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Cheap Parabolic Umbrella

Johan Combrink

New member
Ok I finally managed to get some pics on the 180cm para from China. I still need to do a shoot with it, but these images will show you what it looks like. So far so good as far as built quality goes. Please excuse these shots as they were taken in a rush

para_1.jpg


para_3.jpg


para_2.jpg


para_4.jpg
 

Johan Combrink

New member
To be honest with you Nill, I am unsure of all the technical details, but you have a tremendous amount of controll with the unit as you can move the light/strobe closer and further away from the umbrella.....sort of in and out of it. With it being so large and the deep, you can control the level, or depth of shadows from the modifier more so than with just an umbrella of octobox, so one unit essentially will replace two different modifiers. the lining of this one is white, which should produce a softer, but less contrasty light than with a silver lining inside the umbrella. Anyway that is my understanding. you will see other manufacturers have a silver lining, but this unit only cost me about $1500......little cheaper than $4000 from Broncolor and the likes.

The unit is very nicely packaged with a carry bag, but is rather heavy, weighing in at around 30kg. I am a bigger guy, so for me it is not a problem, and would consider it portable.....

It comes with a heavy duty light stand on wheels, which helps moving the unit around in studio with very little effort. Putting the unit together takes a little bit a thumb sucking initially, as it comes with diddly squat instuctions, but once figured out, is rather simple. I managed to put it together in around 5 minutes......that just being me doing it, with out any assistance.

I unfolds just like a normal rain umbrella would and locks into place. At the back you need to have a sandbag (which is supplier) as well as a 4 kg weight, also supplied. Once these items are attached it is rather stable and easy to tilt.

I was rather bummed at the lining being white and would have prefered silver for a more contrast look, just personal preference really, but for the price.....I will take it.

The light is very nicely centered on the unit via another arm, which screw in on the inside of the umbrella. See image 4.

This little arm allows you to move the light in and out or further away from the umbrella. As far as the realistic effect this creates, I am unsure of at this point, and still need to shoot and test the effect. I can however tell you shooting with the umbrella behind me does produce a very flat light which is surprisingly contrasty. The wrap around light due to the units size is really cool. Shooting on a high key white background is great. I liked the effect.

As soon as I have more time, i will post so results......I just need a model or someone willing to visit me soon.
 
How is it used? What sort of light pattern does it produce?

In principle, i.e. when the flashtube is positioned in the parabola's focal point, the umbrella projects a collimated bundle of uniform light (no hotspot). To the subject the lightsource looks like a uniformly lit disk (with a very small shadow of the flash head). The diameter of the umbrella determines the size of that disk.

In these examples it seems like the flashtube is quite some distance removed from the focal point, so there will be some non-uniformity or fall-off although the white reflecting layer will smoothen that more than a silver colored surface would. Maybe the reflector is not a perfect parabola, but it looks close enough.

Question to Johan; is it possible to vary the position of the flashtube, or is the depth fixed?

Bart
 

Johan Combrink

New member
Hi Bart

Sheesh man all those technical jargens get my brain in a knot :D

Yes you can vary the depth of the flash tube, although in image 4, that is the closest one can put the light to the umbrella....or max depth inside the umbrella should I say.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Johan,

The umbrella looks very professionals and well made. It's remarkably symmetrical and will surely be impress your clients. If Broncolor is your standard this could turn out to be huge bargain!

To check the light character one just uses it on a model. However the light pattern is easily obtained by shooting against a blank white wall (actually a grey or black wall would be fine too) and look at the luminance in Photoshop. First you will see any obvious patterns such as hot spots, lines and so forth, or else shadow from the light fixture.

Set up with the face of the umbrella exactly parallel to the wall. Put another way, the rod holding the light and boom will be perpendicular to the wall.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this great beast!

Asher
 

Johan Combrink

New member
Ok here is a shot taken last night with the cheap para. Light was almost directly behind me with a grey backdrop.....and this is not a model, but my wife, who hates posing. Editing includes raw convertion and basic skin touch up (1 minute) and the para seems to make just a beautiful glowing flattish light from what I can tell.

