Too Much Studio Light ???

[David_Honeycutt]

Hello Everyone,

Need your opinions and suggestions here.

I like shooting small items in a small studio. Not much room to work with my Speedotron M11's with Photoflex softboxes. But, I enjoy what I produce. I'm powering the M11's with a D802 powerpack and I seem to have too much light for my Nikon Coolpix 5700. The good folks at Photoflex suggested using scrim fabric over the softboxes. Any thoughts here? Any suggestions as to where I can locate the fabric?

Thank you,
David Honeycutt

[Jonathan_Zalkin]

Just buy some Rosco ND gels. $20 bucks vs $100+. You make the call.

[DanSroka]

Yup, ND gels are nice and easy. Stack a couple to cut the light even more. Or, the simplest way is to move the light farther away (inverse square law). You say you don't have much room -- try bouncing the light off a board or fabric (I use scrap cloth from a fabric store... very cheap).

[RobertEdwards]

I get this problem too what high minumum ISO some Nikon digicams have. I prefer not to move the light away and lose softness. I bought bigger softboxes and use parachute cloth. Doubles as a nice scrim out doors. One day it might even be handy as airline carry one luggage [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img].

-- Robert.

[Michael_Murphy]

David,

Can you explain a bit more? I am not familiar with the 5700.

I have two 802 packs and 4 M11 lights. I am usually working at about f/11 to f/16 with one M11 in a large softbox at 4 feet or so, ISO 100. Do you need to open up more than that? I know the digicams have huge depth of field.

Are you using the 802 at 1/4 power, i.e. about 200 watt/second in the M11?

If you were able to point one light out of your studio, or into a black background (so it wouldn't reflect), you could go to asymetrical power with 2 lights and get 50 watt/second in your primary light. That would bring you down two stops from 200 w/s, 4 stops from the full 800 w/s.

Good luck!

Best,
Michael

[David_Honeycutt]

Robert,

Where did you find the parachute cloth? I've really had a hard time locating a good material for the scrim.

Thanks,
David

[David_Honeycutt]

Daniel,

I just don't have room to move the lights further away. Looks like the ND filters or using scrim over the softboxes is the best way to go. How do I mount the ND filters to my M11's inside the softboxes?

Thanks,
David