Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

[Sailor Blue]

A fuller review is available on Dropbox.

Sailorblue - Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

A few days ago I received a new Selens Foldable Beauty Dish Softbox. I didn’t expect it to be a beauty dish, and it isn’t, but it is a nice foldable 16-sided umbrella softbox, a hexadecabox. The softbox comes with inner and outer diffusers, a grid, and a fabric bag that will be good for storage and transport.

The black fabric of the softbox is thin and coated with shiny aluminum. Even though the fabric is thin it is of seemingly good quality and the stitching is of very good quality. I would have preferred it if the fabric had been a bit sturdier but since I won’t be assembling/disassembling the umbrella frequently it should last me for a long time.

There is a 2” wide strip of black Velcro sewn inside the rim of the umbrella to hold the outer diffuser and grid. There are 16 white Velcro tabs about 5” inside the umbrella to attach the inner diffuser.

There are four Velcro closed tabs at the back of the umbrella to allow you to tighten it around the speedring. In reality these tabs don’t seal the umbrella to the speedring tightly and have no other necessary use.

The umbrella comes with a Bowens speedring so I also bought a Godox S-Type Bowens Mount to allow me to use the new softbox with my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash.



The wide angle Light Diffusing Panel of my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash gives it coverage equivalent to a lens with a focal length of 18mm. I found using it improved the distribution of light across the outer diffuser without effecting the light output significantly so I used it for all the tests below.

All tests were done with the softbox at 1 diameter, 26”, from the wall.

I started with the grid in place. The grid uses about 1-½” of the 2” of black Velcro inside the lip of the umbrella. The remaining ½” is used by the outer diffuser.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

I then removed the grid so show what the light pattern was with the double diffused softbox.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Tests without the outer diffuser and without any diffuser showed a hot-shot in the center, not an umbra/penumbra of a beauty dish.

In summary the Selens 65cm 26” Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash is a nice compact and easy to transport hexadecabox but it is definitely not a beauty dish.

The construction quality seems to be good and the light pattern is as expected. I will be using it in the double diffused or double diffused and gridded configurations. Because the hexadecabox is nearly round the light pattern is round and the catchlight should be nearly round as well.

The softbox fabric is very thin but only time will tell how well it holds up.

I did find two negatives. You can’t reach the locking mechanism of the softbox from the rear so you have to partially or wholly remove both diffusers to reach it when opening or closing the umbrella. The fit of the back of the umbrella to the speedring should be better to reduce the stray light produced.

--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

 

[Archer66]

How much ?

 

[elliotn]

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Strange that stray light would create such a hard shadow. Was there a mirror out of shot (frame left)? Or perhaps a window?

 

[Sailor Blue]

How much ?

Sorry, I forgot to include the links for the gear in the report. I'll add those to the full review on Dropbox if I can figure out how to edit it without changing the link.

I bought my softbox out of China with free international shipping. The price was quoted as $102 Aus, which is roughly $80 USA.

Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash | eBay

The S-Type bracket was about $19 USA and was supposed be be free international shipping but they charged me shipping anyway.

PRO Godox S-Type Bracket Bowens Mount Holder for Speedlite Flash Snoot Softbox | eBay

 

[Sailor Blue]

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Strange that stray light would create such a hard shadow. Was there a mirror out of shot (frame left)? Or perhaps a window?

No, mirror or window. The light coming out the back of the softbox was reflecting off the speedring, which is why you see the hard edge to the shadow of the rim of the softbox.

Usually this stray light wouldn't be a problem. If it is a problem I the easy answer is to drape a piece of black fabric around the back of the softbox and flash. If it was necessary to do this often the peel and stick Velcro tabs would make it reasonably easy to do this.

 

[elliotn]

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Strange that stray light would create such a hard shadow. Was there a mirror out of shot (frame left)? Or perhaps a window?

No, mirror or window. The light coming out the back of the softbox was reflecting off the speedring, which is why you see the hard edge to the shadow of the rim of the softbox.

A closer look at your set-up pictures suggests that the stray light is being bounced from the body of the flash. Perhaps if the flash had been in a horizontal position, there would have been less bounced light?

 

[Sailor Blue]

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Strange that stray light would create such a hard shadow. Was there a mirror out of shot (frame left)? Or perhaps a window?