From what I can see, moving the light in and out, does not make a major difference. I think the light is too far out to begin with, and a little modifying needs to be done to enable the light to move further into the para for more options. I think the guys who made it in china, did not allow for the light to go deep enough into the para.

test_1.jpg
 

Jack_Flesher

New member
Well at least you have soft light -- nice shading and tonality on your wife's face. The speculars in her eyes are almost solid round, but unfortunately still show slightly circular -- better than rectangular or ring-light circular to be sure, but maybe not as ideal as a covered Octa. The specular will probably improve as you get the head further into the para. IMO soft light and good speculars combine to be 90% of the battle IMO.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Well at least you have soft light -- nice shading and tonality on your wife's face. The speculars in her eyes are almost solid round, but unfortunately still show slightly circular -- better than rectangular or ring-light circular to be sure, but maybe not as ideal as a covered Octa. The specular will probably improve as you get the head further into the para. IMO soft light and good speculars combine to be 90% of the battle IMO.
Tell me, Jack, about your light reflections in the eye. You like bright solid white, is that it? Here part of the light seems blocked by the photographer and the center of the light is missing in the reflection, or at least, not bright. It can be improved with selecting the pupils and curves but the reflections seem scrawny.

Could you show some that you like?

Asher
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Too flat maybe? Is there any way to get any modelling on the face with such a huge light source? One of the reasons I don't like ring lights...
 
Too flat maybe? Is there any way to get any modelling on the face with such a huge light source?

Not using it as a frontal light will solve all that. When used at an angle, and slightly elevated, it will resemble a large skylight, with resulting smooth edge gradients and a 3-dimensional effect.

Such large surfaces also produce very little light fall-off, and are thus suited for deep/wide scenes or dynamic setups with lots of movement (exposure is almost constant across the scene, depending only a little on distance from the lightsource).

Bart
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Have you got any examples Bart? I've only ever seen flat light from Parabolics, would love to see one used a bit more adventurously. Heck but you would need a big studio to use of of these!
 
Have you got any examples Bart?

Unfortunately not, I don't have the space to use them. I do remember seeing some examples of different modifiers on the web somewhere, but don't know if I can find them again. If I do then I'll post a link here.
Of course, Frank Doorhof uses large Octas and their effect is quite similar although slightly smoother. Maybe Johan Combrink can find some time and post an example with the parabola somewhat to one side (45 and 90 (or 30 and 60) degree angles would be informative).

I've only ever seen flat light from Parabolics, would love to see one used a bit more adventurously. Heck but you would need a big studio to use of of these!

Yep, big (deep) light modifiers require some maneuvering space, although they can be placed near a wall/corner.

Bart
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Have to admit I love the idea of the huge Lasotlite Umbrella box, I use two of the smaller ones for wedding work, it's a simple folding octabox and so versatile.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Not using it as a frontal light will solve all that. When used at an angle, and slightly elevated, it will resemble a large skylight, with resulting smooth edge gradients and a 3-dimensional effect.

Such large surfaces also produce very little light fall-off, and are thus suited for deep/wide scenes or dynamic setups with lots of movement (exposure is almost constant across the scene, depending only a little on distance from the lightsource).

Bart
It may seem counter-intuitive and against the inverse square law, but if the light source is indeed in the geometric center, of the parabola, then all the light should emerge parallel and fall off should not occur. However, the parabola is not perfect and the light is not a point source. So the light rays will be quasi parallel and the light will not fall off as fast as the inverse square law. Still, it should be better than other sources. The larger the umbrella and smaller the light source, the better the light would be. I now have intrigued myself! I'd love to see some pictures as I requested above so I could measure the fall off!

Asher
 

Johan Combrink

New member
Hey folks.

I have been a little busy and today, well about hour ago I managed to get some shooting in to test and for a client. one thing that I was not aware of, was that it is better to have the small reflector on the light itself to controll the light more effectively, were as I have been shooting with a totally bare light. So anyway i must say the difference is absolutly HUGE.

Here is one shot with the para about 45deg to my right and a striplight to the left behind the subject :

mario_1.jpg


Would you guys wanna see more unedited shots? or something specific I can prepare ?
 
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