Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Amazing all-purpose umbrella that works like a giant soft-box, a shoot through, or a reflective umbrella. If I had 1 modifier and couldnt bring anything else, I would bring this one.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

For use with hot shoe flashes, the sock is not placed properly, it is dead center and should be offset. Using a standard umbrella bracket, the flash sits too high to get proper light fill (and the sock is way too tight, putting pressure on the flash). It is best to buy a Lowel Low-Link L Bracket ($6.92)or similar to get your flash perpendicular to the umbrella shaft.

With studio strobes, the sock is way too tight to fit over reflectors and is a serious PITA. Here again, an offset sock would be a tremendous help. Previous versions had an offset sock, but they changed the design, for some insane reason. The whole sock really needs to be redesigned. It actually makes what should be an easy setup quite cumbersome.

ELINCHOM USERS: if you are an Elinchrom user, this is the only Brolly box type modifier that I am aware of that will fit the 7mm Eli mount. BUT HERE IS DEAL: you need to buy the 8mm version with removable stem. The 7mm version of this product is actually 6.5mm (or less) and is too loose and can fall out of your strobe. The 8mm version fits in snugly up until the shaft joint (YES, even in the BXRi - which is a tighter fit than other Eli lights). This position works fine. Other users on POTN have shown that to get best fill, use with an SP Studio $9.95 Eli ADAPTER ring only (no reflectors) to hold the sock away from the modeling light. Do a search on POTN for more details.

All that said, it's a great modifier for the price.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I am a softbox girl, but for on location work these umbrellas work great! The set up and take down time isn't bad at all. I used to use brolly boxes for on location work, and I found that they spilled light.
These umbrellas do not do. They work great with my Alien bees.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I use two of these with 300 w/s strobes and I get excellent color rendition everytime.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

This is my first modifier for experiencing with OCF (off camera flash). I have a Canon 430EX and with the recommendation from some people on POTN, I bought the Softlighter II.

This umbrella is gorgeous: high quality materials and I'm not afraid to open/close it repeatedly. The only thing I realized after I bought it was that the Softlighter II is made more for studio strobes (ie. Alienbees, Elinchrom, Genesis strobes) rather than hot shoe flashes.

Why do I say that? You can't take advantage of the diffuser because the head of the flash is too far from the center shaft. Thus, I use it just as an expensive reflective umbrella. It has worked wonders for me so far, but I need to buy a real studio strobe in order to have stellar results.

Annie Leibovitz uses this in a lot of her shoots!

Either way, 5 stars for a quality product, even though I can't take full advantage of it yet (my fault).

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

The Photek Softlighter II gives a beautiful diffused and soft light similar to a beauty dish. The ability to remove the umbrella shaft and move the light close gives a beautiful transition between light and shadow for portrait work. Catchlights take on an octagon shape. While I prefer a beauty dish in the studio, the portability of the Softlighter makes it the modifier of choice for traveling.

Set-up is a quick and easy one person affair once you learn the procedure. The entire Softlighter collapses into a case no larger than that of a 54" umbrella. The construction is top notch.

While many people use the Softlighter with battery powered flashes, I use it with an AB800 monolight. One 54" Softlighter is large enough to light a 3/4 to full figure with no light fall off. The sock opening is just large enough to fit over the monolight.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Very well made, beautiful soft light. This is the best bang for your buck anywhere!

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I use this as my key light, with a regular umbrella as fill. It replaced my other umbrella.

It throws a very nicely diffused soft light. I am very pleased with the light quality. It is better than a regular shoot-through or shoot-into umbrella, and almost but not quite as good as a softbox. With a softbox, you can control the spill. However, a softbox is usually bulkier, harder to set up, and eats even more light.

The Softlighter does eat into your light output. For portraits I have been running my SB-800 at 1/2 power or greater. The actual power you need depends on how close you get the Softlighter to your subject.

Getting the Softlighter close produces the best quality light. I move it to just outside of the frame, as close to the subject as possible. Unlike a shoot-into umbrella where the reflective surface is a shaft away from the bracket, the Softlighter is point-blank with the bracket and thus closer to your subject.

The ability to unscrew the umbrella shaft and remove it is huge here. Else the shaft would threaten to poke the subject's eye out (very bad for kid shots).

