Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps)

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

So far I like these lights. I've only noticed some very minor issues.
The Good:
The stands and light fixture it's self seems pretty solid. I love that I can adjust the luminance by just flicking a few switches. The multiple options for the spot, and soft boxes are handy (though can be a challenge to swap around). The who thing was very easy to set up. Provides a great amount of light
The Bad:
The CFL bulbs seem pretty cheep and some flicker (I'll be replacing them soon). The fixture creates a small buzz noise. It's hardly noticeable when filming but it is there. The take down on this fixture is not easy and I wouldn't recommend anyone getting these for portable use.

My conclusion is that this is a great kit for the money and they work nearly perfect in my studio.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

just playing with our kids and portraits using a new camera I received for Christmas. This along with other items I ordered made a big difference

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I am a beginner photographer and i purchased this light to do some basic portrait photographs. So far it has worked really well for what i want. I am happy with the purchase.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I use this in a very small home studio. It is packed very well! The bulbs are strapped in place by velcro straps. Re-useable for holding cables.
Having the ability to select sets of bulbs is great.
From soft fill to really bright.

Directions a good if you actually need them. Pretty easy to put together. It takes a good amount of force to put in the last few rods...so I am not sure I would want to take it apart often.

Comes with reflector (I am not using yet)and second diffuser to han inside. The back has velcro "flaps" I use to vent out the heat.

The front diffuser is shaped well and fits perfect. Just the right amount of velcro to keep things neat and in place.

I did have one socket that would not light. I had to go in and bend up the brass tab a bit to make contact. UNPLUG FIRST!! if you need to do this (Which I did)

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

Given the fact that this was a first purchase for continuous ligting, I am really pleased with the lights. The construction is good and it is well made. An outstanding feature is the ability to turn pairs of lights on and off. So in practice you can have one, three, five, seven or all nine lights on to meet your lighting needs.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I used two of these to light my subject, and some tungsten lights to illuminate my isolated green screen in the background. I love how white these lights are (I was used to Tungsten)! The multiple on/off switches are great but I expect I will usually need it full on for video. The flexibility of using the lights bulbs directly, with inner diffuser only, or with both inner&outer diffusers is very nice.These things run nice and cool - the hottest outer parts could still be touched after 30 minutes. This is ideal for a small studio that would warm up quickly.Only negative is that these are not a good solution for a traveling studio if you don't have room to leave the light assembled. I can't imagine they would hold up to more than 20-30 assembly cycles without tearing the flexible box material or something, though it is pretty good quality.NOTE: - They do make the typical florescent buzz when they start but it goes away in about 3-5 minutes. - It takes that same time to get up to full illumination, so DON'T start taking pics or vids until you're up to the full brightness levels.Overall, an excellent value, for photography or indoor video. I'm very glad I bought two of them.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

These lights are easy to use, have 5 switches to set different levels of brightness and are very adjustable. Great for small spaces because they are highly adjustable and dont take up much space.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I bought this light with 1 octacool-6 and 2x9.5' heavy duty light stands about 9 month ago. I had the chance to use it several times since then.

On 2 occasions I did a shooting for a figure skating progam. I was set off the ice in a room with low neon ambiant light. I had to shoot from single skaters to group up to 20 persons. I have to say that those lights together were powerful enough to do the job in my opinion. I was able to set at f:5.6, ISO 400 and at a shutter speed of 1/40 or 1/50s.

I also did some kids and baby pictures and having a continuous and cool lighting source is a must.

It is possible to switch on/off lights seperatly (5 switch for 9 lamps). The price is good for the amount of light in return. The general quality of the product is good. I was able to fit 1 octacool-9 and 1 octacool-6 into a 10"x18"x28" luggage (except for the light stands of course).

On the down side, setting up the light take some time and the softbox give me some trouble to assemble the first time. You must put the rod that hold the softbox in the head first and then in the outer edge of the softbox.

I am not sure if I had to use it, or travelling and disassembling it on a daily basis, that it would be the right product. In my opinion it is a good product for a starter kit, video, home studio and for those who have a small budget.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

We don't have the largest soundstage, so hot lights can shorten production time in the room. These are great for the fact that they run cool and are adjustable.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

Portraits - newborn and infant
Cool consistant light
Easy to move around studio
Relatively easy to set up, but won't disassemble after each use
Open bulbs carefully. Two were broken on receipt. BH replaced quickly.
Wish front diffuser was recessed and had egg-crate accy

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

After using the Octacool-9 for a few video and photo shoots, I can say without reservation that it is absolutely great. Make sure to use it with a heavy duty stand such as the Impact 9.5' model.

It is very bright. The light wraps around a single subject nicely; so well, in fact, that absent of a wall in the immediate background vacinity a backlight may not always be necessary. I've also used a single unit to light two and three people in a living-room setting and it is competent. I'd probably use two if you can. Catchlights in the eyes are perfect and color retention is excellent (93+ CRI).

