SOFTBOX

Abstract

A softbox for being mounted to spotlight door flaps includes plural flat sides, at least two of which are mutually non-adjacent, wherein pockets for accommodating the spotlight door flaps are arranged on the at least two mutually non-adjacent flat sides of the softbox, wherein the pockets are each provided with an insertion opening, and wherein the insertion openings are configured to be reversibly variable with regard to their widths. The softbox includes at least two side walls, and further includes a light-baffle arranged between the at least two side walls of the softbox, wherein the light-baffle includes at least two translucent planes inclined to one another, and wherein the plural translucent planes together form a shape having a base facing towards the spotlight.

Claims

1.-14. (canceled)

15. A collapsible softbox for being mounted to a light emitting side of a light source, the softbox comprising at least two side walls, further including a light homogenizer arranged between the at least two side walls of the softbox, wherein the light homogenizer includes at least two translucent panels inclined to one another, and wherein the at least two translucent panels together form a structure having a plane base facing towards the light source, wherein a size of the plane base is larger than a size of each of the at least two translucent panels.

16. The collapsible softbox of claim 15, wherein the at least two side walls of the softbox are separated from one another by at least two additional side walls.

17. The collapsible softbox of claim 15, wherein the light homogenizer is arranged centrally in front of the light emitting side of the light source.

18. The collapsible softbox of claim 15, wherein a shape of the structure formed by the plural translucent panels together with the plane base is at least one selected from the group consisting of a wedge, a truncated wedge, a pyramid, a truncated pyramid, and combinations thereof.

19. The collapsible softbox of claim 15, wherein the light homogenizer is tensioned towards at least two of the plural side walls or towards at least two of edges formed by adjacent ones of the plural side walls, at the face or tip of the light homogenizer facing away from the light source.

20. The collapsible softbox of claim 15, wherein each of the at least two side walls of the softbox is substantially planar or bulges slightly outwards.

21. A collapsible softbox for being mounted to a light emitting side of a light source, the softbox including at least two side walls, further including a light homogenizer arranged between the at least two side walls of the softbox, wherein the light homogenizer includes plural translucent panels together forming a structure having a base facing towards the spotlight, wherein a shape of the structure formed by the plural translucent panels together with the base is selected from the group consisting of a truncated wedge, a pyramid, a truncated pyramid, and combinations thereof.

22. The collapsible softbox of claim 21, wherein the at least two side walls of the softbox are separated from one another by at least two additional side walls.

23. The collapsible softbox of claim 21, wherein the light homogenizer is arranged centrally in front of the light emitting side of the light source.

24. The collapsible softbox of claim 21, wherein the shape of the structure formed by the plural translucent planes together with the base is a pyramid, a truncated pyramid, or a combination thereof.

25. The collapsible softbox of claim 24, wherein a number of sides of the pyramid or the truncated pyramid is equal to a number of side walls of the collapsible softbox.

26. The collapsible softbox of claim 24, wherein the shape is a regular pyramid.

27. The collapsible softbox of claim 21, wherein the light homogenizer is tensioned towards at least two of the plural side walls or towards at least two of edges formed by adjacent ones of the plural side walls, at the face or tip of the light homogenizer facing away from the light source.

28. The collapsible softbox of claim 21, wherein each of the at least two side walls of the softbox is substantially planar or bulges slightly outwards.

29. A collapsible softbox for being mounted to a light emitting side of a light source, the softbox including at least two side walls, further including a light homogenizer arranged between the at least two side walls of the softbox, the light homogenizer forming a structure having a base, wherein a shape of the structure of the light homogenizer together with the base is selected from the group consisting of a cone, a hemisphere, a section of a sphere, and combinations thereof.

30. The collapsible softbox of claim 29, wherein the shape is a cone or a truncated cone or a combination thereof.

31. The collapsible softbox of claim 29, wherein the at least two side walls of the softbox are separated from one another by at least two additional side walls.

32. The collapsible softbox of claim 29, wherein the light homogenizer is arranged centrally in front of the light emitting side of the light source.

33. The collapsible softbox of claim 29, wherein the light homogenizer is tensioned towards at least two of the plural side walls or towards at least two of edges formed by adjacent ones of the plural side walls, at the face or tip of the light homogenizer facing away from the light source.

34. The collapsible softbox of claim 29, wherein each of the at least two side walls of the softbox is substantially planar or bulges slightly outwards.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The forgoing as well as other advantageous features of the disclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that not all possible embodiments necessarily exhibit each and every, or any, of the advantages identified herein.

