C&C: D700 + Lastolite EzyBox

Hi!,

Here I post some pics from my first session using the Lastolite EzyBox hotshoe 24'x24'. This is my first using any kind of softbox, and I had zero experience with anything besides a bare flash

Lens was 70-200vr and the flash used with the softbox is the SB-800.

Please let me know what you think!

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Equipment in Profile

Excellent colors, lighting, exposure, bokeh, composition, & posing.
However, IMHO the skin airbrushing on #2 and #4 is
leaning towards unnatural, although the average
layperson will probably not notice this.

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Matt Cham
http://mattcham.smugmug.com

Yes, you are right. The image came very very sharp and because of the closeup I had to do a lot of rotouching to hide the imperfections. I guess a better makeup would improve the result and make things less 'plastic' (she did her makeup on her own).

Thank you for the comments!

You may consider add a little noise to the skin to eliminate the plastic look. Beautiful model and nice posing. Regards: Oscar

great work! Love the back lighting on image 3.

Thank you! I've been looking for some good examples of the ezybox, you may have just convinced me of what my next purchase is.
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The one with the most SB900's wins.
I think McNally is winning so far.

I assume you used the flash off camera? Where you using iTTL or manual? Nice work, I especially like the back light one.
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Jeff

Daniel Har said:

Check out my gallery at http://www.theexpressivemoment.com

Click to expand...

Very nice work!
I'm just curious, what size EzyBox were you using?

Hi Jeff!

Yes, the softbox is 24 x 24 inches, so it must be off camera. I used a stand since I didn't have an assistant, but the kit I bought comes with a extension so an assistant to hold (although it's short, Id recommend attaching it to a monopod or something more hefty and longer).

I used TTL on all shots, and adjusted the EV of the remote flash in some cases. Specially the backlit picture took 2-3 shots untill I got the desired illumination since the sun was coming pretty bright. What I did use is M mode in the camera exposure, which gives you total control on how you want to blend the flash with the ambient light.

By the way, I had an SB-900 on camera to use it as a commander. I didn't use it to add light, but mostly since the controls in the new unit make it a very easy and fast to control other remote flashes.

Thanks for the comment cato1215!

Im using the 24x24 version. I't came with an inner baffle which I used in this session all of the time. The only drawback is that the flash has to work hard and you end up running through the batteries rather fast.

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Jeff

Daniel Har said:

Check out my gallery at http://www.theexpressivemoment.com

Click to expand...

Nice shots and lighting.

I also give a thumbs-up to the easybox hotshoe as its a very versatile light modifier than you can use in a studio or take whever you are shooting.

Its great for low-key studio type work as well as creative or fill flash outside. I use the 38x38cm version, which only has a single diffuser panel but seems to give great light with little loss.

I must admit I have found battery life very good on the SB800. I recently used 3 sets of NimH cells when shooting over 1400 portrait shots in 9 hours at a low-key session against a black velvet background. The flash probably works harder if you are using it to compensate for hard outdoor backlighting, but I thought that was pretty good.

In TTL mode the exposures are also fine much of the time, with a bit of compensation dialled in for particularly light or dark subjects.

I tend to set the flash to its widest angle to bounce light around the softbox more.

Lastolite are now doing a bracket which will hold their excellent trigrip reflectors so you can set it up to bounce fill or uplight. The bracket comes with a versatile hotshoe mount for flash so you have a good additional light source.....I think I'll be getting one.

Thanks for the comments Cliff!

I attribute the low battery life to the combination of outdoor + inner baffle. As for studio use you can create some nice shots, but I'm unsure if it's a good choice to keep investing in flashgun lightning equipment since it's quite expensive. If you we're to buy another 24x24 EzyBox, you are at almost US$ 2000 of total expenses, and you can get quite a good studio kit with that money. I think it only makes sense if you already have 2 flahses!

The good thing is that I think that the EzyBox will still find it's use even when I get my studio set up, since it's very portable and once you get on location you only need a couple of minutes to set it up.

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how does the box work with the IR sensor covered by the box itself?

Well, the flash isn't covered by the box. The you basically have arround a 180 degrees angle of "visibility" on the side of the flash that has the sensor. I didn't have too much problems because of this when shooting outdoors. I used the SB-900 on camera to fire the SB-800 that was mounted on the stand, so I'm not sure how it would work if you try to trigger it with the on-camera flash.

The work arround this is of course use a radio trigger or another SB flash or commander to "relay" the flash so that the softbox can fire. Using more flashes is clumpsy and using a radio trigger (if i'm not mistaken) leaves you having to dial in the power manually.

Looks great (and the very pretty model certainly helps)!!

Daniel Har said:

Hi!,

Here I post some pics from my first session using the Lastolite
EzyBox hotshoe 24'x24'. This is my first using any kind of softbox,
and I had zero experience with anything besides a bare flash

Lens was 70-200vr and the flash used with the softbox is the SB-800.

Please let me know what you think!

Click to expand...

Daniel Har said:

By the way, I had an SB-900 on camera to use it as a commander. I
didn't use it to add light, but mostly since the controls in the new
unit make it a very easy and fast to control other remote flashes.

Click to expand...

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But your on-camera SB900 has added light.

There's evidence of it in all the pictures you posted.

Elliot

Hi Elliot,

The one with the backlight was with the on camera SB900 adding light. Remember that even if you set the flash to not add light, it still fires a little strobe to signal the remote flash. This is evident in the flash spot that appears in the eys.

elliotn said:

Daniel Har said:

By the way, I had an SB-900 on camera to use it as a commander. I
didn't use it to add light, but mostly since the controls in the new
unit make it a very easy and fast to control other remote flashes.

Click to expand...

--

But your on-camera SB900 has added light.

There's evidence of it in all the pictures you posted.

Elliot

Click to expand...

Daniel Har said:

Hi Elliot,

The one with the backlight was with the on camera SB900 adding light.
Remember that even if you set the flash to not add light, it still
fires a little strobe to signal the remote flash. This is evident in
the flash spot that appears in the eys.

Click to expand...

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I've tried firing off-camera flashes (non-Nikon, slaved) with my D700's built-in-flash (dialled down to minimum manual power - 1/128th), but I always see hints of on-camera flash (hard little shadows, in the darker areas of the picture). These days I use Elinchrom Skyports as triggers, and if those fail, sync cables.

I'm not sure if I'll ever experiment with Nikon's iTTL system (I like to set my flashes manually), but I'm curious to know whether it's possible to use iTTL without getting traces of on-camera flash in the picture?

Elliot

There is a little accesory (don't remember the ref number) that is used to block the visible light of the on camera flash, but still triggers the other flashes vía CLS. I'm not sure if this kind of accesory is availalbe for an SB-800/SB-900, or if there is any other trick or material that can be used.

Definately as one gains more experience with lighting, it's a better solution to trigger your flashed remotely with RF and learn how to meter light and adjust them manually. That is, unless you are Joe McNally