Customer Reviews

Harbor Digital Ultimate Light Box Pro Pack for Nikon SB900

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've tested this out both indoors and outdoors with my Nikon D700 camera and SB900 speedlight on camera. It's met or exceeded all my expectations.

You'll notice when you use a direct bare flash unit that shadows appear somewhat harsh just below the chin and nose even for flash fill outdoors. When you bounce the bare flash indoors (don't try this at home!:) off a ceiling or a nearby wall that shadows appear more indistinct and softer. However, illumination appears to be "top heavy". It's apparent the lighting is coming from above... and the shadows, although considerably softer, still appear on the neck and below the nose. You'll also notice that from top to bottom, there is light "falloff". This softbox goes several steps further to even out the illumination on your subject. keep in mind that when you use this lightbox, it will cut light output by a little over a full stop. But the SB900, and most other flashes can compensate for the output reduction by using more power if your camera has TTL metering capabilities.

Two boxes come with the pro pack version, one black, the other translucent. I almost always use the translucent box because light output is not just from the front (as with the black box), but from the other four sides of the box as well. It also comes with an inner translucent dome and two other inner front softening panels to further diffuse the light. The two softening panels fit in the translucent cap which snaps over the front of the box. There are also two white "kicker" cards (one goes inside the box), the other attaches to the top side of the box via Velcro strips. These are usually used when your flash is pointing up towards the room ceiling or a nearby wall. Both cards are used to direct more light towards your subject instead of bouncing off the wall behind you.

The pro pack also comes with a black gobo that also attaches via Velcro strips to the box mounted with the strips on the bottom. This is used to prevent the light from the bottom of the translucent box from interfering with the light sensor on your speedlight when you do NOT have TTL metering for your flash. Without the gobo your photos could be underexposed. You probably won't need to use this if your camera has TTL (through the lens) metering, which most modern DSLR's and SLR's have.

There are also color filters that come with the pro pack version. Good for changing the light color when you are using multiple speedlights and you want to change the color of your background lighting. They are used like colored gels on your background or backlight strobes in a studio environment.

Now, for those of you who use the Nikon SB900 speedlight, there are a couple of things that must be noted... the color filters that came with your speedlight will probably not work with this lightbox. It's because this speedlight has a sensor on the bottom front of the head that detects when you place a filter on the speedlight with the SB900 diffuser cap attached (which holds the filter in place) both in front of the flashtube and the tab portion of the filter which is held against the filter detector window. So if you want the color temperature of your flash to match, say for example, tungsten lighting (3200k) of the available light in the room, it won't work. The other thing is that the lightbox adaptor for the SB900 has two tabs that must be bent backwards to snap into the two notches on the both sides of the SB900. Most of the adaptors for other speedlights fit on by friction alone. These tabs are more difficult to work with than the friction type adaptors made for other brands of speedlights.

Despite the two exceptions above, I still give this five stars because of how effective this box is. I've used other diffusers and found that they are not nearly so flexible in the number of ways that this light box can be used. Worth every penny!!!