Neewer 45"/116cm Octagonal Speedlite, Studio Flash, Speedlight Umbrella Softbox with Carrying Bag for Portrait or Product Photography

To be honest I didn't expect much as I had seen this product for literally £25 elsewhere ... I paid £55 as I wanted next day delivery and only this seller had the item in stock. For £55 I actually think it is a bargain ... at £25 it would be ridiculous value. It arrived today and the build quality is certainly more than reasonable for the cost. The material feels reasonably durable and the internals of the softbox are mixed plastic and metal. The plastics feel flexible and certainly don't feel fragile. There is give in them as indeed there should be. The box opens up and is very quickly to set up as it has a traditional umbrella opening system. The front diffuser attaches quickly using standard velcro strips and the unit is supplied in a carry bag. RESULTS Of course having only arrived today I can't give you a massive amount of feedback however I have quickly tried it with both a speedlite and a Broncolor head. The light is soft and even with both although I would use a higher powered speedlite as this box does contain a good amount of internal surface area. The light fall off is pleasant and although obviously not as soft as a 5 or 6' Octobox it drops off nicely providing minimal shadow behind the subject. I wouldn't use this for photographing large groups of people however for photographing individual subjects in relatively soft light this is ideal. The zip opening is quite short and as such it would be best used with a boom arm. This however isn't a criticism and I would advise anyone who wants maximum flexibility from one of these units to be buying a boom arm regardless. I see this as a great piece of travel kit and I will probably throw it in the car for family holidays and days out as well as using it for photographing clients. Overall a nice addition to anyone's kit list. Of course there are better built and better quality items out there but if you are expecting below average quality and results with this item you will be more than pleasantly surprised. In my eyes well worth the 5 star rating I have given it! I will try to post some single light shots as part of a review update in weeks to come.

Took a while to arrive but I used it on the very it did so. It was a windy day and because of it's size was vulnerable to being blown over. It gives a good spread of light and is simple to carry and erect. The material is adequate for the amateur photographer but is definitely of a lesser quality than an umbrella I purchased through 7dayshop, but because of it's portability, usefulness and cost I have given it 5 stars. Update: I have used this softbox several times now and it's limitations of this style of softbox is that you cannot tilt them and this one is no exception. That said, it does give good soft light but I have come back to say that it blew over (they are susceptible to breezes etc) and the shaft has buckled and bent thus rendering the the product useless!. On inspection it is because the shaft is hollow and only made of a soft metal and very vulnerable. I liked the portability of this product but my replacement will be the Godox http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Octagon-Umbrella-Reflector-Speedlight/dp/B0105U0R0W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1451262748&sr=8-2&keywords=godox+softbox and before I use it I will look to see if I can re-inforce the hollow shaft in advance of using it.

This is a good Octagonal softbox, it provides nice defused light for various usages, I'm using it for portrait photography. The one frustration that with a standard upright light stand and the diffuser panel on it can only be setup properly with the plane of light at 90 degrees to the floor. That is you can't angle it down to the subject such as you'd need with clam shell lighting and most Rembrandt. You can at a push drap the diffuser panel around the bottom of the stand so that you can achieve and angle and for the most part this works. Anyway it's designed to be aligned the the arm of the stand, thus with an upright stand you'll get and upright light. Presumably you could rig something up with a C-stand or similar to have it angled down. The quality of the item is good given the cost. It comes with a bag which has a strap for carrying. It's very light weight. My only negative is that the diffuser panel doesn't quite fit, this is picky though, it's every so slightly bigger than the diameter of the umbrella, by a matter of about 2mm, so you can't quite get it taught, this makes no difference to the lighting characteristics of the softbox though, as I say I'm being picky.

Very good product. Good value for money. IMPORTANT NOTE: the first and third pictures have a grid attached. This grid was purchased separately, and is not a NEEWER product. That said, it fit the 47" soft box perfectly. I have used this product as a four-in-one. 1. An umbrella reflector (i.e. Without the white diffuser panel in front). 2. An Octabox softbox (i.e. With the white diffuser panel in front). 3. A GRIDED Octabox softbox (i.e. Grid attached to front) 4. Background. This means using the octabox with a flash inside as the background in a headshot. The end result is a high key shot. An additional way this could be used is as a flag. Now I haven't tested this yet, but I am assuming that if the octabox is in an open position and you turn it the other way, then using another light source to illuminate subject, the back of the box could be used to deflect light from where it's not required (because it's black). I will try this one day.

Great softbox for the money. I have used it with my Canon EX 600RT. Excellent balance of light on the subject. Great for portraits and I have used it for some high speed sync shots. Great size and it folds to a small size.

You may be thinking that this octabox canot do a decent job and will be of poor quality, right? Well you are wrong and right. Quality wise it is of lesser quality than other, more expensive, octabox's - but that doesnt mean its not usable, in fact it works really well. Yes it will feel a little less smooth to use, and the light may be a little less consistent, however its a perfectly workable octa! What's more, at this price point you could afford to replace it every year and it will still take years to clock up the same cost as some. Also low price point means you can afford to take it on locations where it might get blown about. If you have the money, maybe buy an expensive octa (I wouldn't though) for anyone else, buy this and use it, abuse it and use it some more.

The zipped aperture to locate the stand is useless as you cant angle the soft box from 90 degrees, a right-angle to the floor. The only way to do this is to slide the internal umbrella arm until the speed light is pressing against the inner fabric, but then it can’t be angled much. Alternatively, ignore the access aperture and locate the stand through the white diffuser at the front instead, taping it up.

This octabox is fantastic value for money, it's easy to set up and pack away, doen't take up much space when packed up, it's lightweight and seems to be built reasonably well (though I've only had mine for a few months). However, there are a couple of important limitations to note before buying one of these: - 1 - due to the design where the stand passes through the inside of the octabox it is not possible to aim the unit down by anything more than a very acute angle, if you have a boom stand or if you don't ever intend on aiming the unit downwards this may not be a problem 2 - best be able to remote control your light, otherwise you will have to pull open the diffusion panel to access your light to change it's settings every time you need to change your exposure, this was a real pain before I got my radio controller for my flash units! In the future I will probably buy a similar product which uses a Bowens mount for the light (and stand) at the rear, but I definitely don't regret buying this unit, still useful and very compact, excellent value for money! Side note; - I found that having my flash head about 5" away from the rear reflective surface gave me the most even coverage of light, moving the flash further out creates more of a hotspot in the middle.