Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Is there any way to remove the integrated speedring from the PCB foldable softboxes ? I really love the ease of setup but the attached speedring makes the softboxes less compact for traveling.

Not without permantly damaging the softbox. The rods for the box are hinged on a wire that is wrapped around the speedring as well as the cage that attaches to the speedring post.

What about removing the speedring and rods, as one unit, from the fabric ? It looks like the rods are fastened to the fabric by buttons. Can these be fasteners be opened ?

They can (but they are quite secure), and you can seperate the fabric from the framework. However, I do not know if you will gain much compactness from doing so.

My idea was to purchase replacement softbox rods and a Chimera quick release speedring. If the replacement rods are the correct length I'm hoping I can just fasten them to the softbox fabric.

I love the PCB foldable softboxes but lately my photography assignments have required me to travel a lot so I need the softboxes to be more compact. I'm not fond of the idea of using grid-less umbrellas and buying all new softboxes will be costly.

Have you tried the PLM's? They offer pretty good spill control with fast fall-off. I know they aren't the same as a gridded SB but it might be a good compromise for travel. (or maybe you've tried them and they don't work for ya). Just trying to help.

The fabrics of the regular boxes (which took the rods) and the foldable boxes are different. I have tried making a standard box from a foldable box, and while it went together, it looked awful.

Thanks for the heads up that the experiment was already tried. I guess I won't waste my time. It's really unfortunate that the fabric of the foldable softbox isn't more compatible with regular softboxes. It would really extend the versatility of the foldable softbox since in can be cheaply and easily converted to be fully portable when needed. Perhaps this something that you guys can consider for the next version.

Power, thanks for the suggestion about the PLM. I've been planning on picking up a couple to test for myself.