[0018] FIG. 1 shows a softbox of the prior art;

[0019] FIG. 2 shows a spotlight “barn” door construction of the prior art;

[0020] FIG. 3A, B show an embodiment of the present invention with a light baffle; and

[0021] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention in a partial view of some of its components, along with the inserted spotlight “barn” door flap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0022] In the exemplary embodiments described below, components that are alike in function and structure are designated as far as possible by alike reference numerals. Therefore, to understand the features of the individual components of a specific embodiment, the descriptions of other embodiments and of the summary of the disclosure should be referred to.

[0023] The known softbox 30 shown in FIG. 1 has flat sides 31 and elastic struts 34 automatically tensioning same, the curved central parts 36 of which provide the required tensioning force. The present invention is, however, not restricted to this particular example of softbox pre-tensioning or biasing; rather, any other means are conceivable by which it is achieved that the diffuser plane or layer (not shown) in most cases provided on the light emission side of the softbox remains tensioned. This diffuser layer serves in most part for achieving a comparatively homogeneous light intensity distribution in the lateral direction.

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a typical spotlight “barn” door construction 40 with, in this case, four pairwise equivalent spotlight “barn” door flaps 24′, 24″. As is discernible in this drawing, the side edges 25 of the smaller ones of the door flaps 24″ are narrowed trapezoidally outwardly, while the side edges 23 of the larger ones of the door flaps are trapezoidally widened outwardly. All door flaps 24′, 24″ are linked to a generally ring shaped construction 22 by hinges 27, in order to ensure the foldability of the flaps 24′, 24″. The ring shaped construction 22 will itself be mounted to the light emission area of a spotlight by suitable means, so that the door flaps 24′, 24″ follow the movements of the spotlight. The larger ones of the door flaps identified by 24′ in this drawing correspond to the door flap with the reference numeral 20 in the following FIG. 4.

[0025] In FIGS. 3A (cross sectional view) and 3b (top view) it is exemplarily shown how a light baffle is arranged within the space encompassed by the spotlight “barn” doors 31 and the softbox 30a mounted thereon, in this case in the shape of a pyramid 51 with a rectangular base area. The shape is not particularly restricted, but the base area always faces the light emission area 11 of the spotlight. For easier orientation, the hinges 33 of the door flaps and the bottom 35 of the pocket is also shown. For reasons of clarity, a possible tensioning of the pyramid's tip e.g. towards mutually opposing edges of the softbox is not shown; also, an itself rigid construction of the light baffle is envisioned. Moreover, it is shown that at the edges of the softbox, preferably triangular pieces 41 of some flat material each with a folding line 43 are arranged, by means of which the softbox can be mounted on the door flaps 31, on the one hand, so as to fully encompass the space accommodating the light baffle 51; and which allow, on the other hand, that the softbox 30a is configured to be foldable.

[0026] The number of edges of the pyramid is preferably, but not necessarily, equal to the number of edges of the softbox; in the exemplary case both numbers are respectively 4. It is also preferable, but not necessary, that the light baffle 51 ends in a tip. Alternatively, the plane facing away from the light source may be made a plane parallel to the base area, however translucent in contrast to the latter. In the case of a rectangular base area, the resulting body is mathematically an obelisk.

[0027] Depending on the shape of the base area, regular pyramids or frusto-pyramids, respectively, may also result; in the simplest case, a wedge is also possible. In addition, light baffles are envisioned the base area of which is circular, elliptical or generally oval, so that a cone or frusto-cone, respectively, results. With a little more effort, even hemispherical shells or sections of a sphere can be realized.