No, mirror or window. The light coming out the back of the softbox was reflecting off the speedring, which is why you see the hard edge to the shadow of the rim of the softbox.

A closer look at your set-up pictures suggests that the stray light is being bounced from the body of the flash. Perhaps if the flash had been in a horizontal position, there would have been less bounced light?

I'll check that and post the result tomorrow.

I did update the Dropbox file to include an eBay link to the softbox.

 

[itsDing]

A stofen type diffuser on the flash may distrbute the light inside the unit more, maybe negating the need for a double diffuser.

 

[P Hartung]

Thanks for the review, Sailor.

I bought an earlier quick set up octa that has the same rigid, four point cage to lock it open. I thought it would be cool if I could deflect the forward light from the strobe, not unlike a beauty dish, so I notched and inserted a blank DVD in the cage (friction mostly holds it in). Beautiful spread resulted, and it got me hooked using a more edgy light without the fabric diffusers. I'd love to see your new unit tested without the fabric and diffused with a plate or DVD...

 

[Sailor Blue]

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Strange that stray light would create such a hard shadow. Was there a mirror out of shot (frame left)? Or perhaps a window?

No, mirror or window. The light coming out the back of the softbox was reflecting off the speedring, which is why you see the hard edge to the shadow of the rim of the softbox.

A closer look at your set-up pictures suggests that the stray light is being bounced from the body of the flash. Perhaps if the flash had been in a horizontal position, there would have been less bounced light?

You were right elliotn, it was light escaping around the hot-shoe flash and bouncing off the front surface of the flash that was causing the stray light.

As seen in the images above the flash was tipped down about 45°. All I had to do to eliminate the stray light was tip it down further, as far as it would go before butting up against the S-Type Bracket.

The stray light is completely eliminated in this test image taken with the grid in place and the flash tipped as far down as possible.



--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

 

[Sailor Blue]

I want to thank everyone who commented on this review. You helped me improve the review and those improvements have been incorporated into the full review on Dropbox.

Sailorblue - Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

 

[oldfashioned]

A fuller review is available on Dropbox.

Sailorblue - Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

A few days ago I received a new Selens Foldable Beauty Dish Softbox. I didn’t expect it to be a beauty dish, and it isn’t, but it is a nice foldable 16-sided umbrella softbox, a hexadecabox. The softbox comes with inner and outer diffusers, a grid, and a fabric bag that will be good for storage and transport.

The black fabric of the softbox is thin and coated with shiny aluminum. Even though the fabric is thin it is of seemingly good quality and the stitching is of very good quality. I would have preferred it if the fabric had been a bit sturdier but since I won’t be assembling/disassembling the umbrella frequently it should last me for a long time.

There is a 2” wide strip of black Velcro sewn inside the rim of the umbrella to hold the outer diffuser and grid. There are 16 white Velcro tabs about 5” inside the umbrella to attach the inner diffuser.

There are four Velcro closed tabs at the back of the umbrella to allow you to tighten it around the speedring. In reality these tabs don’t seal the umbrella to the speedring tightly and have no other necessary use.

The umbrella comes with a Bowens speedring so I also bought a Godox S-Type Bowens Mount to allow me to use the new softbox with my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash.



The wide angle Light Diffusing Panel of my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash gives it coverage equivalent to a lens with a focal length of 18mm. I found using it improved the distribution of light across the outer diffuser without effecting the light output significantly so I used it for all the tests below.

All tests were done with the softbox at 1 diameter, 26”, from the wall.

I started with the grid in place. The grid uses about 1-½” of the 2” of black Velcro inside the lip of the umbrella. The remaining ½” is used by the outer diffuser.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

I then removed the grid so show what the light pattern was with the double diffused softbox.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Tests without the outer diffuser and without any diffuser showed a hot-shot in the center, not an umbra/penumbra of a beauty dish.

In summary the Selens 65cm 26” Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash is a nice compact and easy to transport hexadecabox but it is definitely not a beauty dish.

The construction quality seems to be good and the light pattern is as expected. I will be using it in the double diffused or double diffused and gridded configurations. Because the hexadecabox is nearly round the light pattern is round and the catchlight should be nearly round as well.

The softbox fabric is very thin but only time will tell how well it holds up.

