If you ask me what’s the most important thing when it comes to photography and videography I would say without any hesitation that it’s Lighting. You can use the most high-end camera out there but if you don’t have an ample amount of light for your subject chances are the result will be mediocre. But on the contrary, if you have a good amount of light, natural light preferably, you can use even just your smartphone and get pretty decent results. See below example of the difference between a good lighting and a bad lighting.
Bad lighting vs Good lighting
The preferable light source is natural light coming from the sun especially during golden hour when the light is not that harsh and diffused. But we can’t always take advantage of that so having a good artificial light is the way to go especially for indoor use.
With all that being said, we decided to get a hold of a softbox light kit and today, I’m going to teach you guys on how to assemble it just in case you decide to get one for yourself as well.
Let’s start first with a video and then we’ll discuss further the details down below in this article.
How to Assemble a Softbox Light Kit + Unboxing and Review
Now that you’ve watched the video I’m sure you already got an idea on how to build a softbox light kit. But if you’re still confused and want to learn more, continue reading…
So what we got is an unbranded softbox light kit from a local online seller named MRG Trading. They don’t have an online shop and just do meetups and they are based in Cainta, Rizal, Philippines. The transaction was smooth and the owner, Sir Randy, even gave me an on the spot tutorial on how to build this which is a nice gesture. I got this kit for just around 2300 pesos.
Not Included: 4 x 15W LED Bulbs that I got from Ace Hardware for 800 pesos total (399 each box that contains 2 bulbs)
I started with the 6ft light stand, and as I’ve mentioned in the video, the quality is good considering it’s price.
The construction is sturdy, the joints and locks are ok but since the locking mechanism is made from plastic and screws I would be very careful on not tightening it too much.
Then I started adding the bulbs to the 4 socket e27 bulb holder. And as I’ve mentioned in the video, you can do this before or after building the kit. I just found it easier to put the bulbs first to get that process out of the way early. I chose LED Bulbs rather than CFLs because first, it’s the only one available on Ace Hardware, second, it’s power efficient and does not heat up that much.
Make sure that the bulbs’ circumference is not that big so that they can fit properly and would not touch each other when you insert them into the bulb socket.
Here’s how it looks like at the back of the bulb socket, it has two switches that control two bulbs each. At first, I was thinking of getting a single bulb holder because it’s cheaper but then I figured I won’t have any options if I want to increase or decrease the brightness if I only have a single bulb.
After adding the bulbs, I attached the bulb socket on the light stand and then inserted the 50x70cm softbox into the light stand. Then I inserted 2 metal rods at the top so that I can hang the softbox and then inserted another 2 metal rods at the bottom to give the softbox it’s rectangular shape. You may have to watch(rewatch) the video to see how exactly I did it.
No doubt I would recommend this Softbox Light Kit, it’s affordable, good quality, easy to assemble and the images I took with this new lighting setup speak for itself. Here’s some example:
Photos
By the way, watch out for my unboxing and review of the JBL T450 Headphones! Subscribe
Videos:
And there you have it guys, thank you for taking your time to watch the video and read throughout this article. I hope this helps you guys to decide whether to get a good lighting kit or not, but obviously, the answer for that is heck yeah! Goodluck and see you next time!
