softbox speed ring for edison/mogul socket
 

I'd like to convert most of my lighting to flourescent, so I'm looking for a socket for screw in flos and a speed ring that will work with my Chimera soft boxes.

Does anyone know how to mount a plain old household edison socket in a Chimera box? I looked at Chimera, Photoflex and Westcott, but I can't find a speed ring that says it does this.

How about one of the variable size speed rings - has anyone tried these?

I also wouldn't mind finding a cheaper way to mount a mogul base socket too. I have the incredibly expensive speed ring with the built in mogul base from Chimera, but it seems like there should be a better (cheaper) way.

Thanks!

Hi Jonathan:

In looking at the expensive Chimera mogul base http://www.chimeralighting.com/dspsp...productID=9830
I doubt that you will find a regular Edison socket that has the four receptacles needed to mount a softbox safely, it looks like specialized piece of engineering. All of the Edison lamp mounts at Home Depot only have two rod mounts amd they are screw socket base not smooth receptacle base for the Chimera's rods.

All of the junky Savage and Fotodiox CFL lights are baseboards with multiple Edison sockets for multiple CFL bulbs. Why don't you just buy one of those? They are setup to accept a Chimera and many come with a crappy Chimera copy of a softbox. If you think about it, I doubt if a single CFL of any size is going to give you nearly enough output through a Chimera to be of any use. The cheap ones on the market all use 9 or 12 CFLs in their base. $99.95, how can you go wrong? http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...oducts_id=4122

Dan

Good luck, let us know if you discover anything.

Dan

Hmmm, that's really useful information. Sounds like a dead end.

I was hoping to use one of Andrew's (Cool Lights) monster 200W 8U flos (about 500W tungsten equivalent; CRI=90; $75. delivered) for the 24x32 softbox with the mogul base and a 105W spiral flo off of Ebay (maybe 250W tungsten; CRI=86; about $35. each delivered) for the little softbox with a medium base. Do you think I'll get enough oomph for small interview setups?

I'm trying to keep everything as compact and simple as possible and those products seem kind of clunky, plus you have to deal with a bunch of bulbs. But all things considered it's not a bad option. This will be Plan B.

Thanks Dan!!

I have used my 500 Lowell V-lights in a small Chimera before, it used to be my preferred travel kit since the V-light folds up to something the size of a Betacam 30 minute case, which is pretty small. But to be honest, I was never happy with the output, it always seemed to be just a little too wimpy. Keep in mind I always use a 40 degree egg crate on my Chimera, which eats some light. I switched back to an Arri 650 and I have been much happier with the look that gives, especially in mixed light environments where the Chimera has to work harder to overcome ambient light levels.

For me, wouldn't do the trick. YMMV.

Dan

Thanks again, Dan. I guess I'll try the big flo in the mogul socket first and see how that goes. I should have the bulb in a few days. I also bought one of the Cool Lights portable 2 bulb flo units, so I'll be able to compare them side by side.

I can also replace the regular diffuser on the Chimera with a light opal or something like that. Seems like an eggcrate might not be feasible, but I'll try that on as well...

JP

Jonathan, I have found that the 220W output of the 4xPL55W lamp fixtures like the coollights.biz CL-455 is much more powerful than my 200W mogul softbox. I think the softbox eats a lot of light and the outboard ballasts are apparently more efficient. I also think the orientation of the 200W 8U lamps may not be very efficient. Yes, the 200W fluorescent softbox is useful, but the 220W CL-455 is more convenient and powerful.

Thanks for the info Marcus. I was curious about how much light the softbox used up.

Dan, I'm curious, do you own or have you used the Fotodiox lights?
Gary

Thanks Marcus. That's a useful point of reference. Do you think your CL-455 with just one bank (2 lights) turned on is comparable to the mogul box ? That's more like what I've been expecting...

as an alternate point, I got one of those knock off softboxes on ebay for $60. it has a "universal" speed ring. turns out it let my lowel pro light fit right in. I drilled and tapped the speed ring's 3 lobes and installed 3 small thumbscrews which grab the cooling body of the prolight. that part worked perfect but the overall weight was too much for the pro light to hold. So I made a offset bracket out of aluminum and matched that up to the bottom 1/2 of a photo swivel for being able to tile and hold the thing. works great, and I'm using a 125W bulb in the prolight. as a fill or hairlight, it works great. I've even used it as a key in bar shots where I needed a small boost in light to keep the camera happy and the lens wide openish (2.8) to keep the backgrounds open.
I want to change it to a flo bulb and plan to make a base out of 1/4 plexi X 2-3 layers, add a mogul base, power switch, and try this 500W equivalent CFL bulb.

I've seen some round aluminum speedrings on Ebay that could be adapted like you've done, by tapping some screws to hold a socket. I'd like to try something like that, but I haven't had much success with DIY projects so I'll have to wait until I'm not under the gun...

Hi Gary:

Yes, I do. The first two they sent me were defective right out of the box. This third one worked for a while, then one of the banks seemed to short out with an electrical burning smell. I was too busy to ever ship it back to get it repaired/replaced so it is sitting in my garage at present.

Dan

That's too bad Dan, I have 2 and I have been banging them around for over a year and no problems at all. I use CFLs in them to create fill.
Gary

Their CFL model must be built better. I had/have their 2 x 55 watt Biax tube models. This one is a piece as far as I have experienced.

Best,

Dan

Yeah I have 2 of the 9 socket models. I have 5 5500 degree CFLs on one circuit and 4 3200 degree in the other. That give instant choice for lighting.
Gary