I did find two negatives. You can’t reach the locking mechanism of the softbox from the rear so you have to partially or wholly remove both diffusers to reach it when opening or closing the umbrella. The fit of the back of the umbrella to the speedring should be better to reduce the stray light produced.

--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

the path and long difficult road that amateurs take to chase useless gadgets is to me impossible to fully understand.

a simple scrim with stands will do a better (WAY BETTER) job and adding to that some equally simple grids on the monolight will do a superlative job instead.

I don't get this gadget-mania obsession

 

[Klaus dk]

It looks to me as if it is the "fill-in sub flash" of the Di866 II that played tricks with you?

Thank you for the review.

 

[Sailor Blue]

It looks to me as if it is the "fill-in sub flash" of the Di866 II that played tricks with you?

Thank you for the review.

Turned it on once to try it. Turned it off and have never used it again. If I want to bounce the flash and also want a catch light I pop up the white reflector card built into the head of the flash.

Apparently the light coming out of the S-Type Bracket around the flash head was simply bouncing off the shiny plastic surface of the front of the flash body. Tipping the flash all the way down cured that. I may see about finding something to block the extra space around the flash head clamp of the bracket.

I found a US $6 Chinese STO-FEN Omni-Bounce knock off and ordered it. I try it to see if I get more even lighting without reducing the light output much. If it doesn't work I won't have wasted much money.

 

[NikonD800Es]

Thanks a lot for this helpful review, I was just looking for review of Selens softboxes and this one is the most informative by far.

How come you didn't go for Selens 90cm or even 105cm one, instead of the smallest 65cm Selens softbox?

How would you rate spreading mechanism and overall build quality? I ask because I am looking for medium size (90-120cm size) portable, foldable softboxes, and those need to withstand frequent usage in the field.

Btw., your Selens 65cm softbox looks to me very similar to this one:

http://www.cheetahstand.com/product-p/qsb-26.htm

Seems just like rebranded Selens products.

A fuller review is available on Dropbox.

Sailorblue - Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

A few days ago I received a new Selens Foldable Beauty Dish Softbox. I didn’t expect it to be a beauty dish, and it isn’t, but it is a nice foldable 16-sided umbrella softbox, a hexadecabox. The softbox comes with inner and outer diffusers, a grid, and a fabric bag that will be good for storage and transport.

The black fabric of the softbox is thin and coated with shiny aluminum. Even though the fabric is thin it is of seemingly good quality and the stitching is of very good quality. I would have preferred it if the fabric had been a bit sturdier but since I won’t be assembling/disassembling the umbrella frequently it should last me for a long time.

There is a 2” wide strip of black Velcro sewn inside the rim of the umbrella to hold the outer diffuser and grid. There are 16 white Velcro tabs about 5” inside the umbrella to attach the inner diffuser.

There are four Velcro closed tabs at the back of the umbrella to allow you to tighten it around the speedring. In reality these tabs don’t seal the umbrella to the speedring tightly and have no other necessary use.

The umbrella comes with a Bowens speedring so I also bought a Godox S-Type Bowens Mount to allow me to use the new softbox with my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash.



The wide angle Light Diffusing Panel of my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash gives it coverage equivalent to a lens with a focal length of 18mm. I found using it improved the distribution of light across the outer diffuser without effecting the light output significantly so I used it for all the tests below.

All tests were done with the softbox at 1 diameter, 26”, from the wall.

I started with the grid in place. The grid uses about 1-½” of the 2” of black Velcro inside the lip of the umbrella. The remaining ½” is used by the outer diffuser.

From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

I then removed the grid so show what the light pattern was with the double diffused softbox.

From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Tests without the outer diffuser and without any diffuser showed a hot-shot in the center, not an umbra/penumbra of a beauty dish.

In summary the Selens 65cm 26” Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash is a nice compact and easy to transport hexadecabox but it is definitely not a beauty dish.

The construction quality seems to be good and the light pattern is as expected. I will be using it in the double diffused or double diffused and gridded configurations. Because the hexadecabox is nearly round the light pattern is round and the catchlight should be nearly round as well.

The softbox fabric is very thin but only time will tell how well it holds up.

I did find two negatives. You can’t reach the locking mechanism of the softbox from the rear so you have to partially or wholly remove both diffusers to reach it when opening or closing the umbrella. The fit of the back of the umbrella to the speedring should be better to reduce the stray light produced.

