Our octagonal softboxes (“octaboxes”) provide a soft, diffused output that evenly covers your subject with a gorgeous wash of light. The interior is a highly reflective silver surface that bounces the light evenly through the translucent white front diffusion panel. Each box additionally arrives with a second internal baffle for double-diffusion, attaching inside the box to create even softer results.
Each foldable box is crafted with an opaque black exterior shell having a recessed front lip where the white diffusion panel attaches. This recessed lip helps minimize lens flare and is additionally designed to hold a grid (grids sold separately, available for each foldable softbox, octabox and stripbox).
Our softboxes and octaboxes offer the soft lighting effect that you love without the hassle of construction and setup time. With simple and quick umbrella-like construction, each softbox and octabox arrives with the speedring and frame poles already attached - to form the box, you will simply slide and lock the poles into place, then attach your front diffusion panel. The design saves you time in your studio and allows you to take your softboxes and octaboxes on location.
We offer three rectangular softboxes, two narrow rectangular stripboxes and three octagonal softboxes ("octaboxes") in various sizes depending on your subject and coverage needs. The octaboxes differ from the softboxes only in shape, as the octagonal shape delivers a more rounded throw, producing a round catch light.
Flash Units: Each softbox and octabox arrives with the speedring (already attached to the frame) for faceplate attachment. The boxes can be used with all Paul C. Buff standard flash units and flash heads, including the DigiBee units, Einstein units, AlienBees units, retired Zeus heads (Z2500SH and Z2500BTH) and White Lightning units (both the current X-Series line and the retired UltraZAP and Ultra lines). The boxes are not compatible with the AlienBees ABR800 Ringflash, the retired Zeus Ringmaster head, or the retired WL Series (5,000 and 10,000) units.
Light Stands: When using a softbox or octabox with a flash unit, we recommend the use of our heavier duty 13-foot light stands or another comparable stand. The footprint of the light stand should be opened wide to help balance the setup and sandbags or other weights may be necessary for use with the larger boxes.
Optional Light Stand Mounting: For increased support, we recommend using the
SBA Foldable Softbox Stand Mount Adapter. The SBA adapter allows you to mount your foldable softbox directly to a heavy duty light stand, then attach your flash unit to the softbox itself. This setup provides increased security and stability when using larger softboxes, or when positioning your softboxes to hang overhead or tilt at extreme angles. This mounting method additionally removes the burden of supporting the softbox weight from the faceplate of your flash unit.
Grids: We offer 40º fabric grids for each softbox, octabox and stripbox with a corresponding grid size for each individual box. The grids attach with velcro on the recessed front lip of each box.