[0028] FIG. 4 schematically shown how a pocket 10 is arranged on the flat side of the softbox in relation to the inserted spotlight “barn” door flap 20 according to an embodiment. Herein, the opening formed between the layer 4, in this exampled sewn onto the outer side of the flat side of the softbox, and the complementary layer 6 adhered to the inner side of the fixing straps 2′ and 2″, respectively, is closed again in the regions 12 on both sides of the inserted spotlight door flaps 20 subsequent insertion thereof, in order to achieve a holding effect (sewn and adhered areas are shown by cross hatching). To this end, the pocket is fitted with mutually complementary fixing components 4 and 6 at least in the region of its insertion opening, in this case with components of a hook-and-loop fastener, as that is most convenient and most available. In this example, two laterally foldable strap parts 2′ and 2″ are provided, in order to render insertion of the spotlight door flaps 20 easier. Furthermore, additional holding straps 14 are provided, one end of which is permanently fixed, which additional holding straps initially run towards the edge 32 of the flat side of the softbox at the light entry side and which, in use, can be put around some component of the spotlight, or else may be put in an inclined fashion around the oblique regions 21 of the side edges of the spotlight door flaps 20, and which may be reversibly fixed, with their fee ends, to the flat sides of the softbox, e. g. at the pocket, and which may, for this purpose, equally include an area with another hook-and-loop fastener 16 (shown in dotted lines). Those additional holding straps 14 provide an additional or, with big and/or rectangular spotlight door flaps 20, the only fixation of the softbox to the spotlight or the spotlight “barn” door or the respective spotlight door flap 20, respectively. The additional holding straps 14 are in most case in themselves sufficiently flexible to either be put around a suitable component in a radial direction, or else to be out around a side edge of the spotlight “barn” door 20 in an inclined direction. Nevertheless, the permanent fixing of the one end of the additional holding straps 14 may be effected through a D-ring or the like, in order to enable an adjustment (arrows 15) of the lateral angle of the direction of the pulling force of the additional holding straps 14, without the material of same having to twist. The respective counter component for the hook-and-loop component 16 of the holding straps may, in the simplest case, be arranged at or by the pocket 10, by means of the outer surface thereof being provided with, or constructed from the respective material. Generally, a separate mounting is also envisioned. In addition, and contrarily to what is shown in FIG. 4 merely for reasons of clarity, it is also envisioned to sew the holding straps 2′ and 2″, respectively, together with the two layers 4 and 8 of the pocket 10 to the flat side 31 of the softbox. In the embodiment shown, the layer 8 of the pocket 10 facing outwards is also provided, on its outer side, with a hook-and-loop counter-component, for occasionally fixing the free ends of the additional holding straps 14 thereto, and for additionally fixing the holding straps 2′, 2″.

[0029] The manner of mounting is as follows: Initially, the respective spotlight door flap 20 is inserted into the opened pocket 10. Then, the insertion opening is closed by pressing together fixing components 4 and 6 from both outer ends of the opening, as far as that is possible with the inserted door flap 20, so that—at least in a case where the side edges of the door flap 20 is sufficiently strongly inclined—some holding force is exerted, as well as the lateral movability of the door flap 20 in the pocket 10 is reduced or even minimized. Then, the additional holding straps 14 are placed around some component of the spotlight or, when their length does not so admit due to a large door flap, around inclined side edges of the trapezoid door flap 20, and reversibly fixed to the flat side 31 of the softbox by means of the fastening component 16 located at their free ends, whereby the softbox is itself fixed to the spotlight and its door flaps 20. It is preferable, but not strictly necessary, that the same kind of material, or pair of materials, respectively, is used for fixing the additional holding straps 14 as for closing the insertion opening. An attachment to the outer side of the pocket 10 itself is particularly preferred. Incidentally, to this end it is preferred not to make the region 16 at the free end of the additional holding strap employed as, or provided with, the fixing component approximately quadratic, as depicted in FIG. 2 for reasons of simplicity, but to rather provide a relatively long part near the free end of the additional holding strap with the fixing component 16, because thereby, the flexibility of use is enhanced. Additionally or alternatively, it is possible to provide a correspondingly large area of the outer side of the flat side of the softbox with the corresponding fixing counter-component. E.g., it is preferable to arrange a strip provided with the fixing counter-component transversely on the outer side of the flat side of the softbox, in order to, in this manner, achieve an as large as possible flexibility regarding the mounting angle of the additional holding straps 14, with little material.

[0030] The softbox as presented herein, and the method of mounting it as explained above, enable mounting the softbox to spotlights or spotlight “barn” doors or spotlight “barn door” flaps, respectively, of different sizes, so that a change of the spotlight or the like is simple and readily made with little effort. Taking off the softbox from one spotlight and re-mounting it on another one requires only a few actions. Nevertheless, the mounting is sufficiently rigid to allow the softbox to follow the movements of the spotlight which occur during use thereof, and does not require re-orientation.

[0031] The present invention has been described making reference to embodiments, but should not be construed as being limited thereto. Rather, the invention is directed generally to a softbox for mounting to spotlight “barn” doors which includes pockets provided on two mutually non-adjacent flat sides of the softbox for accommodating spotlight door flaps, wherein insertion openings of the pockets are configured to be reversibly variable regarding their widths. Methods for mounting the softbox to spotlight “barn” doors include inserting the door flaps into pockets of the softbox, and placing holding straps from a flat side of the softbox around a component of the spotlight or the spotlight “barn door” or the spotlight door flaps, to the respective flat side of the softbox, for there being fixed, and/or the partially and reversibly closing of the insertion opening on both sides of the spotlight door flap inserted therein. The softbox together with the spotlight “barn door”, to the door flaps of which it is mounted, constitutes a softbox system according to the invention.

[0032] While the disclosure has been described with respect to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure set forth herein are intended to be illustrative and not limiting in any way. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined in the following claims.