Which Fabric for PVC DIY Giant Area Softbox

[damon_perrott]

<p>I am interested in building a giant overhead area softbox to be hung from ceiling in my studio. the size will be 12'x6'. I will construct the frame from PVC pipe. There are a variety of options for building both the skin and the actual diffusion front of the Box. From a list of possible front diffusion material including ripstop nylon, artificial silk cloth, sailcloth, white bed sheets, and shower curtain, I have decided that commercial rolls of Rosco or Lee grid cloth will probably work the best and are not terribly expensive. HOWEVER, I cannot seem to decide on what material to use for INSIDE of box. My technique will be to bounce the lights into the back of the box and reflect light back down through grid cloth. This will eliminate need for baffle and will help keep depth of box down to 2.5 feet to take up less space. This inner fabric should be a WHITE reflective material (subjective choice here because I know silver is option as well) but I cannot decide on what to use. I do not want to use traditional foamboard for inside becuase I want the entire unit to be modular and collapsibe in the dean collins lightform panel style. I know that I could use ripstop nylon for inside, but this material is still slightly translucent. umbrellas which are used in REFLECTIVE mode often use a translucent material that can also be shot shoot-through so clearly this method might me ok. However it seems to me that using a completely opaque reflective material might be more efficient than a translucent. What fabric might this be? Any advice? Thanks</p>

[michael_notar1]

<p>been there done that. platic pipe is a no- no. it needs to be aluminum pipe/tubing about 1-1.5" diameter. PVC bends alot. loook at matthews/avengers overhead frames, hollywood uses them, thats the kind of construction i recommend. you can use whatever diffusion/bouce materials you want, they already exist they are called butterflies/ fabrics for the overhead frame.</p>

<p>i like rosco spun silver for bounce material personally for general use.</p>

<p>probably a mat silver interior wrapped with black duvatene to block out light.</p>

<p>put a light source ever 2-5 sq. ft pointing down with no reflector for even allumination.</p>

<p>after all that a chamira F2 modular softbox is what you need, i think they start at 5x10ft and also have a 10x20, 10x30, 15x40. </p>

[damon_perrott]

<p>Michael,<br>

Thank you for the respone. However I guess i left out one very important point. I am looking to do this all as cheaply as possible. I have seem the prices of the commercial made area light softboxes, butterflies, overheads, as well as a whole assortment of aluminum frames. The Chimera F2 10'x20' is $10,000. Enough PVC pipe to build my 6'x12' frame can be bought for not more than $100. A roll of Rosco Cinegel grid cloth runs about $105. Throw in another $100 for the reflective backing fabric and the entire box can be made for not more than $300 (vs $10,000!). Aluminum frames that hold butterfly fabric in that size start around $500 and that does not include the fabric which is another $300 to $600. Furthermore, OverHead Frames and butterflies are technically Light PANELS, not softboxes, so controlling spill becomes an issue which is why I want to build a softbox. I am looking to use PVC for price, not structural integrity. PVC does bend slightly but it is always possible to simply use a thicker grade pipe which would still be much cheaper that aluminum. IF you add enough cross supports at key places and keep the overall weight of box to a minimum, bending should not be a problem. Even if it were a problem, i think i could live with it and make it work for only spending $300. I know that both rosco and LEE make a silver reflective material that I could use to creating the backing. However my question was if anyone knew what suitable WHITE material could be used as a backing that is Opaque and not terribly expensive.</p>

[heller_harris]

<p>Try the home and garden store, where you can look at the white, paperlike material that they use to wrap shrubs for the winter. It's very inexpensive, sells by the yard/meter, and comes in one-meter width on large rolls. The material available here (the UK) works - I used it for a large frame once - but it may be different where you live. BTW, they sell the same material in black, which could be used to tease the sides. It's not perfectly opaque, like Duvateen, but it's cheap. <br>

Take a look and let us know if it works for your project. <br>

Good luck.</p>

[damon_perrott]

<p>heller,<br>

Thanks for the advice. I will see if I can find this material.</p>