--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

 

[Sailor Blue]

Thanks a lot for this helpful review, I was just looking for review of Selens softboxes and this one is the most informative by far.

How come you didn't go for Selens 90cm or even 105cm one, instead of the smallest 65cm Selens softbox?

To use all my normal studio gear I have to move all my living room and dinning room furniture out of the way, a royal pain in the backside, and even then I'm limited on width for my lights. I'm moving toward a much simpler setup that is much smaller. I wanted a portable umbrella opening softbox that was about this size for use with my hot-shoe flash as part of the simpler and smaller setup.

I have 43" umbrellas and classical rod and speedring 24" and 40" softboxes for use with my strobes when I want to go all out.

How would you rate spreading mechanism and overall build quality? I ask because I am looking for medium size (90-120cm size) portable, foldable softboxes, and those need to withstand frequent usage in the field.

The umbrella mechanism looks to be pretty good quality. The question I have is how long the fabric will hold up if the umbrella is opened and closed a lot. I think it will be okay but the fabric is thin.

Given that this is a softbox and NOT a beauty dish my opinion is that it would have been better if the inside was white, not shiny silver, so the light distribution would be more even with any light source.

Btw., your Selens 65cm softbox looks to me very similar to this one:

http://www.cheetahstand.com/product-p/qsb-26.htm

Seems just like rebranded Selens products.

From the few images available it does look similar. If you live in the US then buy from Cheetah Stand. They have pretty good customer relations and a good return policy.

Cheetah Stand offers a beauty dish deflector for use with their rice bowl but adding something similar made things worse with my Selens umbrella softbox.

 

[NikonD800Es]

Does your Selens 65 cm measure 65cm at diameter or measured over speed-ring, across the arc of the softbox?

Also, is there a lot of play where speed-ring meets S-Bracket?

You believe that white inner surface would serve better, so you do feel that spread of light is uneven with inner and outer diffusers in place?? It seems to me (judging by your pics) that diffusion is very acceptable, so I don't see what would be a benefit of white reflective surface?

Cheetah Stand is not an option for me as I am from Europe, and they do not ship outside USA.

Thanks a lot for this helpful review, I was just looking for review of Selens softboxes and this one is the most informative by far.

How come you didn't go for Selens 90cm or even 105cm one, instead of the smallest 65cm Selens softbox?

To use all my normal studio gear I have to move all my living room and dinning room furniture out of the way, a royal pain in the backside, and even then I'm limited on width for my lights. I'm moving toward a much simpler setup that is much smaller. I wanted a portable umbrella opening softbox that was about this size for use with my hot-shoe flash as part of the simpler and smaller setup.

I have 43" umbrellas and classical rod and speedring 24" and 40" softboxes for use with my strobes when I want to go all out.

How would you rate spreading mechanism and overall build quality? I ask because I am looking for medium size (90-120cm size) portable, foldable softboxes, and those need to withstand frequent usage in the field.

The umbrella mechanism looks to be pretty good quality. The question I have is how long the fabric will hold up if the umbrella is opened and closed a lot. I think it will be okay but the fabric is thin.

Given that this is a softbox and NOT a beauty dish my opinion is that it would have been better if the inside was white, not shiny silver, so the light distribution would be more even with any light source.

Btw., your Selens 65cm softbox looks to me very similar to this one:

http://www.cheetahstand.com/product-p/qsb-26.htm

Seems just like rebranded Selens products.

From the few images available it does look similar. If you live in the US then buy from Cheetah Stand. They have pretty good customer relations and a good return policy.

Cheetah Stand offers a beauty dish deflector for use with their rice bowl but adding something similar made things worse with my Selens umbrella softbox.

--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

 

[Jason Stoller]

A fuller review is available on Dropbox.

Sailorblue - Review of Selens 65cm 26" Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash

A few days ago I received a new Selens Foldable Beauty Dish Softbox. I didn’t expect it to be a beauty dish, and it isn’t, but it is a nice foldable 16-sided umbrella softbox, a hexadecabox. The softbox comes with inner and outer diffusers, a grid, and a fabric bag that will be good for storage and transport.

The black fabric of the softbox is thin and coated with shiny aluminum. Even though the fabric is thin it is of seemingly good quality and the stitching is of very good quality. I would have preferred it if the fabric had been a bit sturdier but since I won’t be assembling/disassembling the umbrella frequently it should last me for a long time.

