SilverDome vs. Westcott® Silver Soft Box

SilverDome vs. Silver Soft Box

In this lesson, we compare the Medium SilverDome and the Silver Soft Box. The size and the method of light diffusion are the same for both of these products. Each have a removable primary baffle and front diffusion face and are both 24” X 32” in size. This is where the similarities end for these products.

Assembling the Silver Soft Box on a Spiderlite (Westcott's continuous light source) can be much more difficult than the SilverDome, though the cutout on the Spiderlite helps some. Still, you must follow the correct pattern in installing the rods into the head for this to work well.

Here we see the cutout on the Spiderlite connector plate. For this to help you at all you must install the rod into this receiver last (figure 1).

Westcott also manufactures adapter rings to fit most strobe lights on the market. The rings are made of stamped steel.

The SilverDome can also be used for continuous or strobe lights. Photoflex manufactures connectors to fit most every strobe light and video light on the market. These connectors are constructed of cast aluminum to withstand severe abuse and will last a long time.

QRCs
In contrast to the Westcott Silver Soft Box, the SilverDome has the patented QRCs (Quick Release Corners). This is a Velcro® strip sewn to each of the front corners of the SilverDome.

When the QRCs are released, the rods are allowed to extend out past the corner of the soft box, relieving the pressure on the rods and making assembly and break down of the box much easier. Once you have inserted the rods into the connector, simply close up the QRCs and your ready to install the box onto the Starlite or your strobe light.

Here we see the QRCs open and closed (figures 2 and 3).

Dealing with Heat

Now, let’s look at how the soft boxes vent the heat created by the quartz lamps. This is an important issue as it relates to the life of both the lamps and the soft box.

While the Silver Soft Box seals quite well around the Spiderlite head and allows for very little light leak, it also seals in the heat, bringing the seam tape used on the edges of the soft box into contact with the very hot surface of the Spiderlite (figures 4 and 5). Unlike the material used to construct the soft box, the seam tape is not heat resistant and will scorch and turn brown in short order.

To help combat this heat retention, the Silver Soft Box has two heat vents cut into the short sides of the soft box panels with Velcro tabs to keep it closed. The designers omitted a second tab near each flap to keep the vent flat open.

Because there are only two heat vents on this four-sided box, the orientation of the soft box can impede air flow used to cool the interior of the box (figures 6 and 7). While heat can escape through these vents when the box is used in the vertical position, when you rotate the box to the horizontal position the heat is still trapped in the box.

When the SilverDome was in its design phase, heat venting and construction materials were issues foremost in the minds of the designers. This led to the development of a special patented fabric called Brimstone, allowing very high heat tolerances while performing to the highest standards possible.

Venting issues are solved with an overlapping seal design that seals in the ambient light while allowing air flow. Heat vents on each of the four panels on the soft box can be fully opened with a Velcro tab or “tented” to allow air flow while blocking ambient light escape (figure 8).

These designs, coupled with the Brimstone fabric, give the Medium SilverDome a wattage rating of 2000 watts compared with 1000 watts for the Silver Soft Box.

Here we see the vents in the fully opened position and in the tented position (figures 9 and 10). Air can flow through the box regardless of its set position.

The solid construction and efficient design of the SilverDome make it a great choice for reliable, easy-to-use set operation. Its better vent design and power rating alone make this box worth the few extra dollars.