Not as Advertised but Acceptable
By Leslie
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2026-08-17
After watching B&H Explora's Rembrandt lighting tutorial, I just had to have a narrow, feather-able, "sliver" softbox! I picked this one specifically because it was a Neewer, and because it was the non-set up type: Just four clicks and done, or so advertised. This was a special order, so I did have to wait almost two months. The problem with wait and anticipation is that it makes any disappointment even more pronounced when you do get the item.
Don't get me wrong, this is a nice softbox overall. However, for disappointment starters, when I unboxed the item, the storage case that came with it is nothing like advertised above. As pictured, the case looks padded with a zippered front, and made of quality such that it would otherwise hold its form and provide protection to the delicate tines of the softbox when transporting said item to location. Instead, the case that came with this is a black drawstring dustcover, made of the same, super-thin, rayon/poly material that twelve-dollar folding stadium chairs that sit at the front of every grocery store and dime mart come in. No big deal, but it is not the padded, professional case I was expecting based on the picture.
Next, I went to set the softbox up, which should be easy enough: Four clicks and done, right? Well, it's not quite that easy. The first click goes into place no problem. The second "click" takes a LOT of strength. The third and fourth clicks take quite some gorilla handling. The tension of the fabric when the first two tines are in place make it difficult to pull and lock the third and fourth tines back. It took at least ten minutes. Another disappointment, but with practice, I guess I can learn to deal with that.
But the final disappointment came after I set the softbox on my light stand. I turned the room lights off and flipped my cob light on, and...? What is all this light spilling onto the wall behind the softbox...? Upon further inspection, I realized the fabric was only mounted onto the Bowens mount in two places, leaving two very large, six-inch by three-inch, crescent-shaped gaps on both of the long sides of the softbox, resulting in a LOT of light leakage into the room from the sides of the softbox where light should not be exiting. So either the fabric was not installed properly onto the Bowen's mount on the unit I got, or the pictures in the advertising were from some other softbox and not actual pictures of this softbox. Based on the dustcover "case," my guess was the latter. Yet even if the softbox WAS manufactured deliberately with only two points of contact, I am still left to deal with the excess light. For a temporary fix, I used gaffer's tape; and, I guess, for a long-term solution, I could sequester some black fabric and velcro and rig something more permanent. But all these "make do's" sort of takes the wind out of the sails of a product I was otherwise really looking forward to.
None-the-less, once unbagged and finally clicked open and set on the light stand and then gaffed to zero light-leak standards -- which was not the thirty-second set up as advertised -- the softbox DID deliver the Rembrandt-sliver, feather-able, dramatic strip of light on my portrait subject as advertised above. This four-foot by one-foot softbox is a much bigger softbox than you might think! The interior is indeed very reflective, and the beam of light is both focused and dramatic -- and yet soft -- all at the same time. So...
My final verdict: I deducted a full star for the mis-advertised, dustcover "case"; I deducted a half star for their advertising the "four click set up" as effortless when, in fact, it can be quite difficult; I deducted a full star for light leaks around the Bowens mount which I had to gaffe, and I added a full star and a half for the fact that once set up and gaffed, the softbox does deliver the beautiful results that I purchased it for.
So, I have decided I will keep and continue to use this softbox for as long as it will hold up, and I guess I will see how many years (or months) of use I get out of it. But if I had to do it again? I would not want a second softbox with all of these "make-do" compromises. I love Neewer products, just maybe not this one. But if I can wrestle out of this thing at least a few of the dramatic portraits I purchased it for, maybe I won't dwell on the compromises.