There is a 2” wide strip of black Velcro sewn inside the rim of the umbrella to hold the outer diffuser and grid. There are 16 white Velcro tabs about 5” inside the umbrella to attach the inner diffuser.

There are four Velcro closed tabs at the back of the umbrella to allow you to tighten it around the speedring. In reality these tabs don’t seal the umbrella to the speedring tightly and have no other necessary use.

The umbrella comes with a Bowens speedring so I also bought a Godox S-Type Bowens Mount to allow me to use the new softbox with my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash.



The wide angle Light Diffusing Panel of my Nissin Di866 Pro hot-shoe flash gives it coverage equivalent to a lens with a focal length of 18mm. I found using it improved the distribution of light across the outer diffuser without effecting the light output significantly so I used it for all the tests below.

All tests were done with the softbox at 1 diameter, 26”, from the wall.

I started with the grid in place. The grid uses about 1-½” of the 2” of black Velcro inside the lip of the umbrella. The remaining ½” is used by the outer diffuser.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

I then removed the grid so show what the light pattern was with the double diffused softbox.





From the piece of blue tape in the center of the disk of light to the first piece above it the light drops off by 1.0 stop. The light level at the top piece of tape is down by another 0.7 stops.

I like the well defined disk of light from the softbox but the light escaping between the back of the umbrella and the speed ring is casting stray light on the wall outside the disk of light from the softbox. I couldn’t eliminate this stray light by tightening the Velcro tabs at the back of the umbrella as much as possible. I could have draped a piece of black cloth across the back to get rid of the stray light but this shouldn’t be necessary.

Tests without the outer diffuser and without any diffuser showed a hot-shot in the center, not an umbra/penumbra of a beauty dish.

In summary the Selens 65cm 26” Foldable Collapsible Beauty Dish Softbox & Honeycomb Grid Flash is a nice compact and easy to transport hexadecabox but it is definitely not a beauty dish.

The construction quality seems to be good and the light pattern is as expected. I will be using it in the double diffused or double diffused and gridded configurations. Because the hexadecabox is nearly round the light pattern is round and the catchlight should be nearly round as well.

The softbox fabric is very thin but only time will tell how well it holds up.

I did find two negatives. You can’t reach the locking mechanism of the softbox from the rear so you have to partially or wholly remove both diffusers to reach it when opening or closing the umbrella. The fit of the back of the umbrella to the speedring should be better to reduce the stray light produced.

--
Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

Sailor you said you received this a few days ago. Is this something you purchased or was sent to you for evaluation? How do feel it differs from a Westcott product in construction, design, and quality since you are evaluating and reviewing it?

--
Jason S
We are just Beta Testers who pay the Camera Companies to test their new products!

 

[NikonD800Es]

Sailor Blue said:

"I bought my softbox out of China with free international shipping."

Sailor you said you received this a few days ago. Is this something you purchased or was sent to you for evaluation? How do feel it differs from a Westcott product in construction, design, and quality since you are evaluating and reviewing it?

--
Jason S
We are just Beta Testers who pay the Camera Companies to test their new products!

 

[Sailor Blue]

Does your Selens 65 cm measure 65cm at diameter or measured over speed-ring, across the arc of the softbox?

Yes, it is 65cm in diameter.

Normally umbrellas are measured around the outside from the rim to the cap to the opposite rim. This is marketed as a softbox so I assume that is why it is specified as a 65cm softbox.

Also, is there a lot of play where speed-ring meets S-Bracket?

It is loose but seems to be secure in the S-Type Bracket. I know that someone else had a problem with much larger and heavier 14"x53" strip softboxes coming loos from the S-Type Bracket but I don't foresee that happening with this softbox.

You believe that white inner surface would serve better, so you do feel that spread of light is uneven with inner and outer diffusers in place?? It seems to me (judging by your pics) that diffusion is very acceptable, so I don't see what would be a benefit of white reflective surface?

Given that I am using a hot-shoe flash the light distribution is pretty good but as I said earlier I have ordered a cheap white Tupperware type diffuser to see if that will even out the light distribution even more.

Cheetah Stand is not an option for me as I am from Europe, and they do not ship outside USA.

The same applies for me here in Thailand, which is why I settled on the Selens.