Photography - Softbox and Camera Question

[MandyWillis]

Hoping I can get some help here because this is probably a stupid question.

Ive just bought a Nikon D3500 camera for a number of photo shoots coming up this year but am looking to buy a softbox that connects to it automatically without having to be left on constantly. Is there a softbox that works with the flash of the camera or am I just being daft. Please help and if you have any advice or products in mind please suggest some! Thanks!

 

[JimResnikoff]

While there are softboxes that can be used with speedlights, triggering them to fire is a whole other aspect. There are radio triggers, optical sensors and line of site methods. With a wireless system the flash communicates with the camera in order to expose correctly.

Do you have an existing speedlight / off camera flash at the moment? Typically softboxes don't come with any light unless purchased as a kit.

 

[BAK]

You're not daft. Just uneducated.

Can you tell us what you want to photograph, and how you anticipate doing that.

Softboxes do not turn on and off. They just sit there.

Some kind of light fits in the softbox, and depending on the light, lots of different things can take place.

So tell us more and we'll help.

BAK

 

[TDL2024]

It sounds like you're looking for a softbox that attaches to the pop up flash. I saw one ages ago, but they're not terribly popular as the popup flash isn't ideal for most types of photography. If you want a softbox at the very least I'd recommend a dedicated speedlight, and then a small softbox that can attach to it.

Depending on what you're shooting you may want to have the light on a stand off axis, in which case something like this could work:

https://www.adorama.com/glsb3131sbk.html

If you want it on camera for softer fill light then maybe something like this:

https://www.adorama.com/we266.html

and of course you'd also need a speedlight but you can find a Godox TT600 (for example) for ~$60, or more if you want/need a more powerful option.

It all depends on what you're shooting. But long story short: don't bother with the popup flash, get a cheap speedlight and a proper softbox if you want decent results.

 

[Sailor Blue]

It sounds to me like you want a hot-shoe flash that can be used on-camera to provide light. Get a GN 60 TTL flash, nothing else is as good.

A GN 60 TTL flash is perfect for run and gun photography where the subject to flash distance is constantly changing. It won't get you the exactly correct exposure 95% of the time but it will be very close so the exposure is easy to fix in post. The other 5% is when you will need to use Flash Exposure Compensation.

Here are the Godox hot-shoe flash units I recommend. If you live in the USA buy the Godox units from B&H or from Adorama so you get a warrantee that will be good. Buy from a Chinese company on Amazon/eBay and kiss your money good by if something goes wrong.

This one uses four AA (rechargable) batteries.

Adorama Flashpoint Zoom TTL R2 Flash With Integrated R2 Radio Transceiver - Canon (TT685C)

This one is virtually identical but it uses a Li-Ion battery so you get twice as many flashes on a single charge.

Adorama Flashpoint Zoom Li-ion R2 TTL On-Camera Flash Speedlight for Canon FP-LF-SM-ZLCA-V2 (V860)

There are no on-camera flash diffusers worth having except for a few very special uses. Built-in flash diffusers or small softboxes for hot-shoe flash units are basically worthless unless you are doing macro photography - they are just too small to help soften the light.

Learn to bounce the on-camera flash instead.

Bounce Flash Secrets – Bouncing Your Way to Better Photography

For off-camera use with a diffuser come back and ask what to get.

 

[Brooke Meyer]

Mandy "I've just bought a Nikon D3500 camera for a number of photo shoots coming up this year"

Nikon (Italics, Bold and Underlining are mine): "Beautiful pictures for all. You don't need to be a photographer to know a great photo when you see one. And you don't need to be a photographer to take a great photo—you just need the D3500. It's as easy to use as a point-and-shoot, but it takes beautiful DSLR photos and videos that get noticed. ........Even if you've never picked up a DSLR camera, you can take beautiful pictures with D3500."

Hardly different from Kodak Brownie ads in 1902 - "Any school-boy or girl can make good pictures with one of Eastman Kodak Cos Brownie Cameras"

You can, if you're lucky or know what you're doing. There is a difference between a camera owner and a photographer. My father bought my mother a car but she could never pass the drives license test. Great Mom, unbelievably scary student driver.

Luckily, bad photographs never killed anyone. My Basic Photography Classes include a lot of folks who bought into the slick box on pallets at Costco/BJs/Sams Club and discovered what the box promised ain't necessarily so.

In this age of the infosphere, someone, somewhere said the word "softbox", another recommended purchase for some one without basic understanding of lighting.

However well intended and as gently as I can say it, it would be a good idea to be proficient at something before you agree to provide it, paid or not. Otherwise we could have self declared, free lance surgeons, willing to work for the "experience". And it is not realistic to expect to gain understanding from "tips" received here, however well intended the forum participants.

If you intend to provide a quality result, it will require you to at least:

A. Read and understand the camera manual

B. Understand the limits of the kit lenses included with your camera

C. Practice a lot and learn from your experience.

D. Find someone or something to guide you.

Most folks find that, like learning to play an instrument but admiring of beautiful music, it's just too much trouble. Which is perfectly reasonable becasue it is a lot a trouble to learn to be a good photographer.

I'm sure it isn't the answer you wanted but it is an honest one.

 

[Klaus dk]

I can see this is your first post here, so welcome to the forum.

A softbox is a modifier that connects to the builtin camera flash, a speedlight, a monolight (strobe), or a pack-and-head studio flash. They come in different sizes and shapes and they are a passive component that works with the light source, which in turn connects to the camera either with a cable or triggered by a trigger that works with either radio frequency or IR light. Radio transmitteres are now cheap and well functioning, so the two other options are rarely used.

The way you worded your question suggests that you don't know much about the subject, so perhaps you should either clarify what you mean or educate yourself before asking.

For learning to light, I will recommend The Strobist's 101 on lighting. For some tips on which modifier to choose, Joe Edelman's video may be of some help. My buying advice is the Godox X system. It's the most flexible system available and it doesn't break the bank.

 

[BAK]

Are you coming back?

Anyway, go to Youtube and look up Jared Polin.

He has reviewed your camera, and he says good things.

BAK