Fuji Trial and error with a home made light box

kaito

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Location
Wiltshire UK
Name
Dave
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After seeing a video on You Tube, I recently made a light box out of a cardboard box, sheet of white card and two sheets of tracing paper. In the video, 2 desk lamps were used to provide light, I tried this with 2 pairs of different lamps but in both case couldn't get sufficient light on the subject. So I turned to flash. I used the EF-X8 (turned the output down by -2) mounted on the hotshoe to trigger the slave and placed the Nissin i40 in slave mode on the side.

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I've tried using a cheap third slave flash on the left but it's just too crap to be effective. I don't have the cash to buy another Nissin i40 at the moment. Can anyone recommend or suggest a third flash unit that might work? I wish I'd known about the Godox 350s a month ago.
 
If you want an inexpensive, reliable speedlite, I've had good luck with Yongnuo. Seems like the older model (YN560 III) sells for about £47 on Amazon. If that's not in the cards right now, experiment with some reflective material like aluminum foil inside the box opposite the i40. Cheat the object a little closer to the reflector side to even out the light a little.
 
Put some white foam board inside the box as needed to bounce the light. And if you can, try moving the nissin to the top of the box directly overhead of the object. Experiment with light placement.
 
Looks like a nice setup to start out with, well done. I suggest duplicating the white sides on the top as well. Good idea using the white posterboard on the inside, I do as well.

I second Yongnuo speedlights, I hear nothing but good things about them. I currently use two used Nikon SB-24 speedlights and a LumoPro LP160 for my OCF work. Cheap finds on ebay and are very dependable with a PC socket/port for direct connections to my Pocketwizard transceivers.

Keep it up :)
 
I managed to get a Yongnuo YN510EX from an Ebay seller for just under £30, trial and error continues!

What a godsend digital photography is, instant results, no need to d&p, so much less waste.
 
Added white paper to the ceiling of the box.

EF-X8 mounted on the hotshoe, turned the output down by -2. I tried using a diffuser as well (actually some old neg sleeves) but the difference was negligible.
i40 on the right, with diffuser, set on SD, about 6 inches from the box.
YN510 on the left with diffuser, set at slave 1/64 power, about 12 inches from the box.

Both images are SOOC.

XT1 with 18-55, exposure at 1/30 at F4, iso 200, zoom at about 35mm.

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XT1 with 18-55, exposure at 1/30 at F5, iso 200, zoom at about 35mm.

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There's still work to be done, trying to balance the density of the object (the camera is slightly washed out) with the purity of the white background.
 
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