Using LumiQuest Softboxes For Camera Mounted Flashes. And Mini Lighting Tutorial.

February 4, 2020

#353

Gentle reader,

My wife is one in a billion. She gets me and supports my interests. I aim to do the same for her.

Some years ago, she bought me a LumiQuest Softbox for the flash I use on my DSLR. 

That would be the big one on the left, used attached to my Nikon's flash.
The softbox on the right, I just bought via eBay. That flash is for my Panasonic Lumix cameras. I have three that have a hot shoe on them: G2, LX5 and FZ200.
You may be rightfully thinking, "Those are all at least ten years old." And you are correct. 
I'm retired and on a fixed budget, and being half-Scot, a bit tight with me purse. 
I've never been one to have-to-have the latest-and-greatest of anything.
My car is fifteen years old and I wouldn't trade it for a new one, no matter how gorgeous the V60 and V90 Volvo wagons are. You can't buy a Volvo in the United States with a manual transmission anymore and I'm a three-pedal guy.
My stereo is made of components from the 1970's to the 1990's, but it's sound would astound you.

My point? New is not always the best. 

Some years ago, I wrote about setting up a small studio in your home.  Here is a link to that article.
Have a photo studio in Your home....on a budget!

I wrote a sequel as well, and here are the relevant photos from that one to let you see how simply one can achieve it.
I didn't need the softbox when using an umbrella, but it helps to spread the light too.

This is the previous and much cheaper flash I had for my Nikon D70S, which was also my first DSLR.
My wife also bought me that 60" (five feet) diameter flash umbrella. She rocks!

Nikon, like other manufacturers, made sure their film camera's TTL flashes would not work with their digital bodies. Gotta keep people spending....

That device is often called a flash bracket. There are many kinds of flash brackets. But these are for light stands.

By using a coiled TTL flash cable which attaches to the hot shoe, and the appropriate light stand and attachments, it fits on the light stand. 
Thus, I had a one- light-source studio that works great.

Below are many-years-old shots I made prior to selling the Spiratone home studio, three-flash-kit-in-a-box that was probably from the 1960's.

If you are a car guy of a certain age, you may have received J.C. Whitney catalogs in the mail. Spiratone was the J.C. Whitney of photography.

That is a bracket I made to mount two Spiratone flashes on one stand using hot shoes from cheap plastic cameras.

These unique flashes came in the kit and were designed to be mounted with a metal flash foot and also stacked. Each flash has a cold shoe on top and cold foot on the bottom.

The final Spiratone flash I had was this one. No TTL ability, of course. One needed a flash meter to determine how much light to use and the aperture setting for your lens.
That is still the case unless one can afford modern top-of-the-line studio flashes which are radio controlled by the camera's TTL ability.
It is essentially FOUR small shoe-mount flashes in one housing with an AC receptacle for a modeling light in the middle. One can use one, two, three or all four flashes together. 

Where is all this leading? Well, I'll tell you: TINY, on/in camera flashes are OK for many situations, but they often leave much to be desired.

I mean, just look how TINY that flash is. That is my then-brand-new Lumix ZS50 camera, which I always have when I go out.

When one needs more light, there is no replacement for displacement. A camera with a shoe flash on top and a good quality flash that not only tilts up and down, but that also swivels is a god-send.

And, sometimes one needs to soften and/or disperse that flashes light. Thus eliminating the harsh shadows that direct flash leaves.

That is where softboxes that attach to shoe-mount flashes come in very handy. LumiQuest is not the only company that makes them. Oh, no. And there are MANY different attachments for shoe-mount flashes to modify their light in several ways.

Today, I am writing about the LumiQuest brand ones with which I have experience.

Naturally the flash and softbox for the Nikon is far larger than the Panasonic flash and softbox.

Just look at the body size difference between them. Not to mention sensor size. Smaller camera bodies, smaller flashes.

You may be wondering why the large one has a V shaped bottom.

That is to clear the light sensor on the front of the flash which communicates with the camera. "TTL" stands for Through-The-Lens. 
TTL means the camera reads the light through the lens. TTL equipped flashes meter the light from themselves as it bounces back, as well. They also let the camera know they are there and turned on. The camera tells the flash to stop producing light through it's light sensor. 
It all happens in microseconds. Remember that the speed of light is around 600 MILES per HOUR at sea level.
So for it to travel a few feet and back, is quicker than we can imagine.

They fold up very compactly for camera bag storage.

They attach with genuine Velcro, so they hold firmly, but remove easily too.

CAVEAT: I do not hunt. I did not shoot that Jackalope, below. My wife also bought me the Jackalope. I grew up watching cowboy films and TV shows and always wanted cowboy guns, which she also bought, now that I think about it. And yes, they are real, both 22s.

This is my listening room. I used the Panasonic flash straight on. See how bright it is, especially the top shelf of records?

This shot is with the LumiQuest attached, still pointing straight ahead. The light is less bright in the center and more dispersed into the corners.

This shot is with just the flash pointing straight up. Much darker near the bottom of the room. But if that is what you need...

This shot is also straight up, but with the LumiQuest attached. More light is spread downward because a wider beam hit the ceiling.

Now with a good flash, one can not only rotate the light up and down, but many will rotate the head side to side as well. This gives infinite choices of where to aim and/or reflect the light.

These photos show the flash rotated to the left or right. Left is above. Some bounces off the wall to light the right side of the room. However, it is colored by the wall.

To the right, above. One can aim the flash so it bounces off the ceiling and the wall too. 
You can even rotate it 180 degrees and bounce it off the wall and/or ceiling behind you!
In fact, I have used the Nikon with the flash on the camera, but pointed back at the umbrella over my shoulder. Works great.

So, there you have it. A brief and hopefully helpful look at shoe-mount flashes and the many things one can do with them and things they can reflect off of.

Note: Blogger has some minor flaws. I typed this all in LARGE and BLACK font. Yet, sure enough, there will be different sized fonts and some will be GREY. Or is it GRAY?

Thank you SO much for reading my humble blog. Your kind words keep me writing.

Scott
February 4, 2020
#353