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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. I'm here today to do a review of the Impact OctoCool 6
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and these are octoboxes from the company impact and and so they come either individually in this
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case i've gotten the six a bulb configuration the octa cool six and and so they can come
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individually or as i've purchased them in a kit you can also get a nine bulb configuration
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and so here obviously i've got the outer diffuser in place on the octobox it easily attaches via
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just velcro along the edges. Also there is an additional internal diffuser that you can use
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if you're so inclined if you want to soften the light feather it a little bit more. But inside you
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have in this configuration you have six different 34 watt daylight temperature CFL bulbs. Constant
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light output very easy to set a white balance for and to get a consistent source of light and
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either for video work or for portraiture, or you can even use it for lighting events
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And we'll talk more about that in just a second. So the neat thing about each one of these is that they put out over 1,400 lumens of light per bulb
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And so all told then, that's over 8,000 lumens. And depending on how close you are to your source, even more light than that
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But the nice thing about them is that they are configured to where each bank of them has an individual switch
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And so you have three different switches to turn on and so you can control how much light output you have
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Or if you working with a couple of them you can set up different lighting ratios depending on what you use If you elect to go for the slightly more expensive nine bulb variation not only do you get more light overall obviously
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but you also have the option of controlling each light individually. And so it just gives you a little bit more versatility for that
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The kit that I purchased comes with two of these OctaBoxes, and it also comes with the stands associated with them
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Now, regarding the stands, they are very heavy duty, very sturdy. And that's because of their use in event type situations
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They can actually be extended up well over nine feet tall. And so obviously you need a firm base if you're going to be up that high
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And so that explains why they are significantly more sturdy than less expensive or inferior light stands
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now the one thing to note about these stands is that because they have to get up to a pretty
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you know significant height and have to have a good stable base they have a fairly large footprint
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as you can see here and so if you're working in a small space the very size of these lights and
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that's one thing that that some users were surprised by either in a positive or a negative
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sense depending on their circumstance is that these are obviously pretty significant in size
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and so if you're working in a very small space they probably are not what you're looking for
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they take up too much room but if you have a little bit of space to work with they put out
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really fantastic light and we'll look at that a little bit more in a second. As I said these
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stands are very nice and sturdy although one negative I will note is that if you look at the
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actual knobs that are adjusting for up and down. I find that the knobs are a
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little bit flimsier than what I would like and I think that that's probably the weak link in the overall design. I like the fact that up top here you have
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some versatility as to how you're going to mount these either up and down or to
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the side and it gives you some options for that and obviously there full adjustments here when it comes to your position in that way And so overall a nice configuration there The cool thing about the way that these
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come is that they both come with the Octabox itself which takes a little bit of assembly
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You need to put these tension rods into the base here and stretch them out. Some people have found
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assembly a little bit difficult. I didn't find it difficult. The one thing I will note is that
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the tension rods, as you begin to add more of them up, as you kind of create the umbrella
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there is increasing tension on them. And so it takes a little bit of elbow grease. And so
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if you're not physically strong, that may make it a little bit more of a challenge for you
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I didn't have an issue with assembly, although I wouldn't necessarily want to be assembling and
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de-assembling these all the time, although you do have the option of doing so. The cool thing is
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that they both come with the option of using a beauty dish, which comes in the kit as well
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and so that gives you some versatility on what kind of light you want to create and beauty dish
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creates its own kind of unique kind of light its internal reflector and so it's a little bit more
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of a directed light and creates a if you're looking for a little bit harder light in that
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situation it's good for that it's also quite flattering for portraits used in the right
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situation i've also used it already as kind of a rim light or hair light and and it's very nice
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setup configured for that. So you have the option of setting up the kind of internal reflector or
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beauty dish inside that. You can use both of them or you can use an either or type situation
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depending on what you're doing right now. I have each one of these set up kind of individually as
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they are. It gives me some options for shooting with them in that way. And so of course each one
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of them independently controlled from the back how much light is there and all combined you're
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putting out a significant amount of light, near 20,000 lumens of light, which means these would
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be very useful in helping to light an event for video work Perhaps if you wanting to shoot a large group say in a wedding at the front of a church getting this light up high and directing it in the right way would provide a nice even lighting
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for a large group. It might be a little bit easier to accomplish and a little more consistent
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than using speed lights in that kind of situation. And so overall, I found them to be very nice as
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light. To give you a little look at the difference of light, here's a few quick portraits taken of me
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with the light set up with the octobox configuration just one light
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then also here are a few using only the beauty dish as the light and then finally a few taken
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in configuration you know different variations using each light are both lights together in
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cooperation so overall as you can see this is a substantial kit offers up very nice lighting
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source if you have access to power and can have a kind of a consistent light in that kind of
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situation. I have already used in some import situations and also if you'd like to see how
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they work for like a video type situation my recent upload of the Tamron 150 to 600 millimeter
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G2 lens first look I used these lights in the studio for that kind of configuration
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configuration and i'll give you a link to that video here these lights the kit this kit itself
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it retails at bnh photo right now for right under or right at basically 400 or you can get a kit with
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the nine bulb versions for a little closer to 600 and so they're not necessarily cheap but at the
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same time they're well made and a very quality product that compares well price wise to the
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competitors. If you haven't already, you can follow me on social media down below
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and please click that subscribe button. I'm Dustin Abbott. Thanks for watching. Have a great day
