Question About Soft Box

**Anausagi** · 7-Sep-2001, 01:10

At photo rental shop I just knew that there're two different interiors avairable , white and silver, for medium sized soft box. What is the difference. I'm sure the one with silver interior gets brighter than the one with white. But, besides that any difference? Please, advise me how to choose one for different situations. thanks in advance. ric

**Steve Artz** · 7-Sep-2001, 03:00

Any time you bounce light off a white surface, the white surface absorbs UV and the bounced light is slightly warmer in color. White interior soft boxes produce a warmer light than a silver interior box. One theory is that the silver interior boxes are used with UV coated (warm) flashtubes and the white interior boxes with non-UV tubes, with those combos giving a "normal" color. Results with a UV-coated flashtube in a white interior box would be quite warm. This is more a question for critical color on positive transparency film, and you'd still need a color meter and some testing to be sure you're getting exactly what you want. If your shooting color-neg it won't make much difference and on black & white it won't make any difference at all.

**Anausagi** · 7-Sep-2001, 09:44

Thanks Steve, actually I shoot only black and white film. How do they make a dif ference in terms of contrast and brightness. If I put a white liner(white screen to cut some light) inside a soft box with silver interior, do they, white and silver soft box, prod uce same kind of light?? Any input will be greatly appreciated!! thanks ric

**Ellis Vener** · 7-Sep-2001, 10:23

Silver lined softboxes tend to produce a bit more specular light, but that will also depend on the diffusion material used. More importantly you should look at the design of the softbox. Plume Wafers have less fall off in light intensity (it is tunable as well) from the edge to the center than Chimera, which in turn have better characteristics than the cheaply made knock offs from Photoflex. The Chimeras and Plume softboxes are more rugged as well.

I'm not a dealer or manufacturer's rep, just a photographer who has used all three brands (I now stick to Plume and Chimera).