Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Read about this in Syl Arena's fine book on using Speedlights. It is very good as an entry point for learning to use softboxes, or when you want highly portable units that are light, but sufficiently robust to withstand quick set up, break down, and cartage.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I had the chance to work with the Apollo light stand directly after receipt. Have to confirm that it absolutely meets my expectations and I am glad I purchased it from B&H and have it shipped to Germany. Thanks for the service.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Ever since receiving the kit from Westcott I have noticed the results of my portrait work have gotten so much better. The 28" softbox is awesome. The bracket and stand are fairly standard and work as expected. I needed the extra light stand regardless so purchasing this kit made perfect sense. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you plan on raising the softbox up high and then tilting it down towards your subject, you will need to either have someone hold it facing down or look into purchasing a boom arm. Other than that, highly recommend this kit.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

This is a good light modifier for my speedlight. Sets up quickly.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I've been looking for a softbox kit for a while, and this one was the easiest I found. It opens like an umbrella, and comes with all the parts needed; just add a camera, flash and trigger, and you're ready to shoot.

The only downside I can see is that the zipper tabs are a bit thin, which I don't see lasting too long. Those can easily be replaced by keychain o-rings, or anything of the sort, so I'm really not worried about it. I still rated this at 5 stars.

Highly suggested to buy, and B&H offers a great price!

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Easy to use softbox, perfect for portraiture :)

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I use this for indoor and outdoor portrait photography. Very easy to use and durable. I do recommend getting an EXTRA bracket it you use tall light stands and want to angle it down toward a subject.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Cheap and useful.

Not very effective diffusion mat.

Very usefull for very small budget.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I love this very simple, very light weight product. It provides great light with a simple speedlight.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

This softbox is extremely easy to Transport and Setup. I had a chance to play with it at a Sandy Puc Seminar. When I returned home, I ordered one.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Excellent product at a good price, I was not expecting that much from the Softbox, Excellent with speed light, specially for low budget shooting on location

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

How can you not buy the kit?! You get quite a lot for one very reasonable price. The swivel and the stand aren't fancy, but they're solid. And the softbox is actually bigger than I thought, and provides nice soft light.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Used this when shooting an outdoor portrait in the setting sunlight. It was beautiful light. I was very happy with the results and so was my subject!

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Used mostly for portraits on the road and is easily transported and assembled. Provides even light with no hot spots. An excellent products that delivers as advertised.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I knew of this softbox from Zack Arias' One Light DVD. I actually bought 2 of these (well, somebody else bought them for me from my wishlist) for portraiture indoors and outdoors and I liked its light weight and quick setup design. The quality of light that comes out of it is just beautiful. There isn't really anything major to complain about it. But because of its umbrella-like design, I think its durability is only as good as an umbrella.

I'm quite pleased that my IR based trigger (ST-E2) can still manage to communicate to the slave flash inside the softbox. I tried that indoors with plenty of walls and ceilings to bounce IR signals. I do doubt that the same will work outdoors, but that's okay, I got other triggers for that.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

Simple product. Easy to setup and use. Due to the design of the soft box attachment, it can be difficult to tilt the box down when you've extended the stand up high. Must use a boom arm style light stand to over come the problem, or don't position the box too high up, i.e. no overhead positions.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

This is a great softbox; i will recommend some type of sandbag or weight to keep from blowing over in the wind. It produces great even light suitable for portraits of 1 to 2 people. Very pleased, i bought 2 of them. one for my SB900 and my SB600.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

I bought this softbox on the recommendation of Syl Arena, author of the Speedliter's Handbook. I'm very pleased with the softbox itself. I've gotten some great results with it so far. Setup and teardown is easy, making it very portable. I've already used it on a portrait shoot in the middle of the forest and it worked out very well.

The lightstand and the umbrella adapter are not that great. I fire my Speedlite 430EX II inside the softbox using a long off-camera flash cable. The included umbrella adapter has a permanently attached cold shoe, which doesn't do me any good since I want to use my OCF cable. So I ended up buying another umbrella adapter.

The light stand is small and lightweight, but perhaps too much so. I find the softbox to be too unstable on this lightstand, so I end up using another one. I certainly would not trust it outdoors on the included lightstand. But I did need a small lightstand, so I was happy to buy the kit and just use the stand for other purposes. If you're in a similar situation, buying this softbox kit is probably worthwhile. Otherwise, just buy the softbox by itself.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

This is probably one of the better pick ups I have decided to get in a while. It is very sturdy and reliable. The set up is hard at first, but overtime you get use to it.

The only thing I wish it had come with is a case to store the softbox when you need to take and down from the stand and travel

Other than that, for the price, it is a good set up.

Comments about Westcott 28" Apollo with 8' Stand and Bracket Kit:

After reading several other online reviews, I purchased this product for portraits. Great decision. If treated properly this softbox spills wonderfully even lighting on the subject. Wish I had purchased it sooner. The stand is a quality product as well and the tilting bracket is very sturdy and very adjustable.