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Softbox Lighting?

T

TheStar

Is softbox lighting a good source of lighting for videos? Would you use it as a start?

I'm [almost] ready to invest in some lights, but with a limited budget, I've been settling on softbox lights
 
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It really depends on what you want to do.

Usually, a soft box or chimera is attached to a separate light via a speeding. You can get speed rings and soft boxes for all kinds of different lights. I'd personally rather get more traditional lights and soft boxes for them than the CFL soft boxes, but it depends on what you can afford I guess.
 
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Let's use a short film as an example (or do I need to be more specific than that?)


Basically I want lights that'll properly light a scene without having editing difficulties in post. But I guess proper lighting of the scene depends on the person setting up the lights.


Actually I saw a pair of floodlights with stands for $89 at B&H Photo. That's doable :yes:
 
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Just getting a set of 3 500w open face lights (with barndoors & 7'+ stands!) will give you options... you can always soften lights if you need to, it's a pain to unsoften - and you lose tons of intensity when doing so.
 
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having started out with only softboxes as my main lights I echo others opinions here. Open face lights with light control (barn doors, flags, scrims, diffusion etc) are much more useful and flexible.

Softboxes may seem convenient, but are very limited in application, a pain to add CC gels, take LONGER to setup and move, and prone to bursting into flame (ok, last bits an exaggeration)
 
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As others said, you can always add gels to make lights softer. I quite like the Lowel Rifalight as a softbox. Very nice light. Having said that, you can easily diffuse hard lights and make them softer with a sheet of diffusion (comes in different intensities). My favourite means of diffusion is probably bouncing lights into a 8x8 silk. That way you can take multiple hard lights and make them into one big beautiful source.
 
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I barely use softboxes ever. I have poly boards and foam core that I often use to bounce, or silks, or 216 gel (as well as frames of 216). I find you often get a lot more control over a softened hard source than using a softbox. That said, I use kinos and china balls (both soft sources) quite a bit.
 
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