Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm)

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

I was immediately impressed with the build quality and professional feel of the Ezybox. Through setup and use it became quite apparent that every detail was well designed. I bought it to use with my small flashes (580exII's) but discovered that it also fits studio strobes. Simply take off the hotshoe mount and you can mount it to the strobe head without any additional hardware. It also collapses easily and can be carried/stored in the provided bag.

The quality of light from the Ezybox is quite nice. It can be set up with double diffusion panels if desired to soften the light even more.

Great product and I highly recommend it.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

Before I had this, I used to travel with the Quadra Rangers so I could use the Elinchrom octas for my boudoir photography. With this, I now have the choice of using the Quadras or leveraging my SB-910s. It is so versatile, just remove one of the diffusers for more edge. Use an Elinchrom deflector and you can even get a beauty dish type light all folded down and easy to carry in your carryon luggage.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

Love this softbox. It gives very soft light because of the white interior. Works perfectly with my SB910. Very easy to setup, I carry it almost everywhere.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

This easy to set up and take down. Light weight and very functional.
Disadvantage is the folded shape doesn't fit into any of my other bags.
Need to make sure you buy a flexible fitting of some kind.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

The plastic flash bracket that comes with this is just garbage. It seems the clones of this otherwise great design kept the original metal brackets which are much more flexible (e.g. allow you to use a stroboframe flash mount instead of the plastic rubbish which can't be locked this comes with).

The bag for it also comes for it to be flat packed. If I buy a collapsible softbox, chances are I want a bag that holds this in the smallest collapsed state... not a wide flat pack. Of course, for the money this costs, would be nice if they provided two bags, one for flat packing, one for collapsed.

It's a shame as this could be an otherwise great product, but way too flawed (the new plastic bracket) at this price point.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

I use the softbox for portrait shoots outdoors, with an assistant holding the unit on a monopole / lightstand. Much better light quality than an unmodified flash unit (even off camera).Superfast assembly, love the fact that the flash unit is outside the box for easy access to controls. The assembly is rigid enough in mild to moderate outdoor breezes. This softbox replaced another unit that while having good light quality, was slightly less robust in operation, and more importantly had the flash unit inside the softbox. Be sure to purchase some form of titling head/bracket as the Exybox itself does not tilt.Why only four stars? Because, subjectively, I feel it's somewhat overpriced, but having been disappointed by [@] knockoffs of other items I was reluctant to try [@] knockoffs again.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

I really like this thing. I think the McNally version renders a better skin tone. I've used the regular version and I like this one better. It all seems to be very good quality. The portion that you mount your flash to is plastic, but it is a very high quality plastic and I do not anticipate any issue related to this

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

Great diffusion, great light. Nice setup. Really dig the white interior.

A couple of things - the box is actually 24"x24". Lastolite only makes one size of this box, and it's not 21"x21". Some annoying things are that the hot shoe flash does not lock into the back, it is only held there by tension from the mounting bracket. Not that big of a deal indoors, but if you take it on location keep checking on it. Also it's part of the design that makes it so easy to setup and so huge of a hot shoe softbox, but it's pretty awkward piece of gear to pack into any of my gear bags so I end up having to carry it outside of those when I take it on a job. Like any box you need tilt head adapters or a boom to use it any other way than straight up with a pivot and slight tilt.

3 stars because of the above mentioned +'s and -'s as well as the fact that it only serves one purpose - a hot shoe softbox. You can get something like a Westcott 28" apollo for half the price that you can use in an umbrella adapter with a hot shoe AND studio lights.

It's a great piece of gear - light quality is #1, but unless you're using it on the regular, it's hard to justify the cost.

Comments about Lastolite Joe McNally Ezybox Hot Shoe - 24 x 24" (61 x 61 cm):

The ezybox is my first softbox purchase. Previously I've used reflectors and umbrellas for indoor portraiture. I love the softer light this softbox produces and that the light is more controlled than with the umbrellas.

The problem with the Ezybox is that the flash / light stand mount kit it comes with does not have a tilt bracket. Unless you plan to shoot with the light straight on your subject or hold the light stand at an angle, the soft box isn't so useful right out of the box - I had to do some work to make a tilt bracket to work with it.