cost of fabric grids for the 36x48 soft box range from $258 for the Model 40 to $650 for

the Model 20.

 

You are the only person who knows what kind of space you have, so I would suggest ordering the Model 40 from

B&H for $258 to see if it suits your space and style. If it doesn't, just return it. If you need something tighter than the

Model 40, I would suggest making it yourself. I have a Photoflex 36x48" soft box also. If I want to grid that, I will

make my own following the general design of the grid that I already have.

 

I don't know how Chimera can charge $650 for a Model 20 grid for a 36x48" soft box. It's not as though there is any

intricate sewing involved that would suggest high labor costs. The markup on these must be phenomenal.

 

If you do order a grid, please post your experiences with a couple of sample images. I think this would be of great

interest to people working in small home studios who plan to use multiple light setups. I think the reason the forums

don't have much information on fabric grids for soft boxes is because most studio-based working pro's have sufficient

studio space to get separation of light sources through natural falloff due to distance.

 

Let us know how things work out!

 

Regards,

 

John

[jeff__2]

John,

 

You and I are in the same exact situation - amateur home studio. I just took a portrait photography course and the pro had a hard honeycomb grid which worked great. I can't justify the expense and I can't store it easily - but if the quality of light is drastically better with the honeycomb than the soft eggcrate grid, I would consider it.

 

I was hoping for a few more people to comment - pro and con - comparing the hard vs. soft grids.

 

I agree, the markup must be tremendous but on both the hard and soft grids.

 

Jeff

[garry edwards]

Jeff,

 

Let's get this straight - the quality of light is NOT drastically better, just drastically different...

 

A honeycomb grid controls flare and controls light spread as its primary function, and as a secondary (often useful) function it also reduces the quantity of light.

 

But as with medicinal drugs, every effect also produces a side effect that may not be wanted. Honeycomb grids on softboxes produce a much harsher light and the softbox tends to lose its wraparound lighting effect. I'm NOT saying that the effect is the same as that of using a much smaller softbox in the first place, what I am saying is that honeycomb grids may be a mixed blessing

[john_duggan1]

Jeff,

 

It's only intuition on my part, but I can't imagine there would be much of a difference in light quality and spread

between a metallic (honeycomb) grid and an equivalent beam angle fabric grid. If there is a difference, it might be

attributable to the extreme regularity of the cells on the metallic grid by virtue of it being a solid design. That's not a

difference that would keep me awake at night, though :-)

 

I'll probably pull the old mannequin head out of the closet at the weekend and try 2 different fill scenarios: white

reflector fill from opposite the gridded key light and then soft on-camera axis fill using an ungridded soft box.

 

Hell, I might even try a 20 degree gridded reflector for a key light and see how that would compare to the gridded soft

box. I expect it would be significantly harder because of it's smaller relative size to the subject.

 

A mannequin head does not have skin texture so that would need to be factored in, but I don't want to subject my

family to excessive guinea pigging at the moment.

 

It's safe to assume I won't be getting any calls from Buckingham Palace to do an official portrait of the Queen any

time soon, but I couldn't care less. Half the fun is in the learning!

 

Jeff, what brand and power of light or lights are you using?

 

Regards,

 

John

[jeff__2]

>>Jeff, what brand and power of light or lights are you using? <<

Speedotron Force 10 - 1000w

Should be able to handle the light loss.

 

Thanks for the thoughts and advice.

 

Jeff