To give you an idea of the brightness, I've been able to shoot video with ISO 200, 1/30s shutter @ f/4 and the Octacool-9 between 6 and 8 feet from the subject. In the aforementioned case of a living room setting with multiple subjects, I merely increased my ISO speed to 400. Of course, if you want to shoot wider apertures, it's easy to turn off individual or pairs of bulbs via the switches on the back of the unit.

My most recent endeavor required 3 days of shooting per week for multiple weeks. Do not plan on disassembling this unit between shoots if you're a one man show; I had another guy working with me and we still decided to keep it whole. Setting up the Octabox is like setting up a tent but the results are worth it. Get it ready to go, do your thing, and when you're done for awhile, then disassemble it and put it away.

One other word of caution, which applies to all fluorescent light sources, is to make sure your shutter speed is at or preferably, below the frequency of your power system. Meaning that in the US, AC power cycles at 60Hz. If your shutter is higher than 1/60s you may see color shifts between frames or even in single frames (photography not excepted) because of how fluorescent lighting works. In testing I find this to be a magenta-green shift for these bulbs. Do your research; fluorescent lighting is not usually suitable for high-speed captures.

All that to say, for indoor video on a budget this is *the* perfect lighting setup. A pair of single- or double-bulb fixtures on flimsy sands with flimsy umbrellas won't put out anywhere near as much light and seems like an absolute waste of money compared to this unit. Pair it with a backlight and you'll be ready for most anything.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

Love the high-quality, high-ish power output and affordability. Is it sturdily built and easy to use. Great for video lighting talking heads or room lighting. Included dish reflector is actually less efficient than using the softbox solo, without the diffusers. Installing the box requires patience and strong fingers, so plan to keep it attached whenever possible. A full review with sample images and a nice headshot setup is posted on my blog if you are interested. For the price and output, I would definitely choose this over the Octacool 6.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

Everything arrived in working order after being delivered by UPS. The first shoot where this was unit was used involved integrating it with 3 Profoto strobes. I shot a quick custom white balance, and the lighting looked great. I used the Octacool as my main light, and the Profotos as fill, kicker, and hair lights. Since I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II, using the Octacool as the main light significantly shortened the focus time on the camera in the low light situations that I typically use in the studio. I am looking forward to using this light in some Wet Plate photography in the near future.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

A nice light, good construction for the money. Easy to assemble, in a time pinch you can move it around on location without disassembling.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I was looking for a continuos lighting solution for indoor photo portraits & DSLR video shoots. This fits my budget & so I bought one to try out. It has been working really well for me so I will be getting another one soon.

None of the parts feel flimsy. Everything fits snuggly together. The quality & amount of light it gives out is very good. With the light at about 4' from the subject in a pitch dark room, I was able to shoot at ISO 400 | f/2.8 | 1/250 sec.

It took me 15-20 minutes to assemble it the first time. I wouldn't say it's impossible to use this as a travel light, but the time it takes to set it up & its weight are probably the main reasons this is not marketed as a portable set. I find the most time-consuming part of the assembly is actually screwing all 9 lightbulbs in. Everything can be put back into the cardboard box that the light came in (there is no carrying case for it) but that box certainly won't survive air travel.

I'm temporarily using a lightweight Manfrotto stand & a sandbag to hold this light up, but I would certainly recommend getting a strong C-stand for it.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I use this for capturing newborn and babies in a simple white background. The light provides a beautiful reflection in their eyes. Perfect for my studio.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I've never been a fan of fluorescent lights but I needed a system that would be versatile for shooting videos and stills. So far the lighting looks pretty good so I'm happy with the quality of the light. On the downside, the stands are pretty cheap, the lights are not balanced well and the units are not made for travel.

First, the stands are very hard to pull apart and collapse. They are just standard stands, not the cheapest stands I've seen, just average. Probably my biggest complaint is the position of the stand connection on the lights. The lights are big and heavy and the stand connection is placed too far forward making the light very front heavy. When you add the baffle and soft box, the stand can barely support everything. I extended one light to about 6 feet and I thought the stand was going to snap in half from the torque. Finally, the weight and bulkiness of these lights makes them very difficult to take on location. Not impossible, I hope as I have a location shoot next week.

Overall the lights are good enough to keep because I already have them but if I could have found a better solution at my local camera store, I would have gone with something else.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

This light is great for portraits. The best feature is the ability to control the amount of light produced by allowing you to switch on 1 to all 9 lamps. The softbox is also very easy to assemble.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I bought two sets of these lights for use in my studio, for green screen work, and for off-site assignments. What a great set of lights! Very bright, run cool, and very flexible with the 5 switches on the back to vary the intensity. A bit tough to assemble so not the best for air travel but great for 'drive-to' assignments. I have no problem recommending these.

Comments about Impact Octacool-9 Fluorescent Light with Octabox (9 Lamps):

I just love this product. It really works as a softbox. The abitly to easily adjust the light is useful as we use it for video work as well as still.
It wasn't easy to assemble and the directions could use improving.