Flash Umbrellas
 

I may decide to buy an umbrella to go with my flashgun. Can someone please explain to me what the differences are between the various types?

I can see there are items described as "Silver", "Silver/White", "With removable black cover", "Dual duty" (in both black/white and black/silver/white), "Shoot through"........ etc, etc............:confused:

What are the differences please? Any recommendations?

Regards,

Duncan

Duncan,

I need to check out what is on the market now so my answer will make sense. All of my stuff is from the early 90's.

Foxy has up to date kit in that dept. ;) :D

Don

I have a Bowens BW4036 Silver / White 36" Umbrella, two infact. Not that I am an expert but can comment only on my kit. The Umbrella has a removable outer skin which is silver reflective and a white fixed inner. Most shots I do these days use the silver outer on. If the silver outer is removed it allows shoot through where flash is the opposite side of umbrella to literally shoot through resulting is a nice diffused light. The former mode using silver outer on still gives a diffused light but is less costly for light loss. Most of traditional (as I call) mode ends up on your subject whereas shoot through some light is reflected back and thus lost.

I'll dig out an illustration in the flash board so you can see what I mean.

Here we are.....

http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...?t=1852&page=2

Take a look at photos in post 13. Shows my umbrella with outer on then off (shoot through) then I attach the outer the wrong way around to create a sort of softbox to catch lost light and bounce it back toward the subject.

I recommend an umbrella over a Lastolite as the Lastolite is more expensive and I use umbrella much more, except for shots where a catch light in important.

Don't forget a stand although an unwanted wibbley wobbley tripod will suffice and angle-able flash bracket, mine were from Calumet and don't have part numbers.

Aha! I see. That looks like it can cover a wide variety of situations.

"..an unwanted wibbley wobbley tripod will suffice.."
Yup, got one of those.

Had figured I'd need a bracket. It was looking at all the stuff on Calumet that got me confused.

Thanks for the help. I'll wait until after Christmas to see if prices come down.

Regards,

Duncan

As Foxy says there are basically the two types (with variations) - shoot through and reflective.

The shoot through gives a very soft light not much different to a softbox, giving nice even shadows.
The reflective umbrella has the flash head unit turned into the centre of the brolly and the light is then 'bounced' out. This gives a much harsher light with more contrast.

Just bought a full set up myself, so will be on the steep learning curve... Take a look at the Warehouse Express site, I bought the Elinchrom D-Lites and I'm very impressed with the quality and ease of use/setup.

The wibbley wobbley tripod is fine but I prefer a light weight flash stand as a tripod with its leg diameter can get in the way. A stand can be put closer to your subject to get more light on it and therefore use lower ISO settings especially macro shots at very small apertures.

Start off with the tripod but I bet you get a stand in due course.

Back from a munch and a trip into the loft for a Lastolite brochure to get up to date ;) and the thread has been busy.

Foxys brolley is the best option for general subjects.

Silver brolleys give a harder light so good for engineering type of subject, I will look in my gallery to see if I have posted an example.

Gold is generally the preserve of portrait photogs as it gives nice addition to skin tones.

Shoot through, although softer looses a lot of light, and is not so controllable. I will do a diagram. You also have to be aware that on reflective surfaces the brolley arms will show up.

Don

Derek,

I'll be interested to see how you get on with the D light. I have fried my Multiblitz, and depending how I get on it may be terminal, so possible decisions to be made.

Loads of stuff in the flash forum to help you on your learing curve.

Don

Thanks Don, I'm trawling through the Flash threads now, some good stuff in there!!

Duncan

A sketch to give a rough idea of using straight bounce from a brollie and shoot through.
It has to be remembered that a camera flash has a horizontal tube so coverage is greater on the horizontal side than in the vertical side. Also without fitting a stofen diffuser the widest angle is less than that from a studio unit so at a distance will give light fall off which I have called Spill Light here. This spill is fine on portraits but a pain in tabletop as more black flagging is required.

I hope this makes sense.

Don

PS : Sorry I took so long but Stevie had Flash Gordon on the DVD :D

Just an update for those that may be interested. I bought a white/silver brolly with removable backing from Calumet. As the 46" version was only 50p more than the 36" version I thought I'd get that one. I was intending to use it with my Metz 58AF-1 which has plenty of power so figured it would be able to cope. What I hadn't factored in was the sheer volume a 46" umbrella takes up. If you want big and have a light source that can power it, then fair enough, but you'd better have a big room to house your setup. Try borrowing someone's golf umbrella and get your significant other to stand in the room with the brolly open, held at an angle. See how difficult it is to walk around the room without bashing into it.

I've had to pay 2 lots of postage to get it changed, but there's no way I was going to be able to use the bigger item. Incedentally, I tried buying from a local shop where I could see the item before buying, I tried a range of shops within 50 miles but no-one had anything in stock or could even get one in for me. Bowens are only up the road in Clacton but couldn't supply direct and my local shop didn't want to order from them because I'd be waiting months apparently. I was told I'd be better off buying this sort of stuff online and now I've had to send it back. Seems sometimes you just can't win.

Agreed, its sometimes difficult to get around my dining room with a 36" brolley. A smaller brolley may allow to to get the light closer for macro shots that may require lots of light.

I was in the same quantry as you over the two sizes as the cost for 46" was minor over 36". The assistant in the Calumnet shop advised me to go with 36" and I was still in doubt until I realised Don uses a 36" (or thereabouts)brolley.

Mine are from the early ninties so an oddball dimension by todays standards 32". Also not nearly as fancy as Foxy's or what you are getting. :)

Don

Duncan, for your tabletop shots, a soft box would be just right. A soft box has a much better concentration of diffuse light. It’s ideal for your tabletops and very often, for portraits.

However, this is my personal view only.

My sincere request to you is this: Go for a 500joules mono-block with preferably a warm tone flash tube. Get a 100X100cm box at least.

Since you’ve already invested, keep it as your future plan.