The construction is decent but not at the level of pro equipment. I am gentle with it in fear of ripping any seams.

Assembly is so-so. Basically you have to open the umbrella (only with the shaft on) and then put the umbrella cover. That's not too hard.

It can be a bit of a nuisance putting it over larger flashes like the Nikon SB-800! The Softlighter has a sock by the hole where the flash head is supposed to go. However, the hole is so close to shaft that most brackets will have the flash head high above the shaft. With the Softlighter mounted to where the flash head can peek through the hole -- the hole is not tall enough! I end up playing some games to get the shaft through the umbrella bracket and the flash fully encased inside of the Softlighter.

This can be a problem if you want to adjust settings on the back of the flash. You have to access it through the hole which is covered by the sock. I use Nikon CLS so I can control the manual power level via optical signals -- it works fine with my pop-up flash which acts as the CLS Commander. Doesn't matter that the flash is inside the panel.

With the flash inside the panel, there's a bit more of a hot spot in the center of the Softlighter.

Some people have rigged up a DIY bracket that allows them to mount the flash so its entire length runs across the top of the bracket (flash is "lying down" with the head pointed straight out). This seems to work well but I haven't gotten around to building my own bracket for this.

So it's a bit of a pain to set up. Certainly not as quick as, say, a 50" Westcott Apollo. But the Apollo costs a lot more.

The catchlight produced by the Softlighter is round but will have the shadow of your flash and lightstand in it. You'll need to clone it out in post-processing if it bothers you. It's better than a regular umbrella's catchlight, which has the umbrella spokes (most umbrellas).

Overall, for the money I think it's a nice upgrade over a regular umbrella. The quality of light is very good and will make a positive difference in your photography if all you use now are umbrellas, bare flash, or modifiers that attach to the flash head.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Great color consistentcy, well built, used for indoor and outdoor portraits, 1-3 people. I use with Canon 580EX speedlite or the Flashpoint monolights. Excellent product, highly reccomended!

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I've used this product once and I'm very satisfied with the results. (Very soft light)

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

This is a well built and is great quality for the money. It is much nicer and better packaged and accessorized than I expected it to be. I have only used it a couple of times, but I have been very pleased with the results.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Really a great light modifier...especially for location work. Set-up is easy and quick, it fits in my lighting case with two monolights and reflectors, and there's no speedring to worry about. Quality of light is very nice overall considering the size and weight. It kinda reminds me of a small and shallow Octobank and just like a true octobank (not an octo box) the light is bounced before going through the front diffuser. The light (with diffuser) is soft yet still has a good shadow edge (depending on distance of light source to subject of course).
I typically use it for portraits and find it very versatile...use it with or without diffuser or silver insert. I also like the round catch lights it produces.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Easy to set up. creamy light..does not affect color temp,..sturdy stem, easy to mount.. the included gold reflector adds more variety for the light; tried many others this one works best for me. I use Speedlites..constructions seem will last a while, too

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Works all right, but the diffuser is loose and sloppy.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

shooting portraits with speedlights and you don't have a softlighter?

nope that's not going to work :) (no flaming please)

this product does wonders to portraits and takes the guess work out. a must have for anyone who shoots portraits with speedlights

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Very nice product. Quality is very good

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Good stuff. Someone stepped on it while it was open on the floor; I easily straightened it out and it still works fine. LOVE IT!

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

Great, easy to use, lightweight wonderful soft light

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

We travel a lot. Compactness and versatility is very important to us. This is a great alternative to a softbox. Plus with all the different configurations it has the potential to solve all kinds of lighting problems. Plus it's quick and easy set-up.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I am still playing with it, and the more I do, the more I like it. Has a few uses. Regular umbrella, and softbox. The set although not real difficut, takes a little. The neck piece that goes over the light I find a little tight but still liking the whole thing. Nice light and easier then setting up my bank. Much easier to travel with and still have a softbox.

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

This umbrella is fantastic. It's incredibly easy to convert between modes, and very portable (much more so than normal softboxes).

Comments about Photek Photek Softlighter II, 54" Umbrella with Diffuser.:

I don't know why someone would choose a medium or small soft box over this product. It has a wonderful even soft light that is perfect for portrait and glamour shots. You can get the light very close to the subject without hot spots.