Rich Hibner Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 (edited) A friend of mine has a softbox and I wanted to know if there is a way to tell how much heat it will allow. I don't want to chance it and it end up burning. I won't be using more than 500watts if that makes any sense. Edited July 8, 2008 by Rich Hibner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Bruno Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 A Picture would be nice. Usually softboxes are designed to accomodate a certain size of light. So, look at the specs of the softbox. Is it a chimera brand? A little more investigation is required, but 500 watts is not a very high amount to worry too much about. Just make sure the equipment you're using is designed to work with you lighting fixture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Belanger Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 A friend of mine has a softbox and I wanted to know if there is a way to tell how much heat it will allow. I don't want to chance it and it end up burning. I won't be using more than 500watts if that makes any sense. One important thing to be aware of, there are soft boxes made for strobe lights that are not designed for high heat. They max out at about 200w which is roughly the intensity of the modeling light in a strobe. Make sure the softbox is for a hot light, a continuous tungsten or hmi source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hibner Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) One important thing to be aware of, there are soft boxes made for strobe lights that are not designed for high heat. They max out at about 200w which is roughly the intensity of the modeling light in a strobe. Make sure the softbox is for a hot light, a continuous tungsten or hmi source. That was really the question at hand. Nobody knows what the box is for. So, how do you tell without it catching on fire. Edited July 9, 2008 by Rich Hibner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Belanger Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 That was really the question at hand. Nobody knows what the box is for. So, how do you tell without it catching on fire. Material of construction can be a good clue. Stobe boxes are usually light-weight nylon. Chimeras and the like are heavier fabric from what I recall, somewhat approaching canvas weight but I haven't used one in a while. You could try some incremental experiments with 200w, 300w, etc lights to see how things fair. And as someone said above, photos might help in the identification process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Bruno Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Think safety first. There are numerous ways to achieve a similar effect without using something you're unsure of. Why not get a 4x4 frame of 216 and just cut off the spill with floppies? You could even add a tiny make-shift grid if it suits your purposes. Then you're using simple stuff and not worrying about fire hazards! Good luck. If you attach photos, advice will be easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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